valencia Writes

The Old Guard – Review to a Kill

By Valencia Turner

(**Some spoilers ahead)

This is an action movie. Make no mistake about it. This movie has great fight choreography and all the blazing guns that you could ever want in a film. The Old Guard would have played very well on the big screen, but I must say that it’s nice to have the option of watching it over and over again. And you probably will watch it; over and over again.

Here’s why:

The plot centers on a group of immortal soldiers called The Old Guard. They use their eternal lives to fight bad guys all over the world, and to help people in need. Sometimes, saving people gets very ugly, and quite often it gets pretty violent.

You’ll get used to it.

The members of the Old Guard live in the shadows, but given that we all reside in a world where there are cameras everywhere, it’s difficult to remain anonymous. Anonymity is crucial since these reluctant heroes can’t afford to be exposed. They have always lived in constant fear of being captured, persecuted, tortured, or worse.

There are four of them, the leader being a bad ass heroine named Andy, who is the oldest and clearly the best warrior among them. She has seen the changes in the world over the centuries and we begin the movie with her struggling to come to terms with the fact that all of their efforts are for naught.

After barely escaping a dangerous mission that threatens to expose them to the world, this quartet realizes one thing: after 200 years…. another immortal will rise.

Her name is Nile. She’s a tough and dedicated Marine who just wants to do her job and honor her father’s memory.

Andy goes to retrieve this new recruit from Afghanistan and bring her into the fold, while the rest of the group searches for the people that set them up.

There are two bad guys in this movie and they each have their own motives for doing the evil they do. Whether or not you feel these motives are justified is something that the viewer will wrestle with throughout the movie. You will, however, despise their methods.

There are a couple of climaxes here, which I will let you find out about on your own. Suffice it to say, the movie is satisfying for anyone that really enjoys action movies. It is exciting to see these five people work so fluidly together even though they are comprised of a mix of different races, genders, ethnicities, and sexualities. None of that stops them from forming a team that gets the job done … and gets it done very well.

If you suffer from toxic masculinity or bigotry, this movie is going to piss you off for several reasons.

First of all, a black woman directed this movie. That’s right. Women can do plenty of things with movies, such as direct them, write them, produce them, act in them, etc. And guess what: we don’t need to get naked in order to do ANY of it.

Second, a physically and emotionally strong woman is the protagonist. She’s the leader and rightfully so since she has the most experience. She doesn’t have to remove her clothing in order to grab your attention; she’s too busy taking down the bad guy and leading her team. No one questions her leadership because she’s a woman. She is a warrior. A human being worthy of respect beyond commonly accepted stereotypes. There is no effort to validate her toughness because she is female. There doesn’t need to be such a narrative. Instead, the viewer is thrown into the story knowing that this is the way it is. We love her because she is the hero and the best one I’ve seen in a long time. Truly.

You can also tell a woman directed the film because there is NO gratuitous nudity or sex. Zip. Sorry.

This is an ACTION movie. That means asses get kicked, not displayed for misogynistic viewing pleasure. People get shot. There is blood everywhere and those bleeding are too damn tough to give a shit.

Homophobes also need to leave this movie alone. The epic love story in this movie, while not the main part of the story, is between two men who are eternally devoted to one another. They are protective of one another and are still in love after hundreds of years. The movie references their backstory, but I kind of wanted to see it since they went from enemies-to-lovers and I’m a sucker for that kind of romance.

At any rate, they can still to do their jobs effectively without their relationship compromising their work. There is no “I can’t protect you or be tough because we’re in love” narrative – so, it’s not The Bodyguard.

As far as cinematography goes, the way this film was shot is awesome. It doesn’t appear as though all of it was shot with a gimble. It looks like this movie was filmed with a very steady handheld camera most of time, giving the action sequences and hand-to-hand combat scenes a grittier, more realistic feel. It only has a few special effects, so you can focus on the story and not how cool it is for something to blow up for no reason.

I recommend this movie to anyone who truly loves action and wants to cheer, and then say “Oh, Shit!” at the end of the film. It hints at a sequel and I hope it gets one.

So if you want to see stereotypes, unnecessary explosions, boobs, naked asses, and sex scenes that are nowhere near integral to the plot of the movie, I invite you to watch any Michael Bay film ever made.

Otherwise, The Old Guard is worthy of your Netflix time.

Love, Valencia

P.S. Let me know if you want me to do more reviews.