The Old Guard (2020 film)

The Old Guard
Official release poster
Directed by	Gina Prince-Bythewood
Screenplay by	Greg Rucka
Based on	The Old Guard by Greg Rucka Leandro Fernández
Produced by	David Ellison Dana Goldberg Don Granger Charlize Theron AJ Dix Beth Kono Marc Evans
Starring	Charlize Theron KiKi Layne Marwan Kenzari Luca Marinelli Harry Melling Van Veronica Ngo Matthias Schoenaerts Chiwetel Ejiofor
Cinematography	Tami Reiker Barry Ackroyd
Edited by	Terilyn A. Shropshire
Music by	Volker Bertelmann Dustin O'Halloran
Production companies	Skydance Media Denver and Delilah Productions Marc Evans Productions
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10) (United States)
Running time	125 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million

The Old Guard is a 2020 American superhero film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Greg Rucka, based on his comic book of the same name. The film stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and follows a team of immortal mercenaries that go on a revenge mission.

The Old Guard was released on July 10, 2020, on Netflix. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the action sequences.

Plot

Andromache ("Andy") of Scythia, Booker, Joe, and Nicky are centuries old warriors with regenerative healing abilities who use their vast experience to help people. Former CIA operative Copley hires them ostensibly to rescue a group of kidnapped children in South Sudan. During the mission, however, they are ambushed by a squad of soldiers. After healing their wounds and killing their attackers, they find recording equipment and realize that Copley set them up to expose their apparent immortality.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Nile Freeman has her throat slit while taking down a military target, only to recover without a scratch. Soon after, she shares a disturbing dream with the other immortals, who are then alerted to her existence. Despite the team's world-weariness, Andy tracks down and rescues Freeman before military personnel can abduct her for testing.

Copley shows video of the ambush to pharmaceutical executive Steven Merrick, who sends operatives to capture the team and learn the secrets of their abilities. Andy brings Nile to France, where Nile meets the rest of their team. She is told about Quynh, the first of Andy’s comrades, who centuries ago was captured by priests and cast into the sea in an iron coffin, and has been continually drowning ever since for more than 500 years. The group also reveals that they are not truly immortal: their ability to heal eventually stops without warning.

The group are ambushed by Merrick’s forces; Joe and Nicky are captured while a heavily wounded Booker is left behind as bait for Andy. Andy instead kills their assailants, but soon afterward discovers that she has lost her immortality, as the injuries she sustained in the fight have not healed. Booker locates Copley, but Nile declines to join them to go after him, unable to accept her destiny to outlive her friends and family.

Andy and Booker confront Copley, only for Booker to shoot her as more of Merrick's operatives close in. Booker defends his betrayal, arguing that Merrick might find a way to end their immortality. He realizes with horror that Andy isn't healing as they're captured. Copley has a change of heart when he sees that Merrick is willing to torture the immortals indefinitely to study them. Nile, having realized Booker sold out the group, arrives too late to intervene, but she convinces Copley to assist her in a rescue mission.

Copley and Nile storm Merrick’s London office. Nile advises Copley to go back because it is too dangerous for him. After the rest of the immortals are freed, they fight their way out through the rest of Merrick's security, ultimately killing Merrick himself.

As punishment for his betrayal, Andy forbids Booker from contacting the rest of them for 100 years. The rest of the group meet with Copley, who reveals how he had tracked them down, and how their past missions had a greater effect than they ever knew, with the descendants of people they've rescued going on to help the world. With renewed faith in their mission, the group tasks Copley with keeping their existence a secret.

Six months later in Paris, a drunken Booker is astonished to meet Quynh in his apartment.

Cast

• Charlize Theron as Andy / Andromache of Scythia
• KiKi Layne as Nile Freeman, a former US Marine who served in Afghanistan
• Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker / Sebastian Le Livre, once a French soldier who fought under Napoleon
• Marwan Kenzari as Joe / Yusuf Al-Kaysani, a Muslim warrior who had participated in The Crusades, as well as Nicky's lover
• Luca Marinelli as Nicky / Nicoló di Genova, a former Crusader. He and Joe started off as enemies, but became lovers after discovering their immortality
• Chiwetel Ejiofor as James Copley, former CIA agent grieving the loss of his wife from ALS
• Harry Melling as Steven Merrick, greedy CEO of a pharmaceutical empire
• Van Veronica Ngo as Quynh
• Anamaria Marinca as Dr. Meta Kozak
• Joey Ansah as Keane

Production

In March 2017, Skydance Media picked up the rights to adapt the comic The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernandez, into a film. Rucka's contract stipulated that a major scene highlighting the romance between the characters Joe and Nicky from the comic book must also be in the film adaptation.

On July 2018, they hired Gina Prince-Bythewood to direct with Rucka adapting his comic book to screenplay and Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger producing. With a budget of about $70 million, Prince-Bythewood became the first black woman to direct a big-budget comic book film. In March 2019, Netflix picked up worldwide rights to the film and agreed to finance it with Skydance. Charlize Theron joined the film and also produced with Beth Kono, A.J. Dix, Marc Evans and Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger.

KiKi Layne was confirmed to star in the film after Netflix picked up the rights. In May 2019, Marwan Kenzari, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Luca Marinelli joined the cast of the film. In June 2019, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Harry Melling, and Veronica Ngo joined the cast of the film. At Ngo's request, details of her character were changed from the comic book. In an interview, Rucka said "When Veronica was cast, she said I’m not Japanese, I’m Vietnamese. [Director Gina Prince-Bythewood] reached out to me and said ‘Can we accommodate that?’ and I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ [...] Noriko becomes Quynh, Quynh is now Vietnamese. It really was as simple as wanting to honor that, and be respectful of that". The other change to the character was the character's death. "In the comic, Quynh/Noriko is washed overboard during a storm rather than deliberately drowned. According to Rucka, that was partially a logistical change to save money. [...] But Quynh’s new 'death,' solidified by Prince-Bythewood’s suggestion of the iron maiden imagery, served an important narrative and tonal role as well".

Filming at Bourne Wood in Surrey during August 2019

Principal photography for the film began in Europe in mid-May 2019. Filming took place in Morocco, the United Kingdom and at Shepperton Studios in England. Sandwich in Kent was used as a double for the French town Goussainville. Sandwich's Discovery Park doubled as Merrick Pharmaceutical headquarters throughout the film.

Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka composed the film score. Lakeshore Records released the soundtrack on July 10, 2020, coinciding with the film streaming release.

Release

The Old Guard was released on July 10, 2020 on Netflix. It was the top-streamed item on the site over its first weekend.

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 168 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.54/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "The Old Guard is occasionally restricted by genre conventions, but director Gina Prince-Bythewood brings a sophisticated vision to the superhero genre - and some knockout action sequences led by Charlize Theron." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a "B+" and said: "Steeped in hand-to-hand action... but with enough ballistic firepower to kit out a small civil war, every action sequence is more than awe-inspiring; they're necessary to the film itself. Superhero battles that are eye popping and narratively motivated? Oh, yeah." Owen Gleiberman of Variety called the film a "watchable franchise wannabe" and wrote: "Chunks of the picture are logy and formulaic (it dawdles on for two hours), but the director, Gina Prince-Bythewood (making a major lane change after Love & Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees), stages the fight scenes with ripe executionary finesse, and she teases out a certain soulful quality in her cast."

Manuel São Bento of MSB Reviews gave the film a "B-", and said: "All in all, The Old Guard continues Netflix's trend of original action films boasting riveting set pieces, even though it doesn't quite reach Extraction's level. Greg Rucka delivers a screenplay packed with intriguing lore, which is well-explored and well-established for (what should be) the first movie in a new franchise." Although he praised Theron and Layne's performances, he also felt that the "use of electropop songs throughout the whole film" were "cringe-worthy" and took away from the film. He felt that the film did not live up to its full potential.

Kevin Fallon of the The Daily Beast highlighted that The Old Guard "is the first movie with out gay superheroes, or the extremely (extremely) rare action film to feature queer characters and acknowledge their romance. [...] The sexuality of the characters is matter-of-fact and inconsequential to their ability to kick total-and-complete ass, yet also given the dignity of expressing and showing their love, which is extremely consequential to their daily lives—and has been for a millennia. Which is just about as long as it felt like we’ve been waiting for this". Benjamin Lee, for The Guardian, wrote, "in 2020, it really shouldn’t be such a big deal, but watching a form of unfettered queer love exist within the confines of a fantastical comic book adaptation, aimed at a wide audience, felt major to me". Lee highlighted that this was able to occur because the film premiered on Netflix, however, "the downside is that when the film does inevitably become a streaming hit this weekend, studios won’t have a box office total to use as proof, to show that people aren’t terrified by two men kissing, a dumb indicator for sure but one that industry heads still desire". Anna Menta of Decider wrote "I hadn’t read The Old Guard comic, and I didn’t know that writer Greg Rucka had stipulated in his contract that, whenever or however the film got made, it had to include that scene. So when it happened, well, it felt—and still does feel—like a huge freakin’ deal. [...] It’s just as passionate, just as charged, and just as sensual as Han and Leia, Peter and MJ, Peter and Katniss, or any other heterosexual couple who’s had a big kiss moment in an action movie over the years".

External links

• The Old Guard at IMDb