{"id":20782,"date":"2020-07-08T13:44:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T20:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20782"},"modified":"2020-07-08T13:44:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T20:44:02","slug":"the-old-guard-is-a-little-musty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20782","title":{"rendered":"THE OLD GUARD is a Little Musty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The following feature will be available for steaming on\nNetflix Friday, July 10th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There can be only one\u2026 actually, four\u2026 make that five\u2026 or perhaps six. Those who recognize the first part of the previous sentence will know it from Highlander<\/em>, a cult action\/fantasy film from 1986 about immortal warriors. Based on a graphic novel, The Old Guard<\/em> borrows the very same concept, adds more characters and attempts to modernize the story. There are a few good ideas hidden in the bulk of it, but this take doesn\u2019t make the most of its dramatic potential. The end result comes across more like a Highlander<\/em> sequel than a new and exciting update on the notion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andy (Charlize Theron) is brazen and blunt mercenary who lives\nwith her talented crew comprised of Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe (Marwan\nKenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli). The group take down bad guys and by their\nown assertion fight for what they believe is right. They all also happen to be immortals.\nWhen independent contractor Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) hires the team to rescue\na group of Sudanese students from a militia, it draws the attention of a sinister\npharmaceutical company head named Merrick (Harry Melling). He wants to capture\nthem, study them and presumably develop a healing serum from their blood. The\nheroes also encounter a US Marine named Nile (KiKi Layne) who shows similar healing\npowers. Andy and the group take her in and teach her about the condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As it turns out, there actually isn\u2019t a whole lot to discover.\nMembers of the group have been around for centuries and don\u2019t know how they\ncame to be or why. The leads also state that while they usually heal immediately\nfrom their injuries, the power does eventually disappear. When this happens, the\nmembers will suddenly become mortal and expire from any new and deadly wounds. Instead\nof regularly making a small cut on themselves to make sure they\u2019re still healing,\nthe ones who do die tend to go out violently in battle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a lot of characters introduced and the movie\nstruggles to set itself up efficiently. The cast are all charismatic enough and\nthe action scenes display impressive choreography as the five protagonists swirl\naround targets and use hand-to-hand combat techniques and gunplay to wipe them\nout. Yet, one of the odd factors working against this feature is the fact that\nthere are so many of them all hanging out together. Those wondering about the\nunfortunate ramifications of immortality, including loneliness and losing everyone\nyou\u2019ve come to love as they grow old is briefly addressed in conversation, but\nisn\u2019t really explored. Instead, the movie focuses on posturing and beating down\nenemies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since the concept itself is a little fantastic, a certain number of plot holes are to be anticipated. However, they tend to really pile up in this adaptation. This includes how Andy and the others manage to keep themselves secret given their less-than-subtle line of work, as well as the crew\u2019s seemingly endless supply of weapons and ammo. Additionally, the pharmaceutical company villain feels one note and bland, at least as written. The sneering boss and his army are not nearly as interesting as they could have been. These bad guys are just an endless parade of mortal soldiers who are easily dispatched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the biggest miss comes from a supporting character\nwho is woefully underutilized. A flashback details a close friend of Andy named\nQuynh (Van Veronica Ngo). Through a series of unfortunate events, this person ends\nup suffering and repeating the same tragic fate. Told over a few short minutes,\nit\u2019s the most original and unique element of the film. Imagine a story about an\nimmortal suffering endlessly, being driven insane and feeling abandoned by her long-time\ncompatriot, looking for revenge against another of her kind. All the while, her\nfriend harbors feelings of guilt as well as uncertainty after discovering a newbie\nand helping the youngster to develop the gift? It would have been a sharper and\nmore focused movie. One assumes they\u2019ll likely utilize this subplot for a\npotential sequel, but here it all feels like a missed opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Instead, the movie is more interested in setting up a larger\ncanvas with several ancillary characters. As a result, it lacks some of the\ndrive and pacing needed to really engage viewers out of the gate and hook them\ninto this world. The Old Guard<\/em> may offer a few interesting ideas, but much\nof it ends up feeling tired and a little musty. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following feature will be available for steaming on Netflix Friday, July 10th. There can be only one\u2026 actually, four\u2026 make that five\u2026 or perhaps six. Those who recognize the first part of the previous sentence will know it from Highlander, a cult action\/fantasy film from 1986 about immortal warriors. Based on a graphic novel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,697,785,4148,4268,4668,8583,9166,9692,11601,11686,12742,13343,13449,14680,21758,21759,21760,21761],"class_list":["post-20782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-charlize-theron","tag-chiwetel-ejiofor","tag-comic-book","tag-graphic-novel","tag-highlander","tag-immortals","tag-kenzari","tag-kiki-layne","tag-luca-marinelli","tag-marwan","tag-matthew-schoenaerts","tag-netflix","tag-the-old-guard","tag-the-old-guard-film-review","tag-the-old-guard-movie-review","tag-the-old-guard-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}