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. 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.

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.

Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka teamed up to compose 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 81% based on 150 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."

External links

• The Old Guard at IMDb