From the look of Charlize Theron throughout her new Netflix movie, The Old Guard, immortality is not what it’s cracked up to be. Grimacing while engaging in the most athletic combat against warriors, scientists and opportunists who want to package her “gift,” she’s not having it. Called “Andy,” short for Andromache, so you know she goes back to Greek myth, she has already endured the fall of Troy and murder of her son. But through the ages, with medieval torture repeated endlessly, she’s the embodiment of the Myth of Sisyphus. Loneliness, watching loved ones die, may be worse, or facing drowning over decades as she does, having committed the sin of witchcraft alongside fellow immortal Quynh (Van Veronica Ngo), encased in an Iron Maiden. And yes, a legend Andy is, all fierce, her body finely tuned, not a gussied-up Wonder Woman. Watching Andy go through her paces is thrilling.
We see her through the eyes of a newbie warrior, Nile (Kiki Layne) who must be trained in the ways of eternal life. Her posse includes Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker, and a pair of lovers (Luca Martinelli and Marwan Kenzari) who defy the prevailing rules, the joyless specter of watching close relations die—at least not yet. Thrilling as the movie is, it looks like it was made for sequels, especially as the final sequence involves Booker, punished for betrayal, finding the long suffering Quynh in his kitchen, ready for new action. I predict Theron will pass as her powers wane, reappearing in flashbacks; she’s already earned emeritus status, leaving center stage for the others. Under Gina Prince-Bythewood’s expert direction, this franchise kills. I cannot wait.
We see her through the eyes of a newbie warrior, Nile (Kiki Layne) who must be trained in the ways of eternal life. Her posse includes Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker, and a pair of lovers (Luca Martinelli and Marwan Kenzari) who defy the prevailing rules, the joyless specter of watching close relations die—at least not yet. Thrilling as the movie is, it looks like it was made for sequels, especially as the final sequence involves Booker, punished for betrayal, finding the long suffering Quynh in his kitchen, ready for new action. I predict Theron will pass as her powers wane, reappearing in flashbacks; she’s already earned emeritus status, leaving center stage for the others. Under Gina Prince-Bythewood’s expert direction, this franchise kills. I cannot wait.
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