Upon watching its sequel, I suddenly remembered adoring the 2020 action film The Old Guard. I was drawn to its worldbuilding, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s slick action filmmaking, the camaraderie of the immortalized characters, and how gay everyone was, especially Charlize Theron’s Andromache (nickname: Andy) who was in a century-long situationship with Veronica Ngô’s Quỳnh. My fond memories of these characters returned in spades, because they were sorely missed in The Old Guard 2, a colossally dull follow-up that feels like it takes an eternity to watch in and of itself. Not even the additions of Henry Golding and *Fall Out Boy voice* Uma Thurman can save it.
A few months following the events of the first film, Andy (Theron) and her motley crew of immortal mercenaries — Joe (Marwan Kenzari), Nicky (Luca Marinelli), Nile (KiKi Layne) — along with their mortal pal, former CIA agent Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), continue to do their vigilante missions. One of these leads them to Tuah (Golding), a fellow immortal only Andy knew about for some reason. Andy learns through their banished ex-member Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) that her former boo thang Quỳnh (Ngô) has resurfaced. Meanwhile, Nile has a run-in with Discord (Uma Thurman), who informs her she is the first immortal and Nile is the last. After a tense and battle-filled reunion between Andy and Quỳnh, Andy discovers that Discord rescued Quỳnh from the depths of the ocean. She allies herself with Discord and her mission to eradicate mortals from the earth.
Netflix live-action action films have become a mediocre slop machine. Every other action film bears the same ugly orange-yellowish hue in its picturing, and the direction is piss poor, but at least A-list talent gets a nice paycheck for your entertainment — or lack thereof. For a franchise that was a hit during the pandemic, you would think The Old Guard 2 would try even harder to keep its momentum going, proving the first film wasn’t a fluke and quarantine brain didn’t contribute to our liking of it. But alas, this truly had me second-guessing, as every likable trait from the 2020 film is completely absent.
Any fun and interesting progress that co-screenwriter Greg Rucka made in the predecessor has now been stripped down to the most generic traits, as the script from him and Sarah L. Walker comprises just plot devices and joke-telling tools. Besides Andy’s ruthlessness, the film doesn’t put in any effort to effectively re-establish any of its ensemble. The dialogue is so simplistic it reminds me of bad action cartoons from the 1980s made to sell toys.
The story packaged with the follow-up also plays similarly to an episodic season finale. All the hallmarks are there: an unintroduced big bad comes to play, and someone tied to the rugged, badass protagonist returns. Andy and Quỳnh’s romantic relationship is heavily bogged down, if not erased entirely. Their romantic past is technically present but in such a heteronormative sense. Hell, this also applies to Joe and Nicky, who exhibit minimal romantic partnership. In every instance, Old Guard 2 actively attempts to appeal to a broader, *cough* hetero audience, completely disregarding the gay af nature of its predecessor. Despite this being, I don’t know, an R-rated action flick with excessive blood and gore. Why not give two longtime lovers separated for actual centuries a kiss at the very least?!
The direction is equally unremarkable and uninspired in comparison to its predecessor. No disrespect to director Victoria Mahoney, but this entry is in desperate need of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s skillful action direction and stylistic flair. While it is nice to see Charlize wield that big-ass axe and Uma Thurman with a sword, again, it does little to impress. You’ll either wind up wanting to watch better uses of either actress in other fare, whether it be Kill Bill, Fury Road, or even the first Old Guard. Here, every action set piece lacks energy and is otherwise as monotonous as its storytelling.
To put it simply, The Old Guard 2 is everything we thought the first movie would be, only worse. And they couldn’t even bother to leave the gay.
No! This is crushing! I realise despite hearing no confirmation I’d just assumed Gina Prince-Bythewood was directing this too because why mess with perfection…Netflix truly can’t do anything right. Glad I read this BEfore renewing my subscription to watch it.
Oh no, they didn’t add queer stuff so I’m upset.. womp womp.
Yeah the movie is hella boring. I saw a post on Tumblr saying the translation isn’t even accurate when Andy and Quỳnh fight. Supposedly it’s something like “you will die alone”, which is a reference to an earlier conversation.
I was disappointed by The Old Guard 2 in general and the toning down of queerness in it in particular, but I fail to see how Joe/Nicky and Andy/Quynh are heteronormative.
Can confirm.
More like a tedious remake of ‘Highlander’ without the compelling storyline and soundbites.
I feel like noting that while I was disappointed by the movie not living up the first installment, I did really enjoy Andy and Quynh’s interactions and that there was some resolution to their subplot (and that they are together at the end of the movie).
I enjoyed it. Maybe it suffered from second movie syndrome since it seems it’s going to be a trilogy (if Netflix doesn’t cancel it). I did think they’d focus on Andy and Quynh’s past romantic relationship more. Quynh spent most of the movie being salty about it so I guess I get it. I still found the team engaging and the twist how Andy became mortal wasn’t one I saw coming. It didn’t bother me new older immortals were introduced and weren’t known. If I remember correctly that also happened in the Highlander series and I think In The Vampire chronicles. Younger immortals aren’t going to know there are older ones unless told. Some people (immortals) want to be left alone. Lol.
Considering that Greg Rucka wrote the comics that these movies are based on and the fact that the first one had whole sections that were word-for-word from the comics, I’m baffled by how different this one was from the second mini-series of the comics.