The Old Guard (2020) (film review).
When I bought a selection of Chinese released films and TV series recently, I thought ‘The Old Guard’ was the latter as there were two seasons. The first here is actually one film. Thankfully, when I stopped it half-way through and finished it the second night, the blu-ray player put it back to where I’d stopped, which saved a lot of problems finding my place.
We are introduced to Andy (actress Charlize Theron) as her team have been asked to rescue some children in the Middle East by Copley (actor Chiwetel Ejiofor). Andy’s team consists of Booker (actor Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe (actor Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (actor Luca Marinelli), although it takes a while for the names to sink in. They are helicoptered in, discover it’s a trap and all four of them are gunned down. End of story? Not really, as they get up and kill their attackers. The attackers don’t get up. They feel they have been compromised but another problem has arisen. Andy leaves them to go to a military base and retrieve Nile Freeman (actress Kiki Layne), a military officer who was knifed fatally across the neck but who is now recovering. All five of them are immortals, capable of recovering from any injury. The main team have been going around the world sorting out problems for a long time. Andy is at least 600 years old.
In a more contactable world now, they have drawn attention to themselves and a pharmaceutical company run by Merrick (actor Harry Melling) captures two of them as test subjects, seeing them as a means to bring immortality to the world. It’s up to Andy and Nile to come to the rescue. This isn’t helped as Andy finds her immortality and immunity to injury are fading.
There’s a lot more to this story than that but you don’t have the security clearance. In many respects, ‘The Old Guard’ is more like a conventional military film, with only the team’s ability to recover from injuries giving it the SF edge. There’s little explanation of where they get their arms from or how effortlessly Andy can get into military bases, although I suspect years of experience helps. Considering how long the Internet has been around, it’s more of a surprise that their activities have stayed hidden for the past 30 years. Whatever, it’s still interesting to watch and explains itself as the story proceeds.
Pay attention to the opening of the end credits as it looks over Copley’s wall showing where the team have been involved. After the credits, it segues into nearly 12 minutes of behind-the-scenes material where the cast train for the fighting sequences and talk about their roles.
GF Willmetts
September 2026
(pub: 2025 Productions, 2020. 1 blu-ray disk 120 minute film with extras. Price: varies. ASIN: LG-D5306)
