Jackie Wilson Asheeke
Ok, Martha, my youngest daughter and movie-watching BFF, and I saw The Old Guard on Netflix. OMG (as she would say) – that movie was lit!
Ironically, my other daughter, Neni in France also watched it. We agreed that the next movie we watch, we will do it via Netflix Party so we can text each other while the movie is going on.
I must give context that we are a super-hero-movie-loving household. Therefore, a movie about a hidden team of immortal mercenaries that have been running around the planet fighting in wars and conflicts for centuries is no biggie. That kind of thing works for us.
In the story, a former CIA operative, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor who just lost his wife to cancer and is all crazy about it, traces their actions and traps them. Bad move. The worse thing is that he does this for an insane multi-billionaire big pharma corporate guy who wants their secret to immortality so he can sell it and corner the market. The bad guy wants to keep them as lab rats for experiments until he can isolate their genes and replicate their ability to heal from everything and live.
How and why these particular people are immortal is a total mystery, even to the immortals. The guys who have been running as a team for centuries are great characters. The writing on this plot is thorough and compelling.
Ejiofor’s character sees the stupidity of his plan, changes sides and helps the immortals survive the crazy mega-billionaire.
This movie was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Greg Rucka.
Charlize Theron is the oldest and the leader of the immortals. She carries the movie well with a great performance. She is totally kick-ass and badass. I loved her in this role. She killed lots of folks, but was really tired of living. She’d been alive maybe thousands of years, at least back to the days of Ancient Greece when she was seen as a goddess, Andromache the Scythian.
Their newest immortal is Nile, played by KiKi Layne, a sista’ in the US military fighting in Afghanistan who gets her throat cut and lives to tell all about it. Boom.
There is one deep part that is major. Charlize’s character Andy had a BFF from hundreds of years ago called, Quynh. Quynh (Van Veronica Ngo), was the first of the immortals that Andy found. They were great friends and partners until they were captured and continuously killed by people who thought they were witches. They tried to burn them at the stake and that didn’t work. So the people were freaked out. They then forced Quynh into a creepy iron coffin and threw her into the sea, where she remained trapped for 500 years, doomed to continue coming back to life and drowning with no chance of escape. Ok…stop. Just think about that for a second. Coming alive and drowning continuously for 500 years. Guess who must be totally insane by now.
Newbie Nile was able to feel all of Quynh’s drowning pain in her dreams. Wow. A part two is set up at the end of this first instalment of the movie. I can’t wait.
I won’t do more spoilers. Those with Netflix, check out The Old Guard! It is GREAT.
