The Old Guard
"That woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn." - Booker
release year: 2020
genre: action/fantasy
viewing setting: home Bluray 10/26/20
synopsis: A small group of immortal soldiers tries to make the world a better place, but a pharmaceutical CEO has other plans for them.
impressions: I was highly anticipating this, to the point where I bought and read the comics ahead of time, and then got a promo disc from eBay. The idea of immortals has been cool since the days of the Highlander film and TV series, and this film is the next best thing to another (good) film from that series. Here we have a small, tight group that basically can't be killed, and has fought in numerous wars spanning the last few decades (or centuries, or millenia.) The kicker is that each of them will, at some unknown random future time, lose their immortality. Anyway, it's good violent fun - guns, swords, knives, axes, grenades, and so on. These people have been in combat for a very long time, and it shows. There's also a new immortal, who doesn't understand what or why and needs a little help figuring it out.
acting: Charlize Theron is the leader, who's over 6000 years old and is both dangerous and weary. Marwan Kenzari is a Muslim, and Luca Marinelli is an Italian; they're a most unusual couple. Matthias Schoenaerts is a Frenchman. Kiki Layne rounds out the immortals, as the surprised and angry new member. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a CIA agent who has his own motivations. Harry Melling is the evil CEO who wants the immortals' secrets, and will do anything to get them. Van Veronica Ngo is another ancient immortal who had a stroke of really bad luck.
final word: Great immortal action fantasy.
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