'The Old Guard' review: Massively entertaining action flick with Charlize Theron back in beast mode

'The Old Guard' stars Charlize Theron as an immortal warrior. Photo: Netflix

Netflix is no longer just in the original movie business, it’s in the franchise business. Not to be outdone by the other players in the market, which often fall back on legacy titles when the going gets tough, the streamer is well on its way to creating a legacy of its own. While a sequel to To All the Boys has already been released, follow-ups to Will Smith-starrer Bright and Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction are on their way.

The Old Guard, starring Charlize Theron as Andy (or Andromache of Scythia), the leader of an immortal squad of mercenaries, comes across as a brazen attempt at starting a series and it’s tailor-made for one. Based on the comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez, the film is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who had thus far displayed no evidence of having a knack for making action movies.

And there lies the problem. By not allowing women to make big-budget action movies, based on false assumptions and decades of prejudice, truly talented filmmakers such as Prince-Bythewood are being sidelined in favour of inexperienced white men. I can name a dozen recent action films that are infinitely inferior to The Old Guard, but were made simply because their male directors came cheap and proved themselves to be pushovers.

For instance, there is no way in hell any studio in the world would have risked the US$225mil that Universal put on first-timer Carl Rinsch to make the already forgotten Keanu Reeves-starrer 47 Ronin, on a female filmmaker. Or, for that matter, even the US$160-odd million that Fox literally begged one-film-old Josh Trank to take for Fantastic Four. Despite its various successes, The Old Guard still feels like a compromise, money-wise — the film has a made-for-TV vibe that is difficult to ignore — but it’s a start. And that’s what matters.

Theron delivers a dependably strong performance, effortlessly moving from cold-hearted killer mode to motherly mentor.