It premiered in The Old Guard, a film I was waiting for, to see Charlize Theron playing a tough woman again.
A group of mercenaries are hired by a CIA agent for a rescue operation The four warriors, led by Andy, fall into a trap. It was all a plan to get proof that they are immortal. An evil pharmaceutical corporation, wants to capture them to discover the secret of immortality and make a profit. In addition, the team must deal with the appearance of a new immortal, after two hundred years that did not happen, a young American sailor becomes part of this group of ancient warriors.
The presentation of the four mercenary warriors loses emotion if we have already seen the trailer. The promotion tells the whole story and the scenes that should impact you when you see them, they don't. What's the point of putting those scenes in the trailer? This problem is constant in the promotional material of all the films.
The film suffers from the same problem as other original Netflix productions, which promise a lot but end up only halfway. It doesn't achieve the excellence I expected. It's like eating a pizza that looks great, but when you take a bite, you don't feel any taste. At no point did I get bored, but I didn't get too excited or worry about the fate of the characters.
Something I liked was the little use of humor, because the original material is not a Marvel comic. I appreciate that, because what I hate about Marvel comic book adaptations is the excessive use of comic scenes.
I haven't read the comic, I can't make a comparison with the original material. I don't know if the gay couple comes from the comic or is to fulfill the inclusion quota, neither do I know if the character of the new immortal appears in the comic or is part of the inclusion quota of these times.
The story has interesting elements and entertaining moments, but it didn't make me jump for joy. Some characters were poorly developed, with regular performances.
The final scene leaves the door open to continue exploring this universe, but the scene doesn't have the impact you'd expect, because it was necessary to see more of that character appearing in that scene. The plans are to make other films about these mercenaries of good.
I think it would have been better to make an adaptation in the form of a television series, to delve into the characters' past, to see the suffering of the loss of loved ones because they are immortal.
From director Gina Prince-Bythewood, I haven't seen any of her previous work. She has some films, from the genre of romantic drama and episodes of several television series.
The action scenes are correct, the typical current scenes we see in this era in action movies. Nothing surprising, but with a dynamic style, capturing our attention.
In the cast we find stars like Charlize Theron, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthias Schoenaerts, but the characters lack brilliance. Theron recites his dialogues, wanting to give them a depth that he doesn't have. She is still an attractive woman, but she can't get any sympathy for her character. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the worst CIA agent I've ever seen. His character is on the villain's side and then he switches sides. The character could have been done by any unknown actor and we don't even realize it. Matthias Schoenaerts gives a completely flat performance, I like this actor, but in this film he has no passion, a character without a soul.
KiKi Layne plays the new member of the immortal group, his character is important and if they make other films, he will have a great weight in the story. I couldn't connect with the character, everything happens so fast, that it's hard to believe that she forms the bonds of comradeship with others, if she barely knows them.
It's not the great movie they sold us in the promotions, it fulfills its goal to pass the time, it will surely be a success in the visualizations on the Netflix platform.
My Ranking: 2.7/5
Trailer
