Cast your mind back to 2020: when all the cinemas were shut and we found ourselves quarantined at home with nothing but streaming to entertain us. Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Old Guard was one of the vanishingly few blockbusters available, proving a modest hit for Netflix. Based on the comics by Greg Rucka, it was a solid, old-fashioned action-adventure with a unique twist on immortality that further cemented Charlize Theron’s action-queen pedigree. Five years and many post-production delays later, Victoria Mahoney's forgettable follow-up can’t replicate that same joy. It’s a sequel devoid of the fun its predecessor had in abundance.
The action-heavy opener, which has enough editing cuts to rival Taken 3, begins like a franchise re-finding its groove, as our returning band of immortal warriors — plus newly recruited Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) — stop an arms shipment at a Croatian villa. There’s plenty on offer: a sword-wielding Andy (Theron); Nile (KiKi Layne) coolly crashing through a window as she escapes gunfire; lovers Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) engaging in some hand-to-hand combat, with some fun bodily reattachment of their thumb and foot respectively. But that’s as much vim as Mahoney’s film is willing to offer.
What The Old Guard 2 accomplishes is barely a movie.
The original struck a nice balance between action and the complexities of living an immortal life. Yet the same can’t be said for its grudge-match sequel. It severely lacks focus, split as it is between the revenge quest of former friend Quynh (Veronica Ngô), the disdain for humanity from original immortal Discord (Uma Thurman), and new lore surrounding Nile’s powers. The question of whether Andy can regain her immortality is dangled, too. But what it accomplishes is barely a movie. It’s an unfinished concept underpinned by soap-opera dramatics, and for every emotional beat posed, there is a bizarre, rushed set-up for ‘The Old Guard 3’.
Unquestionably, Theron is the best thing about it, even when the story actively fails her. The rest of the stacked cast are given very little to do, particularly Layne, who strangely takes a backseat. For something incubating this long, their committed efforts deserved better. Instead, it’s just wasted potential.