With a summer when action cinema isn’t in theaters, Netflix is ​​taking matters into Snake Eyes GI Joe Origins its own hands. Charlize Theron, a band of immortal warriors, guns, axes, and swords… on paper, The Old Guard has it all to strike a chord.

As the saying goes: “You are never served better than yourself”. Netflix has understood this very well and has always diversified its productions to please the greatest number Attack On Titan Part 2 of people. still lacks an action franchise installation capable of competing with John Wick and his big screen pals. This is the ambition of The Old Guard, a feature film inspired by Greg Rucka’s comics, for which he himself signed the screenplay. As the main character, Charlize Theron continues to build a serious career as a jaw breaker after proving herself in Aeon Flux, Mad Max: Fury Road or Atomic Blonde.

He embodies Andromache the Scythian, aka Andy, the leader of a group of mercenaries who fight for justice around the world… and age thanks The Legend of Suriyothai to their quirk: their immortality. We find Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), the “little boy” who died for the first time during the Napoleonic Wars, and enemies Joe and Nicky (Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli) during the Crusade before becoming lovers. Their clandestine lives are put at risk when a pharmaceutical company attempts to turn them into guinea pigs and Nile (Kiki Layne), an American marine, finds himself endowed with the same gift.

Just to quickly tear the bandage apart, we can Fifty Shades of Grey say that Netflix has put the cart before the horse by not hiding its licensing ambitions for The Old Guard. In the care of its characters until its final scene, the film continues to set the stage for a sequel. Since then, he’s been wasting his time (2 hours duration, nothing) to put up purely utilitarian elements for the sake of the future, thus choosing Raya and the last dragon to sacrifice this “episode” narrative. As an example, we can cite poor Chiwetel Ejiofor, let alone mono-expressive, every scene that screams “wait for the continuation”. Likewise, Joe and Nicky get very limited attention from the script preferring to save it for later.

An forgivable mistake if the whole thing really Nobody makes you want to come back. But The Old Guard lives up to its name and never goes beyond the fine series B framework we’ve seen hundreds of times in the past. The story was approved, met its specifications to please its target with lots of necessary parts and some sequences that were clearly under-budget. Andy’s flashback as an Amazon warrior looks more like a clip from the Xena series. We could laugh it off if the film didn’t take itself too seriously for what it tells.

It’s in that old pot that we make the best The Old Guard
So series B of course, but series B is effective! While The Old Guard is less than fresh, it’s not short on guts and features plenty of sequences that will please The Call of the Wild fans of the genre. At the crossroads between Highlander and The Expendables, we can even say that the film assumes its imperfections to further highlight its qualities in the head we find Charlize Theron. The actress with a very ’90s look for the occasion makes her physique speak and shoots or cuts anything that crosses her path with envy. By her side, Kiki Layne is taking her first steps in the genre by offering solid performances.

We should also salute the work The Tomorrow War of Gina Prince-Bythewood, a director we don’t know, who let the martial arts choreography express itself and present the script. This was especially evident in group battles where one could only appreciate the spectacular coordination of warriors fighting together for hundreds of years. For once, each of The Old Guard’s action scenes tell something about the character and that’s rare enough to be fully appreciated.

Finally, we can’t ignore the Jandara The Finale emotional moment of a story that, when thinking of anything other than the sequel, manages to hit the head. In a genre where everything seems to have been done, The Old Guard doesn’t revolutionize anything, but brings its stones Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets to the building. To see if it will be strong enough to withstand time, like its heroes…