“Love and Basketball” director Gina Prince-Bythewood gives us the story of a covert team of, apparently. immortal mercenaries played by the likes of Charlize Theron, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Kiki Layne, as they fight to keep their identity a secret. The film is based on the Comic-Book series by Leandro Fernandez and Greg Rucka.
I’ll watch anything with Theron, but, based purely on this first trailer alone, “The Old Guard” isn’t doing it for me. It just looks … middle-of-the-road. An adaptation of the graphic novel—written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernandez—of the same name, it plays in the trailer like a fairly standard sci-fi actioneer, but I’m ready to be proven wrong, especially with Theron and Prince-Blythewood involved.
Back in the late ‘90s, Theron was deemed “too beautiful” to truly make it as an exemplary actress in the industry, but boy were people wrong about that. She’s built up a considerable filmography over the years, with great performances in films such as “Tully,” “Young Adult,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “North Country,” and “Monster.”
Here’s the synopsis for “The Old Guard”:
Forever is harder than it looks. Led by a warrior named Andy (Charlize Theron), a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with a mysterious inability to die have fought to protect the mortal world for centuries. But when the team is recruited to take on an emergency mission and their extraordinary abilities are suddenly exposed, it’s up to Andy and Nile (Kiki Layne), the newest soldier to join their ranks, to help the group eliminate the threat of those who seek to replicate and monetize their power by any means necessary. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Greg Rucka and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (LOVE & BASKETBALL, BEYOND THE LIGHTS), THE OLD GUARD is a gritty, grounded, action-packed story that shows living forever is harder than it looks
“The Old Guard” has its Netflix premiere on July 10.