The Old Guard 2

The Old Guard 2 covers Andy who leads immortal warriors against a powerful enemy threatening their group. They grapple with the resurfacing of a long-lost immortal, complicating their mission to safeguard humanity.

Introduction

To be honest, I was actually looking forward to this second installment of the graphic novel adaptation of the same name. Now, I haven’t read a single one from those 16 issues that were already released, but the first one I thought was good, it was… watchable.

“After exposing their immortal secret to the world and defeating Merrick’s forces, Andy (Charlize Theron) and her team of immortal warriors find themselves facing a new and more dangerous threat. Andy, now mortal after losing her regenerative ability, struggles to adjust while still leading the team. Meanwhile, former ally Quynh (Veronica Ngo), who spent centuries trapped at the bottom of the sea, has resurfaced — but with a deep grudge against Andy and humanity.”

Characters

Charlize Theron (as Andy) have always been one my favorite actresses, and she did what she always has here. But to be honest, I’m not sure if its the age or the stunt choreography, but most of the action scenes felt forced. Charlize was great on her own, don’t get me wrong.

Its great to see Uma Thurman being active again in the industry. Her character here reminds me of Demi Moore’s Madison Lee from Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003). Honestly, the best scene of Thurman here was when she had a sword fight with Charlize’s character. I’m sure the directors intentionally let her use a katana as her primary weapon, giving an homage the classic Kill Bill (2003).

Veronica Ngo (as Quynh) was awesome, probably one of the best stunt performers in the movie. It honestly felt like she had to slow down a bit for the others to keep up with her. Great performance coming from her.

Dialogue

Dialogue was shit. There were so many awkward moments where there’s no dialogue, specially when Andy and Quynh met up again. They were looking at each other, like waiting who wants to speak first. It was so bad I had to fast forward that part.

Action scenes

While the fight scenes are the highlight of The Old Guard 2, it certainly isn’t the best thing about it. Remember those classic Chinese martial arts films, where you could essentially hear them count their moves during a sequence? This felt just that. Yeah it looks good, but for the hype, it doesn’t meet the standards.

What I didn’t like (Spoilers)

• First meeting of Andy and Quynh was awkard, one of the worst scenes I’ve seen this year.
• In the church, Nile just lets Discord go..? I mean, it does happen, but there was no arguement made by Nile, it didn’t feel like she even planned to do anything really.
• They easily accepted Booker back into the team after what he did. I was expecting sort of a conflict would develop, unfortunately there was none, not even a hint that would make me suspicious of him.
• Towards the end, when Andy and the team charges towards Discord’s location, there was no stealth used whatsoever. They went in using the front gate, no cover, no hiding, wide open under the night sky. But when they got inside, they decided to be stealthy.
• Another thing about this scene, when they got inside, they got cornered by the enemy with twice or more of their numbers, but because they’re stupid they decided to retract their guns and use melee weapons (on immortals, it was so stupid) The Immortals were also dumb, they put their guns down as well (even having the opportunity to finish everything in one clean sweep using guns on mortals), then Nile goes “okay, they wanna go hand-to-hand” I’m like, “no shit, shoot them!”.
• How convenient that the liquid nitrogen vents was right on top of each of them. Wile E. Coyote could’ve set up a better trap.

Conclusion

While the first installment was good, this second one was hard to watch. Usually, online ratings (IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes) aren’t to be trusted, but on this however, it was right on the money. I wouldn’t be surprised if this would be the last we’d see of the The Old Guard.