Charlize Theron is an immortal on a mission in this first trailer for The Old Guard

When one door closes, inevitably another shall open. Unless that door is for Darryn and the purpose is to kick him out through it (Editor’s note: WOW). For director Gina Prince-Bythewood, that has meant moving from one ill-fated comic book movie which she was supposed to direct – Sony’s Silver Sable and Black Cat – to Netflix’s Old Guard, another comic book adaptation that still gives her an opportunity to flex her action muscles and get comic book fans excited.

Based on the comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández, Old Guard follows a group of immortal mercenaries (led by Charlize Theron’s character Andy – that’s short for Andromeda, her original Roman name) who have secretly been using their powers for the betterment of mankind. Now though, after a newcomer joins the group of ancient warriors and brings trouble with her, they need to use their mysterious gifts to prevent a conniving pharmaceutical executive replicating those abilities and exploiting them for profit. Here’s the full synopsis and the first trailer released by Netflix:

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

I really like the look of this movie. It’s not the usual big CGI-laden comic book fil, but rather a more grounded story with a focus on deeper storytelling. There also looks to be some gritty and well-executed action (with Theron really showing her action-skills here). Perhaps a lot closer to Netflix’s recent action blockbuster Extraction than anything you would expect to see from Marvel.

It might not be the scale that many comic book fans have gotten used to, but it’s nice to not always see the world at stake and have heroes fight for the average person instead. The trailer indicates that the story will also focus on some of the harsh realities of being immortal and take us through different time periods in some of the character’s history.

Alongside Theron, The Old Guard also stars KiKi Layne, Marwan Kenzari, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli and Chiwetel Ejiofor and is scheduled to release on 10 July on Netflix. Yet another good reason to stay at home and enjoy some great entertainment.

Last Updated: May 22, 2020