Matthias Schoenaerts – STREAMING MOVIE NIGHT

2025 Netflix

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 45min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Thriller

Starring: Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngô, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Henry Golding and Uma Thurman.

Eternity Has A Price

The Old Guard Movies are based on the 2017 series of Comic Book Graphic Novels written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernandez:

It follows the story of a group of Immortal Mercenaries led by Andy (Andromache of Scythia) who have lived together for centuries, having found each other because of their unique abilities. Not only can their bodies and minds regenerate and heal themselves, they also have the ability to sense and find their own kind in the mortal world. They use their unexplained regenerative healing abilities and mercenary skills learned through centuries of battle to protect the world and fight for causes they deem worthy, after having been sought out by those can afford their price.

At the end of The Old Guard we see Andy, Joe and Nicky come to a decision about Booker. They have to punish him for his treasonous actions against the group. He had betrayed their location to Copley’s boss, a Pharmaceutical Executive named Steven Merrick. Booker has become weary of being immortal having spent countless centuries dying and then regenerating. He wants nothing more but to be mortal and die. He is convinced that Merrick can identify what makes them immortal, in his search to market and profit from it, undo it and end his suffering. But it backfires when Andy and Nile storm Merrick’s headquarters in London, kill Merrick and free Joe and Nicky.

They sentence Booker to a hundred years of solitude in the world outside the group. Banished from contact with any immortals, he turns to alcohol and spends his days in Pairs, France drunk to kill the time. The very last scene of The Old Guard, six months after being banished, we see Booker stumble back to his apartment to find the door unlocked and open. He cautiously enters with his gun drawn and discovers a woman wearing a red robe, pouring herself a glass of water. “Booker’, she says “It’s nice to finally meet you.” It is Quynh…freed from the Iron Coffin somewhere in the sea that Andy tried to find for 500 years and failed to find.

Which leads us to The Old Guard 2. The very first scene of The Old Guard 2, we see a trawler with a crane on a very rough sea somewhere. It is hoisting up something from the depths of the ocean as a very anxious woman looks on. As the object comes out of the water, we see it is an Iron Coffin like the one Quynh was imprisoned in some 500 years ago. As the woman looks on the workers remove the Iron face of the coffin, and Quynh’s face emerges gasping for air. The woman is Discord (Uma Thurman), the world’s first Immortal. She has come to find Quynh and release her back into the world, knowing that Quynh’s vengeance for Andy’s betrayal will help her find the Old Guard.

Discord has lost her immortality, and plans to use Nile to regain her immortality. She believes Nile is a destroyer capable of removing another immortal’s Immortality just by injuring them. She wants to use Quynh to find them, and Nile to injure them so she can gain all of their immortality. The Old Guard 2 then moves on from the Ocean scene where Discord has freed Quynh and shifts to Croatia, where Andy, Joe, Nicky, Nile and the newly recruited Copley are storming a gun smuggler’s mansion. Copley works for The Old Guard now, finding them missions where their talents can do the most good. They kill the Gun Smuggler in a CIA sanctioned operation Copley help set up, but quickly discover that he was just a pawn.

The Croatian scene is full of action as they storm the Mansion and includes our first bit of humor as Joe loses his thumb in a fight, but grabs it, shoves it back on as it heals, and gives a thumbs up to Nicky. It also includes one heck of a car chase. And then 16 minutes into the movie we see the exact same scene from the end of The Old Guard, of Booker entering his apartment to find Quynh. And that’s where the race and chase begins. Andy, Booker, Nicky, Joe, Nile and Copley are on the hunt to figure out who, what and where Discord is and what her end goal is. And Discord is on the hunt to find them and trap them so she can get their immortality.

I was really looking forward to this, having really liked the first one. And I did like it BUT I do have some observations and questions:

It felt different, it was a little off is the best way I can put it. It was funny in the beginning and the action was great, but the flavor was off if I can put it that way.
Charlize, Nikki and the rest of the group were as good as the first, but it felt a little disjointed as it went on.
There was a completely different Director for this one than the first and I think it shows. I don’t know if that has to do with Victoria Mahoney‘s Directorial job on this or if it was just a different style than Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed the first one. On that level I think The Old Guard was better, felt more coherent story and scene wise.
Uma Thurman as Discord seemed a little one dimensional to me, you really didn’t get a good sense of the character she was playing, again I don’t know if maybe that has to do with direction. And the fight scene at the end with Andy and Discord was less than spectacular. I feel given Charlize, Uma and the characters it should have been way more dramatic. Was it the directing?
How come Discord was able to find Quynh and release her from her watery torture but Andy couldn’t find her after 500 years of trying?
And once again we are left with a cliffhanger……completely sets itself up for another movie with nothing but questions in your head……..The biggest one being will we see a third movie and when? How long will we have to wait this time? And will there be ANOTHER Director? Who?

I did some research and Victoria Mahoney, who directed this one said she is absolutely hands-off for another one. She put projects on hold to direct this one and her schedule is now booked for years to come. Is that a good thing for the third movie if there is one? Beyond that there is only speculation, Netflix seems to have a wait-and-see-how-this-one-does attitude about a third movie. Greg Rucka, the Author of the books, has stated that he always envisioned the movies as a trilogy.

So I guess we shall have to wait and see. Was The Old Guard 2 worth the wait? I think it was, I like the story and am a big fan of the first one. I just think that they should have thought this through and made all three back to back with minimal time between releases. The way this story goes they belong together, they are not much good to watch independently without having the background of the story and how it has progressed.

So I think if you are interested you have to watch The Old Guard and The Old Guard 2 back to back, or at least fairly close together. Give it a go and tell me what you think.

The Old Guard

Forever is Harder Than It Looks

The Old Guard is based on the 2017 series of Comic Book Graphic Novels written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernandez:

Andromache of Scythia aka Andy (Charlize Theron), Yusuf al-Kaysani aka Joe (Marwan Kenzari), Nicolò di Genoa aka Nicky (Luca Marinelli) and Sebastian Le Livre aka Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) have accepted a mission from a previous client named Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to rescue a group of kidnapped girls in Sudan. In doing so they have also broken one of their cardinal rules, never to work for the same employer twice. As they enter into their mission to rescue the girls they realize that it was all a ruse, set up to expose and document their immortality by filming them being ambushed and shot to death. They die, regenerate, come back to life and kill their attackers and realize they have been set up. They retreat back to their hideout but before they get there, they all have the same vision but each have their own details that they share with each other.

There is a newly killed and regenerated Immortal, they share the different details they all received in their visions and decipher where she is. Andy, being the oldest, heads out to retrieve her and help her into the fold of her new life and immortality. The others head back to base to research who, what and where the responsible party is that set them up. And what follows is the adventure of Andy trying to convince the newbie who she has become and that she is one of them now, and The Old Guard and it’s newest member figuring out who has come to do them harm, and the battle to fight them and maintain their anonymity as Immortal Mercenaries.

As we go through the journey with The Old Guard and their newest member Nile Freeman (KiKi Layne), there are flashbacks to their past history and how they all met and came together. We learn of the existence of other immortals throughout history and how Andy was alone for thousands of years before she met another immortal Quynh (Veronica Ngo). I won’t go into too much more history so as not to spoil anything, but I mention Quynh because she figures pretty prominently in the movie towards the end. Except for a few flashbacks, we don’t see her until the end and that leads us to The Old Guard 2.

According to The Author Greg Rucka,

“The series follows a group of soldiers who have been given the gift of immortality. Led by Andromache of Scythia (whom her comrades call Andy) they ply their trade for those who can find and afford their services. But in the 21st century, immortality is a hard secret to keep, and they learn that there are many fates worse than death.”

“The Old Guard was named after the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, which was formed in 1784. I wanted the story to be an adventure about invincible characters, but I decided to make them immortal, comparing them to Looney Tunes cartoon characters who are not sidelined by injuries. Halfway through the process of creating The Old Guard, I realized it was an attempt to rationalize the necessity of death after his father’s recent passing.”

“I always envisioned the movies as a trilogy. There is a complete three-part story that can be told. God willing, if it’s a success, Netflix comes back and says, ‘Hey, let’s do it again.’ There’s more to tell, and there are questions that we want to answer.”

I saw this when it first came out in the beginning of the pandemic and I really liked it. I loved the story, the fantasy of immortal beings trying to help humanity with their gift. And I really liked Charlize Theron in this, I can’t imagine anyone else playing Andy. I was an instant fan of the story, Andy’s character, Charlize and the rest of the Old Guard and the actors who played them. I watched it again last night before I watch The Old Guard 2 so I could refamiliarize myself and review it. I still like it, I think it is a great story and a great action thriller.

But the one thing I didn’t like is how it sets itself up in the end for a definitive sequel. It was obviously meant to be followed by a sequel, kind of like a weekly show. It left you hanging without resolution of the full story. I remember thinking, “I sure hope there is another one…I really like it but now I have unanswered questions. I am not really fond of movies like that, especially ones that make you wait forever for the sequel. In this case it was five years before The Old Guard 2 came out yesterday. Too long…. was it worth the wait? What happens to Andy? What happens to Booker? And what about Quynh?