“The Old Guard” Netflix Poster
In addition to Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, we got another one for fans of Furie star, Veronica Ngo. The rising Vietnamese sensation will appear with Charlize Theron (Atomic Blonde) and the gang in The Old Guard, which arrives on Netflix on July 10.
The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (Redbelt), Harry Melling (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Matthias Schoenaerts (Red Sparrow), Luca Marinelli (Don’t Be Bad) and Marwan Kenzari (Murder on the Orient Express).
The The Old Guard – based on the graphic novel series created by author Greg Rucka and illustrator Leandro Fernández – tells the story of a small covert group of immortal mercenaries who must fight to keep their team together when they discover the existence of a new immortal and their extraordinary abilities are exposed (via Deadline).
To Western audiences, Ngo is mostly known for her work in the acclaimed Vietnamese martial arts features The Rebel and Clash with Johnny Tri Nguyen, not to mention a minor role in Yuen Woo-ping’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny with Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen. And her recent appearances in Bright and Star Wars: The Last Jedi has gotten her more exposure in mainstream Hollywood.
Watch the Trailer for The Old Guard below (we didn’t spot Ngo anywhere, can you?):
Sounds pretty cool. Hope she’s a major character and not someone who dies in the beginning or a random henchman.
Judging from that poster, it doesn’t look like it.
Can’t believe it’s been almost a year. I get the feeling that this and Da 5 Bloods aren’t going to be huge roles for Veronica, but I’d be happy if she at least got a decent fight scene.
Wow, boring beyond belief. Such a run-through-the-motions. Has no interesting style to it .. So tiring to see these sorts of films having grown up on Cynthia Khan, Michelle Yeoh and Moon Lee. Women in action films CAN be exciting, but you need to know how to use them. You cant just plonk them in a film and have them act as men, fight like men .. It makes no sense, doesnt work and is groan inducing. Use a woman’s talents like flexibility and gymnastics is one way they become interesting in a fight context. This is just cinematic sludge.
I just finished watching The Old Guard, and I liked it!
I’ve been a big fan of Greg Rucka for a long time, and it’s great to finally see him get a proper adaptation onscreen. Everybody in the cast was great, and Charlize Theron definitely has another winner in her list of action roles. Her use of close quarters combat mixed up with melee weapons was very nice.
Veronica Ngo has a very good short role just like she did in Da Five Bloods. She gets in on the action briefly and makes the most of her time, leaving a good impression.
Normally I don’t like it when a movie leaves itself open for a sequel, but it felt welcome here, and I look forward to it.
I confess I’m not familiar with the source material, but I found this one to be completely underwhelming. It came across like a trying-too-hard version of ‘Highlander’ meets ‘John Wick’, and too much of it felt forced, from the icy exterior of Charlize Theron to the romance between Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli. As for Harry Melling as the villain, he’s probably the most unthreatening screen presence since Jesse Eisenberg was cast as Lex Luthor.
The action felt perfunctory and mostly recycled, with no standout moment like Theron vs Daniel Bernhardt in ‘Atomic Blonde’, or Keanu Reeves vs Roger Yuan in ‘John Wick 3’, it was all just kind of there. With so many opportunities to pitch the old against the new, it felt like a missed opportunity (but hey, it’s still better than ‘Highlander: Endgame’ :-P).
With that being said, I confess the final scene rivals a similar final scene appearence in the last episode of ‘Kingdom’ season 2 for excitement levels. I would have liked to have given this a full review, but in a week where I’ve been subjected to both ‘Legacy of Lies’ and ‘One Night in Bangkok’, I’m spent.
Ooh. That’s unfortunate. Mr Leeder had similar views of The Old Guard.
I never got the “trying too hard” aspect. The choreography seemed on point with everybody in a good rhythm. I liked the little touches such as the team having ammo ready for each other right as their partners ran out.
I thought Harry Melling wasn’t supposed to be threatening. I viewed him as a spoiled trust fund scumbag just like his real life counterparts.
The movie could have used a nice one on one showdown, although I like led Charlize vs Kiki Lane. Maybe the sequel will provide that.
Have you seen the 2017 Japanese flick ‘Ajin: Demi Human’ Andrew? Very similar in its plot and essentially the same concept, would be curious to hear your thoughts on it, as personally I found it to be much more fun than ‘The Old Guard’!