A fire in the legendary Cinecittà studios in Rome, which in August 2022 the filming for “The Old Guard 2” paralyzed briefly, was probably the smallest problem that burdened the long delayed sequel. Everything should have been going very quickly. After all, the fantasy action “The Old Guard” did not only become one of the most viewed Netflix originals of 2020 …
… The film adaptation of the comics of the same name by Greg Rucka was also much better than most expected in advance: negotiating under the substerubility actually achieved a touching-tremendous depth-and the no-nonsenses action also banged well. Not to mention the curious teaser in the mid-credit sequence.
Bankruptcies, bad luck and breakdowns
But then the delays began: First, director Gina Prince-bythewood got out to turn Viola Davis instead-a good decision! Instead, serial director Victoria Mahoney (“Lovecraft County”, “Grey's Anatomy”) came on board so that it can finally start filming in June 2022. But then the actual Supergau passed: A few weeks after the start of post -production, Netflix had a change of management and the already finished project was put on hold without further explanations.
When there was green light again, the Hollywood strikes came in 2023-so necessary afterwards could only take place in September 2024 (two whole years after the actual work). The result, which is finally published by Netflix five years after “The Old Guard”, is by no means as terrible as you could have expected it to be the history of production, which was characterized by bad luck and breakdown. But after the promising debut “The Old Guard 2” is a bitter disappointment.
Even if she is no longer immortal: Andy (Charlize Theron) is still courageous in the fight.
Andy (Charlize Theron) is no longer immortal. But her team of immortal still leads her: Together with Nile (Kiki Layne), Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli), she infiltrates the heavily guarded villa of a gun dealer – for the good of humanity. However, it looks very different, however, Andy's old friend Quynh (Veronica NGO), with whom she once stripped through the country for 1,500 years: after she has spent 500 years in an iron virgin on the ground of the ocean, where she always drowned again immediately after her revival, Quynh understandably has a huge grump on all mortals.
With this anger in the stomach, Quynh is an easy goal for the first immortal ever: Discord (Uma Thurman) apparently intends to say the mortals – or at least she does to tense Quynh for her purposes. In her need, Andy turns to the immortal Tuah (Henry Golding), whose existence she has so far kept secret in front of her team. Tuah has a particularly strong connection to other immortal – and because he is constantly dreaming of them, he has been holding all of her stories in books for centuries …
A lot of new ones – and the old suffer from it
The newcomers cannot really convince the new addition: Henry Golding (“Crazy Rich”) is not decreasing the role of the hermitage librarian (quasi professor X) despite the Weiser-Mann-Bart-and even if Veronica NGO (“Furie”) convinces in the Martial arts sequences, quynh's unfortunate hatred remains after a half-millennium Uninterrupted torture painfully underdeveloped. Even the first encounter between Quynh (quasi magneto) and Andy, from whom you would have expected a Robert-de-Niro-and-al-Pacino-in-in-in-in “Heat” moment, is disappointingly anti-climate.
Uma Thurman, on the other hand, is already taking a Katana pose reminiscent of “Kill Bill” on her character poster-but as a new top prolongated, she receives so little screen time for a long time that she can hardly develop a correspondingly threatening aura. Apparently, she is primarily about putting her position for “The Old Guard 3”. But whether the trilogy conclusion actually comes after all the delays in the second part is actually in the stars despite the statements of the stars. After all, Charlize Theron, when the project was on ice, couldn't even say exactly what a problem the Netflix decision-makers actually have with the film.
With the also immortal Tuah (on the far left: Henry Golding), Andy's team in “The Old Guard 2” has grown.
What was already good in “The Old Guard” also makes you mood in the sequel – it remains a lot less time between the new characters and one more in plot: Charlize Theron (“Monster”) is still kickass – even if the action scenes are no longer quite as crisp and sometimes unnecessarily dismembered. Nevertheless, there are some creative ideas on how you can handle self -healing in such sequences nasty and painfully: Nicky once clings to the open door of a sports car that races along the tight Italian serpentines. His foot grinds over the asphalt-and just when it threatens to tear down, the Wolverine-like forces still use.
Matthias Schoenaerts (“The taste of rust and bones”) desperately further in the role of the booker, which has been violated in the predecessor, on his immortality-while Marwan Kenzari (“Aladdin”) and Luca Marinelli (“Martin Eden”) are still emitting one of the most heart-warming cocks in fantasis film history. With this group, as in the original – you just like to spend your time – so I also have to admit that I would not be averse to a “The Old Guard 3” despite the disappointing sequel. After all, the chemistry continues to be correct – and to let us up with an open end like in “The Old Guard 2” would not be fair by Netflix either. Then they should have left the second part in the gifts.
Conclusion: Not bad and if you liked “The Old Guard”, you should take a look at the sequel. Nevertheless, “The Old Guard” is inferior to the predecessor, who surprised us so joyfully with his mix of badass action and deep tragedy in the Covid summer 2020.