About a month ago I was at my comic shop and I saw a collected group of issues on the table of an Image series called The Old Guard.  It looked interesting, but I had never heard of it before.  I asked the shop crew about it and they told me it was a bout immortal mercenaries and that it was coming to Netflix..  It interested me, so I picked it up.  I loved the series, written by Greg Rucka and I have started picking up the follow up series.

Then I looked into the Netflix thing and I found out that it was going to be a film on the streaming service and it was going to star Charlize Theron.

I was so in.

Charlize Theron has been awesome lately with her kick ass action films, from Mad Max: Fury Road to Atomic Blonde.  Seeing her play Andy from the comic really felt great to me.

I was not disappointed with the adaptation on Netflix.

A group of mercenaries who heal quickly and are immortal are led by Andy (Charlize Theron).  Nile (Kiki Layne), a marine who discovers that she, too, is an immortal, is recruited by Andy’s group.  Meanwhile, Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) tries to hire the group to rescue kidnapped children, but it turns out that he has ulterior motives.

I enjoyed this movie and I feel as if the film does a really strong job of adapting the comic to the screen.  Part of that, I am sure, is that Greg Rucka wrote this screenplay.  Neither the film or the comic dives deeply into how this happens to these people, but that was not important.  There are references to their past, just enough to not load the movie.

There is some very good action in the film.  I heard some criticism of the way the action is filmed, but I did not find that an issue.  There may have been some shaky cam, but it was not enough to disrupt my viewing or to make it difficult to see what was happening.

The cast is strong.  Along with Theron and Ejiofor, Matthias Schoenaerts plays group member Booker.  Kiki Layne was fantastic as the new character, Nile.  Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli play the couple, Joe and Nicky.  They have a great chemistry.  Harry Melling’s Merrick as the main villain here is a bit over-the-top, and cartoony, but it does not pull me out of the movie.

The film is clearly set up for a sequel and I sure hope that it will be so.  The Old Guard is a fun film with a great premise.

4 stars