The Old Guard (2020)
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A team of immortal mercenaries must protect a newcomer while navigating a conspiracy that threatens their secret existence.
The story
Andy, Booker, Joe, and Nicky are mercenaries with unexplained regenerative healing abilities. They accept a job to rescue a group of kidnapped girls in South Sudan, breaking their rule of never working for the same employer twice. The mission proves to be a ruse by their client James Copley, who films them being ambushed and killed, before quickly recovering and defeating their attackers. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Nile Freeman is killed but recovers and heals without a scratch. The immortals are alerted to her existence and Andy tracks her down to extract her from the area before she can be captured for testing.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Andy, Booker, Joe, and Nicky are immortal mercenaries who discover a new immortal, Nile, in Afghanistan. After a failed mission in South Sudan orchestrated by Copley, they bring Nile to a safe house in France. They learn that their immortality can eventually fail, as it did for the long-lost immortal Quỳnh. They are ambushed by forces from pharmaceutical executive Steven Merrick. During the chaos, Joe and Nicky are captured, and Booker is left behind. Later, Booker betrays the group to Merrick, hoping to end their immortality. However, Copley realizes Merrick's motives are purely greedy and sadistic. Copley joins Nile in a rescue mission to storm Merrick's headquarters in London. They free the others and defeat Merrick. The group punishes Booker by sentencing him to 100 years of solitude. In an epilogue, a drunken Booker finds Quỳnh in his apartment.
- First release year
- 2020
- Runtime (minutes)
- 125
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Gina Prince-Bythewood
- Writers
- Greg Rucka · screenplay
- Genres
- superhero; action; thriller
- Themes
- immortality; sacrifice
- Tone and mood
- action-packed; serious
- Setting
- South Sudan, Afghanistan, France, and London.
- Premise and plot tags
- superhero; mercenaries; fantasy
- Source material / true-story basis
- comic book series
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews, with praise for its action sequences and Theron's performance.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 70 · scale: 100 · review count: 45
- Awards and nominations
- Hugo Award · Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form · win
- Production trivia
- The film was the top-streamed item on Netflix over its first weekend.; The production was set in locations including Morocco and the United Kingdom.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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