The Old Guard (2020 film)

The Old Guard is a 2020 American action film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Greg Rucka, based on the comic book series of the same name. Starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Harry Melling, Veronica Ngô, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film follows a team of immortal mercenaries on a revenge mission.

The Old Guard was released on July 10, 2020 on Netflix. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the action sequences and Theron's performance.

Plot
Andromache "Andy" of Scythia, Booker, Joe, and Nicky are centuries-old warriors who use their regenerative healing and individual skills to help people. They accept a job offer from James Copley, a former CIA operative with whom they worked with before, to save a group of kidnapped girls in South Sudan. They are ambushed and killed during the mission, which turns out to be a ruse orchestrated by Copley, who remotely filmed their regeneration.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine in Afghanistan named Nile Freeman has her throat slit during a house search, recovering later without a scratch. She has a disturbing dream, which alerts the other immortals to her presence, as they have dreams of any new immortals until they are found. Andy locates a confused Nile in Afghanistan and extracts her before she can be transferred for further testing.

Copley shows the South Sudan video to Steven Merrick, who sends men to apprehend the team. Andy transports Nile to a secure location in France, where she meets the rest of the immortals. The group discloses that they are not actually immortal: their power to heal eventually stops without warning. At the safe house, the group is ambushed by Merrick's forces and Joe and Nicky are captured. Andy kills all of their assailants but is wounded and realizes she is not healing.

Nile chooses to separate from the team and reunite with her family instead of confronting Copley. Andy and Booker meet Copley alone, only for Booker to betray Andy and shoot her, claiming that Merrick might find a way to end their immortality. However, while they are being captured, Booker notices that Andy is not healing. When Copley sees that Merrick is willing to torture the immortals indefinitely to study them, he has a change of heart.

Nile arrives too late to intervene after learning that Booker has betrayed the team, but she persuades Copley to assist her on a rescue mission. She storms Merrick's London office, freeing the other immortals before fighting their way out and through the rest of Merrick's guards, with Nile protecting Andy from Merrick by tackling him out a window, where he falls to his death.

Booker is suspended from the team for his betrayal and forced into exile, with the others prohibiting him from contacting them for the next 100 years. The team meets with Copley, who explains his extensive research into their past revealed that their previous missions had a far wider impact than they ever realized, with descendants of those they rescued going on to help the world in many ways. The group entrusts Copley with keeping their secret and selecting missions where they can make an impact, having regained faith in their mission.

Six months later, a depressed and drunken Booker is surprised to find Quynh waiting for him in his apartment in Paris.

Cast

 * Charlize Theron as Andromache "Andy" of Scythia
 * KiKi Layne as Nile Freeman
 * Matthias Schoenaerts as Sébastien "Booker" Le Livre
 * Marwan Kenzari as Yusuf "Joe" al-Kaysani
 * Luca Marinelli as Nicolò "Nicky" di Genova
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor as James Copley
 * Harry Melling as Steven Merrick
 * Veronica Ngô as Quynh
 * Anamaria Marinca as Dr. Meta Kozak
 * Joey Ansah as Keane