3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Old Guard 2

2025, Victoria Mahoney (a lot of TV including Lovecraft Country) -- Netflix

This movie is the sequel to the first one. 

Really deep statement there, toasty me fellow.

I recently rewatched the first one, in preparation for this viewing. It stands up. As is common with what I consider "middling actioners" once I get into the rewatch cycle, I can ignore what I didn't care for first time round, focus on what I do like. I expected pretty much the same from this sequel.

So, yeah, we pick up ... (Googles) ... six months after the events of 1. Andy (Charlize Theron, Hancock) is mortal, Nile (KiKi Layne, Captive State) is still with the team and .... frak, I don't even recall what the opening action sequence was about, beyond re-introducing the characters to us, new haircuts and all. But the real opening sequence is seeing the retrieval of Andy's old girlfriend Quỳnh (Quinn; ahh the stereotypical fantasy naming convention of taking a standard name and adding apostrophes to it; Veronica Ngô, Bright) from her entombed state at the bottom of some ocean location Andy could never pin down. Someone had the resources to locate her, and we know it won't lead to anything good.

Nile has a dream about a library, which triggers a look from Andy. Said librarian is Tuah (Henry Golding, Last Christmas), another immortal Andy doesn't talk about, someone from her past who stepped away from the violence to study... everything? Tuah explains that yet another immortal (they need to sit Andy down with a, "are there any other immortals you need to tell us about?!?") named Discord (the social platform must be named for her; Uma Thurman, My Super Ex-Girlfriend) stole some books from his library and is ... after Andy and her crew. Also, she kidnapped Booker, who was in exile, and yes, she has recovered Quỳnh -- that shakes Andy to her core. What Discord's motives are is unclear.

Now that I think back on this movie, its feeling a bit over-stuffed, like the mid-franchise Marvel movies. There are more immortals, there is a first immortal, there is a mythical connection between the "first immortal" and the "last immortal". There is an old failing and bitterness, and there is an even older bitterness. So much drama. And there is a Chinese nuclear facility that is part modern art exhibit, part death-dungeon, but is very little.. power plant? Absolutely none of that sequence made any sense to me. I don't actively dislike any of the movie, but it all ends up feeling muddled. Like many sequels, it ends up trying to be more than the original, but somehow ends up being much less. And like many other sequels, this one ends on a cliffhanger.

I really enjoy the idea of this movie franchise. I love the fact it is primarily about women warriors and both movies have been helmed by women. Its comic book born and fantasy driven (swords & guns), which puts it square in my wheelhouse. There is a whole wide world to explore here, but I do wish they would mete this out carefully, and focus on the characters. These warriors have been around a really long time and that perspective is worth exploring. Petty grievances are human, and these immortals still are, as are failings & frailty, but I prefer these characteristics contribute to the story, not become focal points.