THE OLD GUARD - Clunky, & Patchy

Netflix has aced the art of signing up top notch action directors, action / fight choreographers, and scriptwriters to spin some edge of seat potboilers, for e.g., the Chris Hemsworth starrer, Extraction. Unfortunately, the Old Guard starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, is clunky and patchy both in its writing and execution. 

Charlize Theron is now the reigning Queen of playing kick-ass characters. But The Old Guard is no Atomic Blond, and I'm not even comparing The Old Guard to Theron's groundbreaking roles in Mad Max - Fury Road. 

Chitwetel role is so badly written that it feels that he was on a holiday nearby and roped in to play an ex-CIA agent. It does not do justice to his acting repertoire. Layne is the find of this movie and hoping to see more of her in Old Guard sequels (praying that those would be better than the original) and other movies. The rest of the supporting cast are underwhelming, and poorly structured with no back stories whatsoever. The action scenes are smartly choreographed, the best being the one between Theron and Layne on board a rickety plane. 

If the makers and writers want to come up with a much compelling sequel, they need to give more teeth to Chitwetel's character, provide some comic relied (long shot, but get someone like Simon Pegg to write few scenes or juice up the script).

The Old Guard is miles ahead of the Ryan Reynolds starrer, 6 Underground, and has the potential to become a successful franchise like that of Misson: Impossible. 

I will go with two stars out of five for this. Do watch this if you are a big fan of Charlize Theron and the action genre.