The Old Guard Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

1. The Villain SUCKS

A major issue with The Old Guard is that, once the central squad is established, it fails to give them a compelling antagonist to rally against.

The movie's primary villain is Merrick (Harry Melling), a Big Pharma CEO who wishes to capture the immortals and experiment upon them for his own gain - under the guise of helping humanity, of course.

Even if you can accept how absurdly generic and unimaginative Merrick's motives are, Melling plays the part like an absolute cartoon character, all bug-eyed and over-the-top, which doesn't really fit with the movie's broader tone.

Worse than that, he's just not interesting in any way. As is such a common problem with superhero films, the movie banks so much on its heroes that it leaves little behind for their foe.

If a sequel does indeed happen, it's in desperate need of a more persuasive foil for the team.

But with these flaws out of the way, The Old Guard does still get enough right to deliver a moderately entertaining ride...