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This movie was a talk of the town. Everyone is talking about. When I first heard a sequel was in the works, I was excited. The original Old Guard was a rare gem—high-octane action wrapped around ancient truths, nuanced immortals, and a groundbreaking queer love story. So when The Old Guard 2 dropped on Netflix, I went in hopeful—but came out conflicted
Charlize Theron is back as Andy, the immortal but never scared hero, whose strength was her heart always. This time though, she is deprived of her immortality, and straight away, she is thrown back into world chaos. A polished opening attack on an arms depot is a foretaste of adrenalin, but as credits start to roll, adrenalin disappears. The movie is not tight. It is disjointed and seems more like putting together a puzzle we cannot complete yet-the pieces which are left out may be in the third movie which Netflix is not even considering yet.
It is occasionally brilliant. In the opening villa raid, which is shot in a senseless mess of violence and dirt, we get a stellar boat accident by KiKi Layne as Nile and a group exercise by Charlize Theron. It foreshadows the magic that we adored the previous time. However, the sparks do not last. There are scene after scene dragging, and exposition after exposition piling up, and the momentum is drained.
The new characters (Tuah, played by Henry Golding, Discord, played by Uma Thurman) feel half-sketched. The threat and backstory of Discord are teased out but fail to achieve the actual villainous impact. The heart-throbbing affair between Andy and Quynh, which used to be one of the strongest emotional hubs in the original movie, is left unexplored. Rather than the emotional reunion of shedding tears we are greeted with a dry hug. A letdown, considering that the queer love was among the very first to be portrayed in a mainstream action film with a female lead.
The greatest disappointmentthe endingwhich is the most cliched thing that critics have always pointed outis that it is a very abrupt cliffhanger that makes you feel that the crew forgot to complete the film. We are treated to a sequel set up, and not a satisfying arc. That is not good service: asking the audience to be interested but not providing them with any sort of conclusion, holding all the emotion in check until… when?
Despite the disillusioning form, here and there some instances emerge through the mist.
The meeting between Andy and Quynh has silent drama. The raw acting is evident when Andy is put in the line of fire of losing her immortality and Quy Nhon taking her revenge.
And then there is the corridor sequence- Andy passes through the echoes of her centuries, making it a single-take sequence, that combines video, history, and raw emotion at once. That was one of the few diamonds in the rough that the critics raved about in the movie.
And yes, Charlize Theron is a magnet. She lugs around trauma, anger, and raging loyalty in all scenes even when the plot around her is failing
I think that after watching The Old Guard 2, I had a weird feeling of respect and still unfulfilled desire. The ambition deserved respect-it did not merely reprocess old plots, it attempted to look deeper. However, it did not touch the emotional chord I experienced in the first movie.
It was as though we were seeing actors practice a play that did not make it to the end of the play. Strong screenwork, beautiful action scenes, yet also a vacuum-an emotional satisfaction that is teased at but not fulfilled.
It taught me that self-containment is very strong in a story. The original was a full-filled, complete treat: it was full of promise of more yet it was self-sustaining. In this case, The Old Guard 2 is empty not because of ambition but ambition because of nothing.
The Old Guard 2 is the example of What might have been. It is tense at times, has characters I would like to engage with, and contains iconic faces, but it is like a bridge not a destination. The follow-up is half the story and the viewers should be satisfied.
Watch if:
You are still experiencing the high of the first movie and you are eager to see the characters once again, albeit in the slightest manner.
You love moments of beauty, such as the corridor scene and Theron as powerhouse performer.
You can even tolerate a story left in that position to be sequeled to which there may be no sequel.
Skip it if:
You’re here for a complete film with satisfying arcs and emotional closure.
You don’t want to invest time in a story left literally hanging.
At the end, I closed my eyes, hoping for more. I wanted a full ending—to feel the stakes resolved, to feel Andy’s portrait of immortality and love concluded with compassion. Instead, I felt let down.
But I also felt hopeful. Those sparks were real. The love was real. The performances were real. Give it time. If Netflix greenlights a true Old Guard 3 and completes the arc, I’ll be ready to finish the journey. Until then, The Old Guard 2 is an imperfect sequel to a story still in its prime.
Thumbnail is designed by me on pixelLab and other images are screenshot from the movie