The Old Guard (2020) * *

Directed by:  Gina Prince-Bythewood

Starring:  Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli, Marwan Kenzari, Harry Melling, Chiwetel Ejiofor

The heroes of The Old Guard are immortal, or at least immortal up to a point, if that makes sense. 
Led by Andy (Theron), the group of immortals have battled evil and fought in wars throughout the centuries.   Here's how immortality works:   You get shot up, cut up, wounded, maimed, etc. and you're out of commission for a few moments before you wake up and your wounds heal.   The newer you are to being immortal, the quicker you heal up and are as good as new.   The older you are, it takes longer to heal, and one day, you may not heal at all.   At that time, you're no longer immortal. 

The explanation is reasonable enough and we proceed on.   Andy has dreams of others among us who may be immortal as well.    She dreams of Nile (Layne), an American soldier whose throat was slit by a terrorist.    By morning, not only did Nile survive, but her gruesome injury has disappeared.    She is rescued by Andy just as she was about to be transferred to Berlin for "medical testing", and Andy and Nile go through obligatory paces of mistrust, fighting, and eventual truce.    If I were Nile, and what just happened to me occurred, then I would at least give Andy a listen before dismissing her story out of hand.

The villain in The Old Guard is Merrick (Melling), a young British CEO of a tech firm whose right hand man (Ejiofor) has presented him evidence that these immortals walk among us.   Merrick wants the group kidnapped and subjected to medical experimentation in hopes of creating new science and increase the bottom line, not necessarily in that order.    Ejiofor's Copley has second thoughts about the plan, and Merrick will move forward with it no matter what the cost.   There is also inner squabbling within Andy's group that leads to a betrayal, albeit a not-so-shocking one.

In between the bloody battles which lead to broken bones, death, and bloodshed, The Old Guard is considerably gloomy.    Immortality takes its toll on Andy, who carries around guilt about losing another immortal friend to a gruesome fate back in the 17th century.   She is tired of being unable to die and it shows.    Theron, of course, is skilled enough not only in the action scenes but as a hero who earns sympathy.    We can also identify with Booker (Schoenaerts), who outlived all of his children, and whose oldest noticed how he hasn't aged a day in 42 years.   With all of this power, what a cruel trick of fate it is not to be able to save your own child from cancer. 

I've grown weary of overly choreographed fight scenes and gun play, and there is an abundance of both in The Old Guard.   The ones here drag on much longer than needed, body parts bend as unintended, and the outcome is hardly in doubt.   Ejiofor has some nice moments as the conflicted Copley, and the sequel is set up, but I think we've seen plenty out of The Old Guard.