Review of the film “Immortal Guard”. The torture never ends – review addiction

2020 turned a lot of things upside down. Among his victims was the film industry: you cannot shoot, you cannot rent, you cannot make at least some predictions either – in general, total chaos. But, as Littlefinger used to say “The game of thrones”, chaos is a staircase. In the absence of cinemas, streaming services are winning over new audiences and drawing even more attention to their own exclusives. Works on the front line, of course, Netflix… His “Rescue Operation” turned out to be quite a hit, which was discussed for at least a couple of weeks. But fresh “Immortal Guard”on the contrary, it did not cause much hype. And if the action movie with Chris Hemsworth is about to be turned into a full-fledged franchise, then the picture with Charlize Theron may well quietly push into the background.

Andy, Nicky, Joe and Booker are mercenaries who ride around the world and fight for those who pay more and whose goals are not contrary to their code of honor. The nuance is that they have been fighting for more than a century. Booker served under Bonaparte, Joe and Nicky met in the crusade, and Andy’s full name is Andromache Scythian. You cannot kill them, well, or, at least, it is very difficult – they themselves do not fully understand how it works. But the centuries-old routine comes to an end when the secret of the team reveals the owner of a pharmaceutical corporation with a private army in his pocket. And, as if there were few problems, for the first time in two hundred years a newcomer appears in the group – the American soldier Niall.

The immortal protagonist is not so worn out, but still a cliché, especially in entertainment films. You can remember at least offhand “Highlander”, even Wolverine, not to mention countless vampire movies. Invulnerability or partial invulnerability of a character, as a rule, opens up two options for the creators: you can creatively cripple the protagonist, as in Deadpool, but you can make him talk about the burdens of being and the nature of eternity. Some of the directors choose one thing, some – both. But the creators of the “Immortal Guard” mixed these components in rather strange proportions.

The movie has almost the same identity crisis as Hulk Eng Lee, however, is not so acute. It was as if the studio were ordering a blockbuster, but director Gina Prince-Bywood was more interested in drama with an immersion in the characters’ characters. And just with this in the “Immortal Guard” there are no problems. Each member of the squad is lovingly discharged and perfectly played, each has its own baggage of experiences and clear motivation. Andromache suffers from the feeling that centuries-old attempts to bring at least some benefit to humanity ended in failure. Booker yearns for a simple life and a simple death. Well, Niall only has to part with everything that is close and dear to her, because eternity is ahead. The club of existential longing lovers successfully dilutes the mandatory gay couple: Nicky and Joe. The crusader and the Saracens, who first killed each other and then fell in love, are romantic to cloying.

It’s nice to watch the relationships between the characters, and the old “new in the team” plot scheme is presented, if not from a fresh angle, then at least competently. Niall does not blunt, does not annoy and does not draw the viewer’s attention to Andy too much, because the main character in the film is a Greek warrior, not an American soldier. The fact that Charlize Theron is a goddess, and so everyone knows very well, and the “Guard” gives her a full turn. Andromache is strong, wise, and selfless, but at the same time she is broken and in many ways vulnerable. This is not Captain Marvel and not just the female version of Connor MacLeod – Theron created her own image. Not to say that it is very original, but multifaceted and lively.

But “Immortal Guard” is presented as a fantastic action movie, and here everything is more complicated: there is not much action in the picture, and the one that exists is not perfect. It can be seen that the creators, as is now accepted, were guided by the trilogy about John Wick. Hand-to-hand combat is intertwined with shooting, and the fights are fast-paced, aggressive and moderately bloody. Only Chad Stahelski, who was involved in action films with Keanu Reeves, is himself a veteran of stunt movies, and therefore understands better than many how to work with stuntmen in the frame and how to shoot fights as effectively as possible. And Gina Prince Whitewood has only a few drams and superhero soap “Cloak and Dagger”… Perhaps that is why the feeling of the “dance of death”, as in “John Wick,” does not arise in the shootings of the “Immortal Guard”. It seems that there are a couple of successful finishing moves, and the immortality of the characters is played out, but all the same, fights seem to be a routine link between plot episodes.

But, perhaps, the main villain of the film is the most irritating to the eye. No, not the one played by Chiwetel Ejiofor – everything is just fine with him: there is a tragic background, and a motive, and moral torment. This is the pharmacist Merrick played by Harry Melling – the grown-up Dudley Dursle of Harry Potter… We have already seen enough of the evil Elon Maskov in Venomeand in “Bloodshot”but the Immortal Guard offers perhaps the most caricature of all. Melling in it, of course, is good, but the hysterical, comedic antagonist somehow weakly fits with the overall tone of the film. Like a soundtrack in which influence is again felt John Wick… Only Keanu Reeves threw bandits to hypnotic vocals Kaleida, and Charlize Theron got some kind of secondary and memorable pop.

“Immortal Guard” bears little resemblance to a typical summer blockbuster – for him there is little gloss and attempts to impress the viewer. Unlike The Phantom Six Bay or the same “Rescue Operation”, it is impossible to present the film on the big screen. That is, you can, of course, but only in the form of a loud box office failure – but on Netflix it just looks quite organic. So if you are set for something more emotional and measured than a typical action movie for the evening, then the Immortal Guard can leave a good impression.