The Old Guard starts out with a great premise, but fails to do anything interesting with it. Join me as I break down why this movie turned out to be such a disappointment.
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Doesn't the limited resurrections mean that the woman who got placed in the drowning casket would die rather quickly since she would be burning through her "lives" at an extremely high rate?
@@carljohan9265 Depends whether it is lives based or time based. And is it pre-destined or do you just have a random chance of death each time you die, like rolling a 1 on a d20.
This takes me back to the introduction to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That montage of Wolverine and Sabertooth fighting their way through a century of war was the movie we all wanted to see and they blew it.
I actually didn't mind that movie. It a pretty fun watch for me. Compared to the garbage we get today, including the shit stain mentioned here by Daddy Drinker, it looks like a masterpiece...
Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team
Convoluted Premise: check Mary Sue Heroines: check Diversity: check Relativistic Ethos: check White Male Villain: check Unthinking Minions: check Inconsistent Phenomena: check Convenient Plot Points: check Not offensive to ChiComs: check We got ourselves a blockbuster here.
That day was about 80 yrs ago. Obviously there were lots of films with pure artistic vision all the way up to 90s. But Hollywood has been build on social engineering since at least after the WW2. They just were better at doing it, or there were other reasons why it wasn't so obvious
It's the same agenda - but as movies have become more of an international business, Hollywood's adapted by making movies that entertain more demographics. There's no big conspiracy, they just wanna sell tickets, same as usual.
@@redlightmax Yes there is a grand conspiracy and it has been there from the start. Hollywood is about social engineering. Freemasons etc. occultists are being used to usher the new world and it's insane customs. Entertainment and fashion industry are the most used industries for brainwashing, and it sure has done it's magic. The last 50yrs was leaked 50yrs ago. Pretty much everything has gone precisely as said, and the book was detailed.
@@redlightmax if Hollywood really wanted to sell tickets they wouldn't be releasing flop after flop. They are creatively bankrupt, they just don't care anymore if a movie does well, all they care about now is sending "the message".
they had agendas in the good old days, and convoluted fucked up ones at that in some cases, but it was executed so much better. there's a reason good propaganda is so effective ; you can't tell it's propaganda.
Current year Marines can probably wear high heels, lipstick, nailpolish and a skirt. If they're men. And womxn of color can wear braids as they like. And a helmet smacks of the patriarchy so xe don't wear dat.
That's of course because diverse female, ninjas-from-birth characters of social justice origin are more badass than any regular humans and therefore don't need helmets, protective gear and can fire any weapon one-handed turned sideways and hit their targets with 100% accuracy at any range with even looking. Heck, when they join the Marines in real life, there's not even any drill instructors nor commanding officers who are remotely qualified to train them; and they take orders from no one.
Characters not wearing proper protection is par for the course, for ALL types of characters. It's been a thing in fantasy movies forever. Movie studios don't like to cover actor faces.
Andy is short for Andromache, which is an (ancient) woman’s name. The security guards were using the tools and training that they had, which was, basically, shooting. You think Andy comes across as « frustratingly normal? ». She is jaded, burned out, and cynical. Also, the more you want to know about the immortals … is coming. It’s in the books, and they are working on more movies in the series.
That moment when a 20 year old 'Highlander' series, and a now 30+ year old 'Highlander' movie beats your movie filmed on a budget of 10x the adjusted value of both combined....
The way the movie and series used the plot as an excuse to show flashbacks that were relevant to the current situation while also fleshing out the characters was awesome.
I always find this guy more interesting than the bloody films, better dialogue, sharp as fuck, always funny, deserves a much larger platform.... but always such a pleasure
You know what's funny, the namesake of the show, "the old guard", were Napoleon's most experienced and hardened soldiers. So that point about them fighting at waterloo would make for a much more interesting story.
Im not a big fan of Highlander, but after seeing the Old Guard, Id have to say its basically an insult to compare the Highlander to this piece of crap. Drinker did to have a control group, per se, to compare this heap to, but I would say replace Highlander and make it Immortals: Diverse Mercenary Edition.
The best thing about this movie is that it indirectly made me want to watch 'Highlander' for the first time (through this video), and read some Vampire Chronicles novels again for Anne Rice's interesting handling of the immortality conundrum.
"diverse rookie immortal" Well, there goes the neighborhood. Woke "immortals" wanting "equity" Well, that sounds like "kill it with fire, if that fails, remove the head"
They could have played it off as when a new immortal is created, an old immortal loses their immortality. Then they would all be super careful until they figure out who can't heal no mo.
@@Thematic2177 a quick fix would be the person who loses their immortality doesn't happen right away but instead progressively and too slow a time to actually be discovered by something as little as a paper cut but a gun shot wound would do the trick
@@yikes313 You'd think after being alive all those centuries they would have studied their immortality and cracked it a long time ago. Nope........we just use our gifts to kill people until we can't kill no'mo!
Charlize is raising her son Jackson as a girl since he said he was one at the age of three. My son told me at that age he was Superman. And that is precisely how he was brought up.
Funny enough I recently wrote up a backstory for a character that has a vaguely similar premise. To make a way too long story short I based the story on the one of Galahad, the perfect knight that found the Holy Grail. However, expanding on it (it is a parody after all), I made it so that Galahad was part of a group of five, representing various nations and ethnicities on the search. They found the Grail, Galahad drinks from it, goes to heaven, etc. However, when the rest try to drink, they had to split it as there was no more water. One gets cursed with absolute immortality, one heals all wounds, one has a happy life, and one gets trapped in the temple where they found it. Of course I made the curses rather ironic, the popular happy knight got a lifetime of happiness, the knight without any major injuries healed them all, immortality is a curse in of itself in the long run, and the knight most out of their element was trapped in the temple. Immortal knight helps the one trapped to live out life comfortably, they eventually die, he goes off to his home and goes back to being a knight. Goes through several world conflicts, yadda yadda.
Have you considered publishing it somewhere? As part of a book with short stories or as a standalone online? It sounds very interesting. I'd happily read it.
You would expect immortal people with hundreds of years of experiences to become wise and creative in finding better solutions than violence in every situation.
@@IRMentat no she doesn't. And even if she does we won't appreciate it because nowadays women are insulting male action stars and the thing called ACTION itself by inventing words such as toxic masculinity and blah blah blah blah while they themselves enjoy seeing men flex muscles and punch bad guys. I won't appreciate women anymore because honestly I have had enough of shameless hypocrisy from most women and I won't tolerate it anymore. Consider this as being even.
Considering the combat experience they are meant to have they sure get hurt a lot & do dumb things. You’d think they would be like ghosts by now when doing a mission. Also I’d imagine if people like this existed they would be more of a collection of high priced legendary assassins rather than a team of dirty mercenaries.
Also.... supposedly they helped develop history, but how so? They have no morals, no defined project, they just roll with what happens, who pays more. Like.... coool, i guess...
Additionally, I'd think a group of warriors that are more experienced, powerful, and apparently driven than any other on the planet would be more than mere mercenaries. I'd expect them to be John Wick-level operatives with an international reputation who, say, go their own way and use their abilities to try and make the world a better place. Building relations with various partners or entities to aid in their modern crusade. Perhaps other immortals seek to abuse their powers and establish themselves as an ultimate, ruling authority and our band of heroes are their gatekeeping rivals or something. Literally anything than being soldiers of fortune when you'd think they'd have a unique perspective on the whole life thing by now and no longer waste their time pursuing great material wealth. Ah, whatever.
@@zoeadkins9095 that’s what I think drinker was referring to. It’s unlikely every immortal would agree to be run of the mill mercs (maybe one or two, even then you could give them an interesting motivation as to why they aren’t pursuing something bigger) I’d like to have seen the different immortals vying for dominance or control say one is an elite assassin and another a body guard or one rises through the ranks of the third reich as the other fights alongside General Patton. And that jumps to mind without putting any thought whatsoever into it.
Nothing anything any of you are saying makes sense lmao, just because they have a lot of experience doesn't make them infallible, also if you were functionally immortal you wouldn't care as much about getting hurt either. You clearly watch too many movies if you think people like this would become some legendary guild of assassins and not do exactly what they do and fly under the radar as much as much as possible, they even state WHY in the goddamn movie 🤦🏻♂️ also there have been lots of immoral people who have shaped history or people with no intention of doing so, even the movie again points out that they didn't even realize their impact on the world which means they weren't purposely trying, its implied that some other force gave them immortality and guides their actions through the ages. I feel like movies aren't half as bad as people act, people are just stupid but also somehow think they're movie critics
There's this manga called Ajin with a very similar premise: The Ajin are people who regenerate from ANY form of death, including literal disintegration (which is actually used in a very clever way). And unlike in this movie, people DO find ways to counter the Ajin by arming themselves with tranquilizers. And it works... for a while. You see, one of the villanous Ajin kills himself when he gets shot with tranquilizers, which "resets" him to a state without it. This in turn has the protagonists looking for new ways to take him down, while the antagonist keep figuring out ways to deal with them. Seriously, if anyone enjoyed the premise, try to read the manga (anime is meh thanks to the animation).
It's better than this crap, has great animation but it suffers from the typical over-explaining everything that you often get in anime. The characters describe everything we're watching like we're either blind or a complete moron who can understand what we're watching. It annoyed me so much I had to turn it off.
Early on in the movie, Theron's character introduces herself to newbie as "Andromache of Scythia", it just took me right out of the story, and my immersion never did manage to recover from that. It was bad enough that a character who grew up in ancient Scythia would have called themselves a Scythian (the vaguely derogatory Greek name for them), rather than Scoloti or by the name of their particular tribe, but expecting us to believe that someone who looks like Charlize Theron was a Scoloti was just downright ridiculous; they may as well have cast Samuel L Jackson to play a Romani, then have him introduce himself as a "gypsy". Joe calling himself "Saracen" isn't great, either, but is a bit more excusable than the Scoloti/Scythian thing, as he was trying to explain things to someone who probably learned the history of the Crusades from European "historians", and it's a term she'd recognize; Andy calling herself "Scythian" came up in a circumstance without such justification. (Yea, the issue with "gypsy" having originated as a racial slur is actually a thing with pretty much every name commonly used by English speakers for historical cultures from outside Western Europe, and even for some from within Western Europe; dunno why only "gypsy" gets any recognition or attempted improvement.)
This seems very nitpicky and would only affect someone who knows the history behind these things. I, for one, didn't even know what Scythia was or whether it was even a real place.
This actually raises a further question--why does she have so obviously Greek a name (one meaning, if I'm not mistaken, "fighter of men"--subtlety, thy name is feminism!) if she's a Scythian?
@@turtek12 Andromache is an ancient Greek name, but it doesn't mean fighter of men (despite what google and Wikipedia may tell you). There is a subtle difference. It means, "someone who fights like a man" (basically a woman who can fight as good as a man). So, yeah, woke all the way.
The older I get the less I care about the budget and some of those types of things and the more I realize the writing, characters, and a coherent compelling story are what really matters
Kind of like video games. The push to make games more cinematic and realistic seems to be making games shallower every year. Developers are focused more on their flashy set pieces than actual story telling and gameplay.
@@jovenc4508 I can agree to a point but games can be fun without as much story. A game like red dead 2 has both but it wouldn’t be as good without the environment of the game as well. I guess the concept is the same but different details matter in games than films.
I always knew it. Even before I could explain it like an adult I always felt some movies were a failure due to the absence of coherent plot and/or meaningful dialogs. You can't hire a good actor and hope they will pull the movie off when there's literally nothing for them to act.
I feel that 'The Old Guard' was missing 2 vital ingredients: 1 - It needed a French actor to play the Scotsman 2 - it also needed a Scottish actor to play the Spaniard. Had the director followed this tried and test method, the film would have been a classic, Oscar winning, masterpiece 😂😂
Technically, it is a Scotsman playing an Egyptian. Highlander said that some immortals have odd dialects because over centuries, they come from 'lots of different places'. Still, your point is well taken.
@Guacamole Waffles Absolutely ha ha ... Highlander 2 must be the most bizarre sequel ever made ... having almost zero connection with the original. Incredible what they churned out with such a great cast onboard .... worthy of some kind of award for incompetence 😂😂
@@halley4032 I have heard that the sequel repurposed an original script that was never supposed to have anything to do with the Highlander franchise/intellectual property, and was supposed to be its own movie. Don't know how true that is, though. If I were a filmmaker, I'd like to get my hands on the original script, as it was before it was repurposed, and make a movie out of it the way it was supposed to be. Then again, I would also remake crap movies with good concepts, like Hudson Hawk, so my films probably wouldn't make any money and I wouldn't get work.
Let me get this straight. You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands...and your plan is to blackmail this person? [pauses, smiles] Good luck.
I was thinking today that the biggest problem with the woke culture of today is that 20 years ago, we'd have just watched this and either liked it or shrugged and considered it standard B-movie shlock. But after several years of being told that we need "representation" have merely endured movies where they are not the lead leaves me feeling like ANY movie that doesn't have a heterosexual, white male as the lead is clearly not FOR me and is obviously a micro-aggression toward me. Which begs the question, WHY should I watch these movies? Twenty years ago it was just assumed that Angelina Jolie or Halle Berry or other great actresses could carry a movie simply because they were great actresses. But if we need to have a movie headlined by Brie Larson to fight back against the patriarchy, then why should I ever watch a movie not targeted to me no matter the capability of the lead, since its clearly just meant to put me down like all the cinema of the 20th century did for everyone else.
Exactly. A good character is a good character regardless of any immutable characteristics. I don't need someone to look like me to like them, regardless of what the current narrative tells us.
What also bothers me about this and most every other movie with immortal, ancient (or at hundreds of years old) beings is how their characters are portrayed. This gang looks and behaves every bit the hip and trendily dressed bunch of actors they are; no depth or sense of weight to their personas.
Drinker, you’re an absolute legend mate. You’re always spot on with your criticisms and you do it in such a hilarious way. Thanks for the hours of entertainment!
DAYUM, I actually had this on my watch list for some reason, maybe a well-edited trailer, but now I think for the very first time the Drinker has completely saved me from wasting my time, and since time is money, friend, this has been well worth the price.
You hit the nail on the head. After seeing this with a friend, we discussed how much better the movie could've been. In the end, a complete rewrite is what this movie needs...
This movie really needed more character writing. It needed a more in depth analysis of what it means to be immortal and the pain that causes. It needed less saving African school children though that could have easily been used for a backdrop. Just make the villain who kidnapped them immortal, tie him to the plot of the MCs badabing badaboom. Most importantly the stakes just sucked. Also the commenter above me is spamming their channel.
- I wanna see if they're _really_ immortals - And if they are? - We let them kill our unsuspecting men, let them go and then try to capture them again, this time _with their full knowledge that we're after them_ - Brilliant, sir!
The random immortal stoppage was only a thing so that diverse minority rookie could own the bad guy, be more bad ass than the baddest bad ass over multiple centuries, and save the day. That's the ONLY reason for that being a thing.
she wasn't bad ass, tho, and was fairly new to the army, too. it WAS a way to get a rookie involved, for sure. but bum-rushing a dude out a window is not "more bad ass" than anyone in that movie, esp. since Andie had just did an awesome move to bury an axe in bad guys neck. no reason to bumrush him at all, he was dead already.
@@morganseppy5180 You have got to be kidding me. You think slashing somebody with an axe is more epic than barn storming your way to an enemy and plowing him through a plate glass window 10's of stories up from the ground and then making him fall to his death because the person doing this happens to be immortal. Did you see her wiping out all the people with her gun....and YOU are the one saying she was new to the army, but yet she's kicking ass just as good as these people who have been professional killers for centuries. So yeah, Andie may have killed him, but minority diversity rookie REALLY killed him. Because reasons.
When the credits rolled on this, I walked into our bedroom and my wife asked me if it was good. I had told her it sounded like an awesome plot and I like Charlize (Devil's Advocate made me a lifelong fan if ya know what I mean). I told her it was kinda sad... because it was such a cool idea that could have been multiple movies or a sweet TV show... but instead it was just a scientist that wanted to know how they tick. There were at least 3 solid movies there. Or a "Streaming" series with a few solid seasons in it (going to different eras). I mean, shit, they all look the same throughout their lives. And shit, they didn't come up against someone who had tracked down their existence and had plotted to capture them by drawing them out in some amazing way or something. Na, it was a traitor. I remember saying... 'oh bullshit' out loud when he shot her. And yea, the dialog was trash. When the gay dude weirdly described his love to the henchman I remember saying, again out load, "well, he just got gayer." The scientist guy was just horribly written. As far as you described the fight scenes etc. You nailed it. I couldn't have put it to words, but it felt... too trashy/cheap. They wasted Charlize like you said. But yea, the entire concept was awesome... and utterly wasted. Should have been a series. Should have been intro'd with this arc and then gone back to WWI, WWII, Berlin Wall... so many cool things they could have brought in and done it on a decent budget. OK, no I'll go away.
Watching this movie made me a little upset, since I was a kid I had ideas for a book which has a bunch of extremely weird similarities with The Old Guard - which I never even knew existed. From the immortality theme, to a traitor in the midst, to someone being stuck in an iron coffin, to not influencing things or going after positions of power. It pissed me off. I've never felt confident in writing it, but the more I watch Critical Drinker's videos on bad modern media can be, I feel like I have a shot at writing something interesting just as any Hollywood fucko.
It's completely baffling to me why the goal of modern feminism is to turn women into men. No celebration of the strengths of women, or the unique traits they have, no, they just want to turn into men. It's so weird.
@@Ruiluth It's the same question is why can't 2 guys just be good friends? brothers? They HAVE to be gay because there are gay people in the world. You MUST have lesbians. Why can't a writer just have a choice to not write them in their stories? Without malice. If I want to write a story and I just happened to not put certain people in it, it's not racist or sexist or whatever pobhic.
@@Excalibur01 the question is: Why can't they be gay? i think you dont like it because they're not ambiguous/vague with their relationship...there are so many movies with brothers/friends in these type of movies you can watch instead if that's what you're looking for...so what if they want to put gay guys in there that's still a choice right? whether or not there are homosexuals isnt the problem tbh props to them for having gay guys have major roles in an ACTION movie.
@@pauloforever12 It's a writer's choice. It's not "why can't they be". A story is not real life. It's a fantasy and everything you put in there or leave out serves a purpose. In real life, if you know a gay person, you never ask...why are you gay. This is the real world you live in. But in a story, EVERYTHING has a purpose to it. If someone makes a character gay, it's just as purposeful as stories that has no gays or stories without romances. You're championing a writer's right to be inclusive because they SHOULD. I'm championing a writers right to write whatever they want and if they didn't include every type of person, it's not a spite on those people. If a story is missing people YOU prefer, that's the same excuse you just gave me. You can watch OTHER films, shows, or read other books that have what you prefer. Movies like this are check box movies. As The Drinker has been pointing out. He skipped over the gay immortals because at this point, it's not even fair. It's like how token blacks used to be pointed out. Gays are now the tokens.
Is that all actresses are taught in acting school these days, how to look pissed off and how to beat up scores of men? Lesson one: Look with contempt at any white man you meet. Lesson two: assault same white man if he looks at you wrong. Lesson three: Don't show any emotion that might reveal you're not perfect in every way.
They also learn to prolong their flagging careers by giving their sunderage kiddoze shex altering shormones and then publicizing it. Good for a new five movie deal and Oscor nom.
I don’t know, man. It was, to me, an entertaining and decently thought-out couple of hours of my time. I was entertained, despite the plot holes and obvious politics. Something about this movie was just… innocent enough to be worth the time and effort. Just my personal opinion.
Look up "rule of cool" at tvtropes. Not that anything in this low budget shitshow movie looked cool or badass. Theron was even the requisite butch looking wahman, all she needed was the side of her head shaved. The ancient flashback scenes looked like something out of a Sam Raimi show like Xena. It was just a mainly dull and boring looking, sometimes ugly looking movie.
what bothers me is that it is not historical, or i should say not a common historical design. it looks fake even to people not familiar with historic weapons. in contrast, the highlanders katana and claymore are two of the most iconic weapons in cinema.
This sounds like a decent premise of a series. We start following the "fresh" immortal through his or her first death, then once she realizes her immortality, "the old guard" pops in, say mid-second episode. Have every episode start with five minutes of flash-back to past times for one of "the old guard", setting up some character hook for the episode to resolve, and you have yourself a (potentially) decent ensemble action-drama.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on A Quiet Place part 1 and 2. I recently watched both back to back and found them to be quite middling. I don't understand all the hype surrounding them.
The Old Guard generally felt like what a Secret World movie could have been like if you threw in cosmic horrors and ancients myths and legends into the mix. The 'bees' (people who swallow a magical honey bee) are effectively immortal up to a point, as long as the body isnt completely destroyed/atomised you can be revived. Definitely a lot of wasted potential as to what they could have made it. Secret World even has a corporation that experiments on its own employees to give them supernatural abilities so they can mass produce people similar to the 'bees'
I forgot having ever seen this. The most memorable thing about it was evil business guy being Harry Potter's cousin. Dudders lost a fair but of weight, around the same as 2 average human males, give or take.
There’s one thing I really like and yet also super question about this movie. I REALLY like that as well as guns they use the weapons they originally used, showing the overwhelming power of someone who has trained in a skill based weapon for almost 1000 years and connecting them to their past. On the other hand how does no one hiring them question the fact they are carrying giant fucking medieval weapons into modern war zones. Like you’d think you wouldn’t hire the merc with a giant fucking battle axe weighing her down, seemingly just to look cool.
The most compelling part of this movie was when Andy and quynn (the friend/romantic interest) got caught and quynn got put in the iron cage and thrown to the bottom of the ocean. I remember being totally floored watching that, like holy shit this movie went hardcore, but then it returned to the boring stuff.
That was the best bit story wise. Imagine drowning then coming back to life just to drown all over again. In the cold dark water. For hundreds of years. There were plenty of other moments that could have been just as impactful. Instead of the immortal dying in the past, what if it had been one of Andie's friends, someone she's known for hundreds of years who dies in the present? Then she has that trauma and the bad guy to deal with.
Would you even wake up? With no oxygen to support consciousness (or anything else), I think she'd only keep resurrecting on a basic cellular level and dying without ever having the resources for anything near human-level brain activity.
Beings that live for centuries have a fundamentally different view of existence. Making them the same as regular people is the BIGGEST mistake you can make for a movie like this.
In the comic Andy doesn't lose her power it's just in the movie literally almost nothing like the comic just a really bad adaptation that takes the names and concept that's it
I think if I was an immortal being imbued with the maturity and wisdom that a lifetime of thousands of years would bring .... I'd have better things to do than run around playing soldiers with my mates. But Hollywood sure has a hardon for these super-assassin films, especially when the protagonist is female, or black, or both
Tbf it's incredibly hard to write ancient immortal characters. Most fail horribly, especially when it's vampires. It's just not something most people can imagine and you probably need a master in clinical psychology do manage an accurate portrayal.
@@HunterSThompson123 I mean: you could at least TRY. As a writer exploring a cohort of immortal characters SHOULD be the most interesting part of the story. There are traditions, rituals, psychological and sociological anomalies. Honestly, you could provide that as a starting point to any undergraduate creative writing class and I'm confident you'd get at least one bizarrely compelling take from a group of a dozen students.
Imagine being so dumb that even after thousands of years ... you still have to risk your skin on dangerous missions... I would be tanning on a private island as would any person with their powers who is not braindead.
@@infiniteyep Of course you can try. I'm just saying that it's really hard as it demands a lot of knowledge on various fields or else you end up with shit like this or basically 90% of all vampire movies or shows where their age and experience is just measured in suffering while they don't grow at all, still make the same impulsive and rash decisions, have the same value system or use the same strategies for war even after 1000 years of life experience.
"a bunch of promising elements that fail to coalesce into a satisfying whole" - That exactly hits on the head why I have given up on Netflix Originals. After about the third show in a row where I thought "great premise, a few great moments, but I am simply not entertained after giving it 4 episodes" I'm just not convinced that the Netflix way of doing things actually works.
It's like Netflix has an understudy going for "we want to give you A class entertainment, but we only want to spend B money". Why does this movie feel like Dollar Store potato chips?? Good in small doses, but better keep the Pepto nearby. It could have been a decent reboot of the Highlander providing it umm had someone who could actually write? Like with Charlize Theron, it was such a waste again of a good premise. She was good in Aeon Flux, but the movie itself, well if your an Aeon Flux fan, you would understand. It's something a fan will deny EVER existed.
It’s not just Netflix, it”s every new TV show these days - some kind of “original” idea and plot device that looks promising. But then the show doesn’t go anywhere and the characters are wooden with no development.
I think this goes for any media company these days. They are woke to the core and incompetent too. They still manage to produce something from to time. First season of punisher was OK. Second a bit too woke but watchable to certain point. But this all is diluted in a sea of crap.
@@jokurandomi93 one may think that would be impossible or? as said first season is ok. The second has ideological undertones there is one of main characters that is definitely woke and then one of the main villains wants to hunt the little creature. It is ok to watch and they do not exaggerate till now (I am somewhere in the middle now). Better than the old guard for sure. Also this superhero thing gets boring of late. A character that hardly suffers does not exist. Is like CD says: when you are this much off the mass of humanity and you are still a human you suffer and that is visible. But I wanted to say this: woke is not poking its finger into your eye than it is watchable. old guard is cringe because it does that but also because it has a bad script. Woke is just another annoyance.
The other day I saw the ending of the (I think) 3rd John Wick movie, where after killing like 300 people, he comes up against this tiny little "tough wahman" with a stereotypical look of superiority. But when they fight, he pretty much just picks her up and throws her around! That was so refreshing to see! Way to go, John!
I like that almost NO movie in recent history ever shows what a headshot looks like. Because it's freaking graphic, that's why. An AK-type projectile will effectively make your head look like a broken egg unless there's a helmet containing the mushy bits.
You're going to love the treatment of the Wheel of Time from Amazon. I watched the trailer and it basically a feminist manifesto about how they can handle anything. Get on it my boy!
Did you read the books? All however-many-of-them? That's a pretty recurring theme in the source material. I'm sure 2021 hasn't done it any favors, but it isn't like the message came out of left field. There's a pretty strong thread between the village Women's Circle doing the "real" business around town, and the Aei Sedai (sp?) definitely uh, "assist" politics around the realms. Many of the royalty are unescorted queens as well. The more powerful male characters are all basically evil as the male half of the source of power was tainted by "the dark one" eons ago. Just accessing their power corrupts them, and they're usually collected and put down when they exhibit signs of having the ability. Edit: I'm actually quite excited for the series, but I would have preferred animation. Such a long-running source material involving young adults is likely to see actors age out before they finish. I know Harry Potter and Game of Thrones figured it out, so I guess we'll see.
Lol, of course Diverse Shady Government Guy character would end up being a good guy. Hollywood is so predictable, can’t have a black villain anymore, he’ll change sides to help humanity. It’s Finn’s character arc, as well as many other ‘diverse’ characters.
My GF and I never fight. Except about movies and tv shows. I try my hardest to channel my inner critical drinker during these arguments (made harder by the fact that I've probably had 3 or 4 large whiskey's) but I'm never as eloquent or succinct in detailing how much I hate the current menu of entertainment. She tells me she is able to just go along for the ride... Which is when I usually say something like, "I love you baby, but you're proof, ignorance is truly bliss", and then all hell breaks loose. Thank you Critical Drinker for laying out how we all feel but are not as deft in explaining it to others.
Hi, CD. Really enjoying your channel. Here, I wonder, as you repeatedly say things like "I'd want them to..." or "I wish they'd..." or "couldn't they..." what CD would change -- story-wise, specifically -- to turn it in to that story. I agree with you almost 80% of the time that it "could have done" thus and so. But in this vid particularly, it seems like you're describing an arc for not one but many characters; plot development that, to fit your high standards, would be... two, maybe three movies. Maybe we share a frustration that no one seems to be able to construct a movie that can choose its story and character and laser-focus on it and tell a story that's tight af. Or, frustration that there's no patience from audiences to wait for that long-arc type of movie-making. Maybe all the really good creators are doing their stuff on streaming services? Dunno. That's all for today. Go away now.
The first Highlander got it so right. You really felt that Connor lived a long life. You could see it in his face and demure. I loved the back and forth in time where you see his life and the gerat losses he had.
@@Gainn Just the way he looks. His eyes. There's a lot of pain in them. He's just looks tired of living. This was made when people actually knew how to write and act characters. It didn't matter of it was a big or low budget movie. They knew how to make them and make them connect
Great review as always. I am hoping for a review/opinion on City of God , i saw it recently and really enjoyed it and i would like a professional point of view.
Holy crap. That's real dialogue!!! I genuinely thought you dubbed that for a joke at first. That is INSANE. Like, someone thought that was good, and kept it in the film.... I'm a writer, a pretty mediocre one, and I've written some cliche, bs junk that makes me cringe, but NEVER have I ever written something soo pathetic, not even in highschool in my edgy phase. That was the worst thing I've ever heard.
You nailed it with this one. Couldn't have said it better myself. Old Guard really twisted my knickers, I absolutely despise it. It could have been so much better, so much more done with the IP.
I'm absolutely baffled at how Charlize Theron is considered an amazing actress. She plays the same character in every movie. She couldn't even wipe the scowl off her face long enough to be a housewife in Hancock. I haven't seen Monster, but I'm convinced that they just put enough makeup on her to disguise how pretty she.... (can be without the scowl??!?) is and make people think she was acting.
Sums up my exact feelings on the movie. Why did the 80s/90s action blockbusters work so much better? No forced same-sex relationships, not shot with brown filters to create "mood", no arbitrary diversity- although a glance at the cast of, say, "Predator" shows it wasn't lacking back then, and plots that were straightforward enough they didn't require 75% of the movie to explain (and left fewer potential holes).
Predator was so cool! It's what got me into action movies :) Too bad the series went bad. Now I just feel sad when I see there's a new one. Same with Terminater :(
how is the guys relationship "forced"? if it was a man and a woman saying the exact same thing you wouldn't think twice about it. This group is pretty diverse but the black woman is pointed out, why? You can find plotholes in predator if you look at it as hard as he is looking at The Old Guard.
I didn't even realize that duo was gay till they kissed, no chemistry no eye-contact no nothing leading up for me to think that. They just suddenly kissed and babbling that dialogue I was like 'Fuck! not another woke shit'. Can't they just make some simple side story about their love and put it somewhere in the movie ?.
The Critical Drinker is the moon when we're lost in darkness, and warmth when we shiver in cold, and his reviews still thrill us, even after 3 years. His glass overflows with the whisky of which this world is not worthy of. I love this man beyond measure and reason (he's not my boyfriend)
Saw this movie last year. So unforgettable that I didn't remember seeing it until part way into the video. I should have watched your video last year so that I didn't waste my time watching The Old Guard in the first place.
It's based off a graphic novel. In the comic Andy doesn't lose her power so quick. Netflix probably set it up so that DRI got more importance in the movie
I think they missed a point with the lack of evil immortals, both for flashbacks (a self-styled god-king commanding an army of fanatics) and the present day (a shady business man who has been building a financial empire for centuries).
Honestly I don't think they knew what to do with the concept. The idea of immortal, super old and experienced mercs, is cool. But they had no idea what story to actually tell with them.
@@Janx14 They don't even seem like "immortals", just clear-skinned Deadpools/clawless Wolverines with a powerful healing factor. Since their LONG time spent on earth seems to have hardly affected their personalities or the way they see the world, you could drop the "long-lived immortals" element and then you're left with generic action with nearly invincible protagonists.
The lack of effective weapons also infuriates me. Its also the main reason I hated "In Time" staring Justin Timberlake. There were many things wrong with that movie but in particular I disliked the fact that everyone used guns and other lethal weapons in a world where if a person dies their "money" dies with them. So why wouldn't the standard weapons be tasers or tranquilizers in order to knock out people without killing them?
I can see your point, there's some plot holes here and there and things definitely could've been explored more. But I still liked the movie for what it was, just something fun to watch and pass the time and I feel like i understand the characters differently than you do.
And of course, the only romantic couple that can happily survive centuries together is a homosexual one, because Heaven forbid, we have a traditional husband and wife whose marriage can withstand the centuries
They tried to repeat the success of Extraction. The only appeal for me is that I like this actor Mathias something. I think he may be Norwedian or Danish. He was in a few movies I liked(most of them unknown). This actor was second choice of Zack Snyder if Ben Affleck refused the Batman role.
Best part about The Old Guard: they PICK UP DISCARDED GUNS!! One of the things that bugs me the most in action films is when the good guys run out of amo after slogging through tons of bad guys where they leave the amo. Freaking grab it!!!! I know it’s small but it makes sense and no one ever does it.
I've done so much gaming since The Plague (tm) started, I've begun getting annoyed when movie heroes don't loot the corpses and rummage through the room for crafting materials.
@@Anthonyelmio2 I can’t watch John Wick. I don’t like animals die. I’m a sap. My dad came home from seeing the first one and looked at me and said, “Nope”. But good to know. It’s become my biggest action flick pet peeve.
@@stevenscott2136 get outside. It’s not the plague. You’re doing yourself harm by staying inside. But agreed, if you have the time loot the bodies. We should put that on a shirt.
The friend in the ocean would've died every 2-3 minutes of every day for 100's of years. You'd think that she would've reached her 'life limit' by now, eh?
Maybe it's a certain number of years and not a certain number of lives. I would care more about the lore of this setting if the movie didn't look so tedious.
So its Highlander meets Jason Bourne, meets Resident Evil (because Alice) Also, note how its the MAN who betrays them, as CD says, he could've just stepped out and just offered himself for the experiments or found a way to test the limits of his immortality, after has this guy in all his days and travels never tried jumping into an active volcano?
