by Tim Gordon
Immortality has always come with a price. In Netflix’s The Old Guard 2, that price is steeper than ever. Director Victoria Mahoney picks up the story where the first film left off, but this time, the questions run deeper: What happens when the one thing that makes you extraordinary begins to fade? And what lengths will you go to protect a legacy that could be wiped from history forever?
This chapter explores the terrifying fragility that hides beneath immortality’s surface. Six months after losing her powers, Andy finds herself facing Discord, the first of their kind, who threatens to expose and destroy their world by wielding the history of all immortals against them. When Booker returns with news that Quỳnh has finally escaped her centuries-long underwater prison, Andy is forced to confront a betrayal that cuts across centuries. Vân Veronica Ngô’s Quỳnh is equal parts sympathetic and chilling, driven by rage at Andy’s abandonment and seduced by Discord’s mission of vengeance.
Mahoney leans into brutal, intimate action sequences. Every fight is staged the “old way,” with visceral hand-to-hand combat and weapons drawn from the pages of history, reminding us that these warriors have watched empires rise and fall. The production design and choreography shine, even if the story sometimes relies on heavy exposition to keep the sprawling mythology connected.
What truly grounds The Old Guard 2 is how it shifts its focus: instead of examining the burden of living forever, it asks what happens when that so-called gift can be stolen, traded, or ended. Tuah (Henry Golding) poses the tantalizing idea that immortality can be transferred, which raises the stakes for each member of the team in deeply personal ways. It’s a clever twist that keeps the audience guessing about who might live—and who might finally die.
Theron’s statuesque Andromache of Scythia is at her best here, portraying a warrior who has outlived her sense of invincibility yet refuses to abandon hope. She finds her match in Uma Thurman’s Discord—a character who embodies the darker side of immortality’s unchecked power. Their ideological clash drives the story’s emotional and physical conflicts forward, while the ensemble cast brings back the hard-earned camaraderie that made the first film so compelling. If anything, some characters—like Layne’s Nile—deserve even more room to grow.
The Old Guard 2 continues the saga of its immortal mercenaries with higher stakes and a deeper emotional core. Drawing once again from Greg Rucka’s comic and screenplay, the sequel brings back Charlize Theron’s Andy alongside her loyal, battle-tested team—KiKi Layne, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Matthias Schoenaerts, Vân Veronica Ngô, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. This time, they’re joined by the formidable additions of Uma Thurman and Henry Golding, adding even more intrigue and star power to an already impressive ensemble.
While Netflix’s decision to tell this story through standalone films rather than an episodic series is interesting, it does make you wonder what might have been. A series format could have doubled the context and character depth that the filmmakers could share, giving the mythology more room to breathe. One can’t help but think this franchise might thrive even more with the expanded canvas of episodic storytelling.
In the end, The Old Guard 2 is a strong middle chapter: fierce, somber, and surprisingly hopeful. It leans into the dread that these warriors’ “gift” can end at any time while reminding us that what they fight for is bigger than themselves. It’s the quintessential glue movie—bridging what came before while teasing bigger battles and deeper revelations still to come.
Grade: B-