The Old Guard was far from a guaranteed hit. The 2017 comic upon which it was based didn’t have nearly the name recognition of, say, Marvel, which had just reached its cinematic apex with Avengers: Endgame months earlier. Its only real star, Charlize Theron, hadn’t headlined a blockbuster in some time. Not to mention, it had the misfortune of releasing in the anxious pandemic summer of 2020. But a hit it was, both with audiences and critics, and hits get sequels, especially when they’re derived from intellectual property that has more volumes left to adapt.

Netflix has long been trying to establish its own MCU, or at least its own marquee film franchise. Efforts like 2017’s Bright and 2019’s 6 Underground didn’t do the trick, so when The Old Guard exceeded expectations, the mega-streamer thought it had finally found an entertaining and respectable superhero tentpole to which it could proudly attach its name. It took five long years to shepherd the second installment to the screen. In that time, and thanks to the popularity of the original, The Old Guard gained more of a following, and the growing fandom anticipated the sequel as much as the studio behind it. So, when The Old Guard 2 dropped on Netflix to brutal reviews from critics and audiences alike, it was a major disappointment… and one that leaves the prospect of an ongoing franchise in a significantly weakened position.

‘The Old Guard’ Franchise Got Off to a Strong Start

Maybe the appeal of the first film shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Though it may have been an underdog, it had a lot of fight in it. The source material was well regarded. Its creator, Greg Rucka, wrote the script from his own work. Its actors weren’t all household names on the level of the Avengers (though Theron and Chiwetel Ejiofor have MCU credits), but they were mostly seasoned vets with multiple award-winning movies under their belts or exciting up-and-comers. Perhaps most importantly, The Old Guard had the directorial vision of Gina Prince-Bythewood, who had previously put forth acclaimed independent films like Love & Basketball and who would go on to make another excellent female-led action movie in The Woman King just two years later.

But filmmakers still had to execute on that promise, as well as expertly balance some high-risk elements that could’ve easily done the film in. The Old Guard plays fast and loose with thousands of years of history, modern-day real-world military operations, deep lore, overt LGBTQ+ representation, anti-capitalist and anti-big-pharma themes, and complex espionage plots. It could’ve been a divisive mess. Instead, The Old Guard felt authentic and appropriately dramatic, with effortless worldbuilding, dynamic combat sequences, meaningful stakes, and solid pacing. That it was a straight-to-streaming movie with good word-of-mouth during a quarantine ended up being another strength it could use to its advantage.

Part of what made the first film so bullet-proof is that its fairly straightforward origin story served as an ideal introduction to The Old Guard’s universe, which was new to most audiences. Theron’s Andy fears she’s losing her ability to heal herself just as KiKi Layne’s Nile is discovering she possesses it. Andy’s fading immortality is a change from at least the first chapter of the comic, and a smart one that improves upon the already compelling main character.

‘The Old Guard 2’ Isn’t Nearly as Invulnerable as the Original

Maybe, just as we shouldn’t have been surprised by The Old Guard’s success, we shouldn’t have been taken aback by The Old Guard 2’s failure. The production was plagued by delays; The Old Guard 2 had to contend with COVID-19 and SAG-AFTRA strike shutdowns, a director change, upheaval at Netflix, and a fire on the set. The swapping of Prince-Bythewood for Victoria Mahoney probably had the biggest impact.

While The Old Guard was thrilling yet grounded, The Old Guard 2 is a tedious, untethered mess. Its tone swings from overly serious to borderline goofy (the winking reattachment of severed fingers, for example), and on the whole, its fight scenes aren’t as realistically choreographed. The plot doesn’t stay on the rails, and the characters don’t ring as true compared to the original.

Instead of focusing on the relationship between Andy and Nile (and Joe and Nicky), the follow-up focuses on the history between Andy and Quynh (Veronica Ngô), two of the first immortals whose millennia-old bond is complicated by the fact that one’s been left to drown in an Iron Maiden for 500 years. The implied lovers-to-enemies storyline could’ve worked (it does in comic form), but the supposed passion between Andy and Quynh played better as a flashback in the first film. It falls flat in The Old Guard 2, which also drops some balls while juggling poorly-told new revelations about how immortality works, as well as an unnecessary new character named Discord (Uma Thurman).

Thurman, of Kill Bill fame, would seem a perfect fit, but Discord is an empty shell of a villain, and her extraneous addition to the story subtracts from Quynh’s agency and purpose. Just like so much else about this long-awaited but underwhelming sophomore effort, it’s hard to tell whether Discord was a wasted opportunity or a bad idea in the first place.

Even in the age of ever-expanding IP, it’s rare for a sequel to surpass the prestige of the original. The Old Guard 2 didn’t have to be as good as The Old Guard. It just had to be in range. But there’s such a noticeable decline in the filmmaking that — even with that sequel-teasing cliffhanger ending, and even though Netflix subscribers are watching — this young franchise might be on its last life.