The Old Guard 2 is exactly the kind of epic queer story that Hollywood needs to invest in more. I love action. But too often action movies are blatantly constructed and filmed for a male and hetero viewer in mind. And even though I watch them, I don’t see myself in action movies. The Old Guard 2 is different in that it’s a film for women and a queer audience in mind and grounded in a love that surpasses normal human understanding.
At the center of The Old Guard 2 is Andy played by Charlize Theron. When the movie begins she still doesn’t have her immortality. But that doesn’t stop her from doing good with Nile, Joe, Nicky, and now Copley. The difference is that she’s not the first one through the door anymore. Nile, played by Kiki Layne, has taken on a more leadership role and she seamlessly operates with the rest of the immortals like she’s been with them from day one. And I love it.
Enter Discord…
Uma Thurman’s Discord changes everything changes for the better, even though there are some hiccups with this character. The central problem with The Old Guard 2 is that I don’t understand the thought process behind Discord. She wants to end the immortals but there’s also this whole thing about her wanting her immortality back. Pick your lane. She’s a flat villain with no relatability to her. And I wish I got to see a little bit more of the pain and disgust for humanity in her eyes when she was seeing Quynh and Andy being separated all those years ago.
But let’s forget Discord because we need to talk about Andy and Quynh reuniting.
What Andy and Quynh have goes beyond a romantic relationship. They have a cosmic connection grounded in knowing each other down to the last cell in their bodies. And it makes sense because they experienced decades together, faced hardships that no one can imagine, and were the only two people, at least at that time, who could relate to their immortal struggle. They were meant for each other. And to be brutally torn away from that cosmic connection and then find out 400 years later that Andy was free, it burns for Quynh. I understand that anger. And so does Andy.
That Andy and Quynh buildup…
There’s this beautiful buildup in The Old Guard 2 when Andy is looking for Quynh. It’s like she knows in her bones that the thing that has been missing from her life is just around the corner. And The Old Guard 2 takes you down memory lane with Andy to the point that the first time she sees Quynh, she doesn’t see her and remember the last painful moment they shared. Andy sees Quynh and remembers her as she knows her in her heart; a vision of beauty and grace. Quynh on the other hand, so steeped in her pain and anger, sees Andy for who she is now and not the Andromache of Scythia she conquered the world with.
What follows is the kind of beautiful angst that I’ve only experienced on AO3. And that’s a compliment. Fanfiction is the height of creativity. And The Old Guard 2 really leaned into the yearning that comes from being separated from your other half. Even better, when Andy and Quynh find each other, it’s not the end of the story. The Old Guard 2 allows them quiet moments to sit in each other’s presence. And I know that might not be a lot for people who watch action movies all the time. But as a queer person, I don’t see people who look and act like me having a quiet moment where we check each other’s wounds or make sure the other one is sleeping well and covered by a blanket in an action movie.
We also don’t get those playful moments like the one at the end where Quynh and Andy were bantering about who would go first. It was hot. Banter will always be hot. But Charlize Theron and Quynh’s Veronica Ngo how to dance around each other in a way that feels playful but also steeped in years of knowing someone as well as you know yourself. That’s why people have been shipping these two so hard all over TikTok and other social media platforms. And that’s why I’m okay with the ending of The Old Guard 2 even though I’m super angry for the position that the other immortals are in.
That’s where Joe and Nicky come in…
I was so sure that The Old Guard 2 would kill Joe and Nicky. And I’m saying this not because I doubt the director Victoria Mahoney or the writer’s Greg Rucka, Sarah L. Walker, and Leandro Fernandez. I’m saying this because I’m used to queer people kicking the bucket. We’re the ones who are sacrificed to progress someone else’s story. And when I watched The Old Guard in 2020, I was shocked and bamboozled that we had that profound speech Joe gave to Nicky during their capture.
Nicky and Joe have done the impossible by surviving again. Sure they’re captured by Discord and I’m sad about that. But we were absolutely blessed at the amount of banter that we got between Joe and Nicky in the opening sequence of this film. They also got a little bit of action and drove fast cars, really making me want some queer action in the Fast and Furious franchise. But that’s a post for a different time.
And then, because Netflix saw how well audiences reacted to Joe’s speech in the first movie, they gave us another one. But this time around it was Nicky who was reaffirming his love for Joe. And I think that Nicky helping Joe through his fears about the end of their lives by reiterating how much he loves him and the journey they’ve been on, it’s undoubtedly the best moment of The Old Guard 2. Even better, they weren’t in danger. They were having a quiet moment from the stress of it all and we were lucky to see it.
While I spent a lot of this review talking about how this is how you tell epic queer stories, I did want to give flowers to other cast members and characters in this film.
Nile has come into herself as a warrior and immortal. In the first movie she was scared but still loyal, fearless, and dependable. In The Old Guard 2 Nile is still those things but she’s taken more of a proactive role in her journey and legacy. And I don’t care what Discord says, the woman that we know today, is not going to end Joe, Nicky, or even Tuah, who she just met like 2 seconds ago. My faith in Nile goes to show you the strength of Layne’s work as an actress but also the purposeful writing that doesn’t put her character in the shadow of Andy just because she’s played by Theron.
Then there’s Booker…
I don’t think Booker was in love with Andy. He did love her. And she loved him. But we do need to remember that these immortals define love in a different way. It goes beyond romance. It’s about knowing the other as if they were an extension of you. And Booker broke that trust. So any regrets that I saw in Booker’s character came from almost destroying that bond that Booker had with the closest immortal in his life. That was Andy. That’s why I want to make sure that we don’t minimize Booker’s sacrifice into something done because he was romantically inclined when it came to Andy. He did it because he wanted to be free from the pain of this immortality. But also to right a wrong and protect his own.
At the end of the day, The Old Guard 2 is an action movie that makes me feel seen while also not stereotyping me. And that delicate balance actually happening on my screen is proof that other studios and streaming services can do this too. You can normalize our lives and give us characters that speak to the queer community and anyone who likes action in general. That’s true equality. That’s the future that I want to see. And I can’t wait for the epic speeches these characters will have in The Old Guard 3. Because Joe and Nicky have had their time. I need Andy and Quynh to open up about how they feel. It’s time.
The Old Guard 2 is now available on Netflix.
What did you think of The Old Guard 2? Let us know in the comments below!
Queerly Not Straight posts Saturdays with opinion pieces, listicals, reviews, and more focused on the LGBT community (and occasionally about the Latine community since I am Latine.)
“They have a cosmic connection grounded in knowing each other down to the last cell in their bodies” you get it!! they were easily the most compelling part and the actresses had great chemistry. would love to see some romantic declarations for the third movie but i really love what they did here.
As usual. Hollywood goes to tell a same-sex romance story, with action, and does it with a film that is poorly scripted, has poor character development, is disjointed in it’s plot and ultimately has poorly choreographed action sequences. It’s almost as if they were trying to make an anti-gay or, ‘queer’ movie.