#the old guard fucking with copley <3 SO GOOD <3

[marwankenzarisgaylittleearring]

booker being homophobic: bland. unoriginal. just plain bad.

booker being clueless about joe n nicky initially not for homophobia reasons but because he is dealing to coming to terms with being dead and quite frankly a lot is going on his life cut him a tiny bit of slack. but the others don’t REALIZE booker is clueless of joe and nicky being Joe and Nicky so when booker finally comes out of his misery enough To Realize It he also realizes they thought he knew the WHOLE TIME so he has to play it off like he’s known the whole time he’s known them but quite frankly he has zero memory of attending joe and nicky’s 56th wedding ceremony that he was apparently at: SO much comedic potential

HARD HARD HARD AGREE not only this but also every iteration of copley being a bit clueless about joe and nicky being joeandnicky is SO chef’s kiss like THAT is what we’re all about in this house

#god the amount of fics and ficlets of copley being so caught up in the immortality thing #that he just <3 does not realise the joeandnicky thing <3 #its so good. its so peak. im also thinking of uh... vopiscus i think it was ? #idk why bc that doesnt really have anything to do with this but #the old guard fucking with copley <3 SO GOOD <3 #anyway PLEASE TELL ME MORE ABOUT THIS WEDDING CEREMONY BOOKER DID NOT REALISE HE WAS RING BEARER FOR #'i thought we were just having a nice dinner' #'booker nicky was wearing a suit' #'yeah okay i should have known something was up if nicky looked put together' #Anonymous

[nevermindirah]

part 3, "Kid": How every character in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood relates to the main character, Nile Freeman

Stop writing people calling Nile "kid" 2k4ever

Andy calls Nile a baby one time, minutes after first dreaming of her. Andy then calls Nile "kid" three times, all to her face, all in the first few hours of their acquaintance. Booker calls Nile "kid" once, on the porch outside the bar. That's it. The context for these lines is super interesting, and calling Nile "kid" in fic doesn’t make any sense without the original context.

When Andy, Joe, Nicky, and Booker wake up from first dreaming of Nile, Joe and Nicky immediately start sharing facts they noticed, and Joe starts sketching. Booker is in his feelings but he contributes a few things to the saying-facts-out-loud rally.

Andy is 100% in her feelings. She starts the conversation with "No, not another one." Then once the boys have gathered a bunch of facts and Booker says "I felt her die" Andy comes in with this:

Andy: [stares at nothing straight ahead, voice is remote, detached.] She’s a Marine. [Joe and Nicky look up together.] Combat. Or near combat duty. Afghanistan. [Shakes her head slowly, wearily.] It’s been over two hundred years. [Whispers, anguished, buries head in hands.] Why now?

Got it. Joe and Nicky are the competent soldiers, Booker is the semi-competent drunk, Andy is the boss. Andy is the fucking depressed boss. It's in this context that Andy, having analyzed the information her direct reports just gave her, made the determination that Nile is a Marine in Afghanistan, and let her team have a brief back-and-forth about whether to change their plan to go retrieve the new one before announcing the decision that is ultimately hers to make, refers to Nile as a baby.

Andy: Get to France. Use the Charlie safe house. I’ll meet you there. [Joe examines his sketch, blows pencil-dust off it. She stares at Booker.] Find Copley. [Joe tears out the page and hands her the sketch. Andy stares at it.] Jesus. She’s just a baby.

Andy's metric fuckton of I AM BEYOND DONE just leaps off the page/screen. Keep that existential exhaustion in mind as we see her early interactions with Nile.

Nile: [stands, panting, regards Andy suspiciously.] Who are you? Andy: I lead a group of immortals. An army, I guess. Soldiers. Fighters like you. [softer tone.] Look... [Andy steps toward her; Nile steps back.] You’ve got questions, kid. I get it. [tiny smile, small nod.] You want answers? Get back in the car.

Andy: [lightly] And I was the one who cut your throat. Right? [stares at Nile, who stares back, then looks away; she has no answer for that.] Listen, kid. You already believe in... [points upward, follows it with her eyes.] You should just keep following that illogic. [Pulls her jacket over her shoulders as a blanket, turns on her right side, back to Nile, lies on the pile of duffel-bags like a reclining chair.] You’re already on board with the supernatural. [Speaks with eyes already closed; it makes no difference to her.] If I were you, I’d get some sleep.

[Nile stands slowly, glaring at Andy, sets her body as she prepares to continue the fight.] Andy: You really want to do this, kid? [Andy’s eyes are bright, her expression relaxed but anticipating; she looks like she thinks this will be fun.]

Andy is looking at this retrieval mission as something that must be done, but quickly and with as little disruption as possible to her team's ongoing mission to find Copley and protect themselves from exposure. And then here comes Nile Freeman, competent as hell, taking no shit, questioning everything, stabbing her and escaping a moving vehicle and just fucking fighting her at every turn.

"Jfc kid will you just get in the goddamn car" feels pretty reasonable in that context, yeah? At least from Andy's perspective. From Nile's, you're fucking right you're gonna ask some goddamn questions before getting on a drug-smuggling plane with someone who just shot you in the head.

It's worth noting that Andy doesn't precisely say "jfc kid will you just get in the goddamn car" — she says "I need you to get back in the car please." She says "can you please not do that again" when Nile fucking stabs her. She's exhausted and frustrated and just trying to get through this and back to her main mission, and from what we see of her so far she's generally gruff as a person, but she's not an asshole, and she’s really showing Nile some respect here, all things considered. I mean, imagine being this polite when someone stabs you. This is a tired adult trying to get another tired adult on board with a sensible plan.

Andy: Argh! [Andy grabs Nile’s knife hand.] Fuck! [throws it violently aside, forcing Nile back a step. With the knife still in her, Andy sighs deeply and looks at Nile. Nile recovers her balance and stares that Andy is hardly reacting to having a knife in her.] Can you please [grabs the knife with left hand, yanks it out] not do that again? [throws the knife on the ground.]

Once they fight on the plane, Andy never calls her kid again. Andy is already starting to regain some of the energy her long life has worn away from her after just 10 minutes on screen with Nile. Andy went into this retrieval determined to be someone Nile can rely on, and that still stands, but by the time they’re in France she’s realizing she’ll come to be able to rely on Nile too. She introduces her to the boys as Nile and that's that.

The only other time we hear the word "kid" in the entire movie is near the end, outside the bar with Booker.

Nile: Yeah. [takes a breath.] Talked to Copley. Said he could fix it. Make it look like I was killed in action. [nods gently to herself] My family will mourn, but, uh... [tiny shrug, head-shake.] ...they’ll be able to move on. It’s just like what we did with my dad. [sighs. Turns to look out over the water. Voice wavers.] I just really want to hear my mom’s voice one more time. Booker: [looks down, pauses, turns to lean next to Nile.] You’re a good kid, Nile. [looks at her, speaks earnestly.] You’re gonna be great for the team.

Sébastien le Livre, whose greatest tragedy is that his children disbelieved and rejected his love for them, would be very moved by Nile's concern and love for her mother. "You're a good kid, Nile," in the sense that she's honoring her parent in a way he, a bereaved parent, appreciates.

There's also the fun shippy reading that he's preemptively friend-zoning her because there's about to be several lifetimes between him and spending any more time with this woman he was having an obvious "oh no she's hot" reaction to over dinner in Goussainville, but I, a feral BoN shipper, like the first reading even better.

But the point is, calling Nile "kid" is an element of the movie that says a lot about the characters using that word. When it gets repeated in fanfiction, it says something about the author.

If you're reading this and reflecting "oh shit I wrote the team calling Nile kid without thinking about it at all beneath the surface" I have a really cool suggestion for you: just edit it. Or at least consider not doing it again. We all make mistakes. We all run with things that we pick up in canon or see in other people's fic that seem funny and harmless, and once we think about those things more deeply we might find that actually it's kinda fucked up, or not what canon was trying to say, or fine on the surface but not fine if it becomes The One True Fanon. Having characters who are either white, men, or both call the adult protagonist who's a young Black woman "kid" all the time carries a weight to it. Please let's let that weight fall off Nile's fully-grown shoulders.

Next up, orders, suggestions, assistance, and other flavors of mentoring Nile and/or telling her what to do. Credit and appreciation to StarWatcher for transcribing the movie here on AO3, all my line quotes are pulled from there.

#nile freeman #andromache the scythian #yusuf al kaysani #nicolo di genova #sebastien le livre #book of nile #dirah discusses tog team dynamics #tog meta #tog #mine #userhayls

[kill-your-authors]

Booker again (again...)

People really think Booker knew what was gonna happen to them. They really think he purposely brought the entire guard to Merrick’s lab to be tortured and held hostage indefinitely. How?

The person Booker made the deal with is Copley, right? Not Merrick, but Copley. We see Copley say, “I think I can get you one,” when Merrick demands all of them. This proves that initially, Booker agreed to bring only himself in. Obviously, at some point after this, Copley would have contacted Booker and said actually we need all of you. Possibly Copley told Booker by the time they were on the train that he needed them all, if you interpret Booker’s reason for not wanting to get Nile yet to be this. But even still, initially, he thought it was just him.

As the movie goes on, we see Copley 1) find out that Merrick is willing to torture them, 2) that he intends to keep them against their will indefinitely, and 3) that he doesn’t care if Andy dies. With each new revelation, Copley is clearly shocked and disturbed. He obviously didn’t have any of this in mind. He obviously thought that only Booker would have to come in, and after conceding to that, obviously believed that everyone would have to come in and give samples, but after giving samples, that they’d be let go. He says, “You’ve got your tests. Your samples. What more do you need them for?”

I know that “giving samples” and “torture” are synonymous here, because we see Kozak “taking samples” and the agony it causes Nicky. But in the original script, they were originally meant to “give samples” while aestheticized and when those samples and tests all suggested that there was nothing different about the immortals’ DNA, Kozak said that possibly the anesthesia had compromised the results and Merrick orders her to take samples and tests without anesthesia this time, giving Copley another revelation that shocks and disturbs him. We were literally meant to see, initially, that the tests and samples would be painless and over with quickly. I know people are judging the movie, not the script, but I think this detail is important to include because it once again reveals to the viewer how little Copley knew. I’m actually very disappointed they cut this, as I think it’s so important.  

But anyways, whether we take the script into consideration or we don’t, we all agree, right, that Copley didn’t know what would happen to them? So…if Copley didn’t know, how could Booker have known? And by “known” I mean known as in how could he have consciously known ahead of time, agreed to it, and meant for it to happen, if Copley, the person he made the agreement with, clearly didn’t know and didn’t want to agree to it? Booker didn’t. He couldn’t have.

I think it’s arguable, really beyond arguable, that Booker should have known what would happen. He’s old, he’s seen the worst of humanity, he knows what happened to Quynh, he’s been part of the Guard for 200+ years and the whole time has had to keep his immortality a secret alongside of them because of the dangers of their exposure. It’s beyond ignorant that he didn’t see it coming from the beginning, and as for why he didn’t see it coming from the beginning, I think it’s probably either because of denial, blind desperation to end his immortal life, privilege or some combination of all three. I also think as the movie went on, he started to see it more and more, or maybe fear it, or acknowledge what he was in denial of to some degree, because he didn’t want to get Nile. And because he should have known what would happen, and because of what did happen, he’s still guilty of betraying them and still deserves to be exiled. 

So this isn’t me trying to make some argument that he didn’t betray the Guard, or that he didn’t do something selfish and wrong, or that the exile is too harsh or whatever. But even still, I don’t understand why people perceive him as this like…thoroughly vindictive person who has no regard for anyone but himself and doesn’t care if his family is held hostage or tortured or killed.

I’ve talked before how I don’t think the movie did a good job of showing Booker’s side and portraying exactly why and how he came to make this incredibly misguided decision but there is enough in the movie to know that Booker believed this was a win-win. He, at least at first, thought he and/or the others would go in, take some tests, give some samples, and as a result millions of people would either live when they would have died, or if they wouldn’t have died, would now suffer less. And in exchange, he gets to end his life like he’s so desperate to do.

Plus he’s aware, pretty much immediately after shooting Andy, that he’s fucked up. He protests just one time with the line “What would you know of the pain of all these years alone?” but other than that, tells them to leave him behind, admits he hurt Andy, says that he “Expected more, hoped for less” when he finds out about his exile, and says, “She’ll learn,” when Andy says Nile wanted to let him off with an apology, and the only reason he would say that is if he agreed there has to be a greater price for what he did than an apology.

If he was really this vindictive heartless selfish man who doesn’t care about his family, don’t you think he might have protested a little more? Defended himself a little more? Don’t you think he would have refused to admit any wrongdoing?

Like at this point, I really just think this is a matter of the morality police again. If a character does one bad thing, they are all bad and bad forever. One wrong thing, regardless of intentions, regardless of harm done, regardless of a willingness to take accountability - that character is now Problematic and Irredeemable.

It’s just so annoying that nothing is allowed to be complex or nuanced anymore.

#the old guard #sebastien le livre #booker #The old guard meta #I don't know if anyone cares #but I have to say it because it's driving me up a wall

[avelera]

Things I just have to assume about the whole “Booker and Copley turn the Old Guard over to Merrick for medical research/to help Booker die” thing:

1) At some point, whatever deal Booker originally made with Copley got double-crossed, or it just failed. I can’t imagine for a second his deal was, “Capture all of us and keep us locked up forever so a sociopath can torture us for profit.” He might want to die but I don’t think he’s that stupid. So, I assume something went wrong. 

Now, maybe Booker was naive, and as an ex-criminal should have known to be more suspicious of Copley, but I can much more easily picture that his depression led him to trusting Copley, whose grief was so sympathetic, when he shouldn’t rather than that his depression led to him not giving a fuck about his family getting captured.

2) The plan was never supposed to be any of the immortals ending up in custody, and Copley never raised the possibility to Booker. Otherwise, Booker would have just turned himself over, right? But if Booker never thought to do this on his own, maybe it’s because Copley never raised the possibility OR  because Booker point blank refused to become a lab rat, not unless there was no other option. Copley says he might be able to “get one” of the immortals, so he probably knows Booker would be willing to cooperate, but he seems uncertain even about that, which leads me to further believe that Booker never intended any of the immortals, including himself, to end up in custody.

Booker gets double-crossed by Copley too when they get captured at his house, and the only reason Booker turned on Andy at Copley’s was because he also didn’t want Copley to die. Obviously, he couldn’t have known Andy would stop healing in the middle of this! He also didn’t expect to be captured.

(Maybe the original plan was just for the “kill floor” to happen, with their tissue harvested there and without Andy realizing they’d been filmed? Then everything went sideways when the samples were ruined and Andy figured out who set them up and set out to kill the guy Booker was working with to try to help humanity, and he wasn’t going to let her murder this guy, then Nile happened, and from there everything spiraled?)

3) Merrick must have some sort of reputation as a world-class humanitarian philanthropist good guy, OR some kind of personal relationship with Copley, perhaps developed while his wife was getting treatment for her MS, that made Copley naively believe that Merrick wasn’t going to go full Pharma Bro the minute he got what he wanted. There must be SOME reason he decided Merrick was a good person who had not only the greatest medical capabilities but also would make the best use of this research to help people. Seriously, any other non-psychopathic doctor would probably prefer to work with the samples without TORTURING the subjects first, and Copley may have believed Merrick was one of those AND had the most advanced lab. 

4) Booker has brought up the possibility of going to a doctor before and has been repeatedly shut down. Nothing else explains why he didn’t bring this up to Andy and the others and instead ambushed them with it. On the one hand, Nicky, Joe, and Andy have probably been to every doctor and quack magician for centuries and know there’s nothing that makes them unusual to science.

BUT, I could easily see Booker getting frustrated with this explanation just as any modern kid might get annoyed with older relatives about technology. For all their worldliness, Nicky, And, and Joe might still be very out of date with how far medical science has come, which Booker could find immensely frustrating. If Merrick is on the cutting edge, maybe he’s got something no one else has. If every time Booker brought up the possibility, he just got shut down and told it wouldn’t work, at some point he’d probably just stopped bringing it up to the others and went rogue to find the answers he’s looking for. 

Look, there’s a huge plot hole at the center of the film which is where all “Booker Discourse” springs from. 1) What was Booker and Copley’s original plan? 2) Why didn’t Booker just turn himself in? 3) Why did Booker trust Copley? 4) Why did Copley trust Merrick? 5) Why didn’t Booker tell the others that he wanted to try to use medical science to die? 6) Why would Booker betray his family and get them all locked up by a sociopath dead set on torturing them for profit? Did he just not care anymore?

We just don’t know! If we had even one scene of Booker telling Copley he doesn’t give a fuck if Joe and Nicky get tortured as long as he gets to die, that would be something. If we had a scene where Booker says he’ll help set up a scenario where they get killed on camera and a bunch of samples can be collected, but no one is going into custody and they’ll vanish until Copley comes back with a cure for Booker, that’s another possibility. Without at least one scene to this effect, we’re left with wildly different interpretations of how dumb, naive, cruel, apathetic, unfortunate, or desperate Booker was based on how each viewer fills in those blanks.

EDIT: And just to clarify, I truly think that Booker’s plan ended after the Kill Floor, I don’t think he was the puppet master after that. He didn’t know Merrick, he didn’t know who Copley was going to pass the samples on to or that Merrick was suddenly demanding live specimens instead of samples (Hey, another great discussion topic for a Booker & Copley scene if we had one!). 

IMO, everything after the Kill Floor was damage control. Mostly, it was Booker being unhelpful in Andy’s quest to hunt down Copley and kill him, because Booker didn’t want Copley to die, because to him, Copley’s only sin was trying to help Booker find a way to die and most likely, he and Copley bonded over their shared grief over dead family members. 

Then, Nile shows up and Andy loses her immortality, everything goes off the RAILS. But I don’t think Booker develops a NEW plan to get samples when he shoots Andy at Copley’s, I really do think everything has been cover-up for whatever the initial plan was and to protect his source, Copley, from Andy. I could definitely be misremembering the film but the idea that anything to do with Merrick can be blamed on Booker seems a stretch to me. Booker didn’t know Merrick or have any contact with him, it’s Copley who got double-crossed by Merrick’s greed, Booker as far as I can tell was just working with Copley and letting Copley work with all the 3rd parties.

And if you think Booker is dumb for doing this, you’re probably right! But that sure does make the whole Old Guard dumb too then, because they end the movie by putting their lives in Copley’s hands, as if he couldn’t capture them with the same tactics again long, long before they show up to kill him.

#the old guard #booker #booker discourse #tog meta #long post #I hope this makes sense I know it's a bit rambling

[qqueenofhades]

(1/2) Honestly, Hilary, you are a blessing. I want to scream about your amazing Fic, how I love Immortal Husbands and the whole Immortal Family and how I had more fun learning history from your writing than in my whole damn school. But I also want to appreciate your TOG answers and meta. All the more because my friends outside the internet saw TOG as some boring movie with shitty plot and I'm just here in the corner, wanting to scream at someone who will understand about FINALLY seeing...

"(2/2) ...some GOOD queer representation, without throwing stereotypes in our faces, and I can't even begin with the found family trope because THE FEELS. Anyway, what I was trying to say with this rambling: thank you. <3"

....I’m sorry what. Who. Who is saying this. Straight people? I feel like the answer is definitely straight people. Because they have had EIGHTY FUCKING THOUSAND shitty action movies with the Boring White Man Hero, the disposable Muslim-coded (or actually Muslim) villains, the equally disposable eye-candy female love interest who either gets fridged or is secretly evil, Grimdark Everyone Is Secretly Bad And Nothing Matters crap philosophy, Moral Hand Wringing Over Superhero Violence, on and on. So of course they can moan and whine about “iT’s nOt OrIGinAL” and apparently not sufficiently Grimdark and Amoral, and how the dynamics of the team are completely reshuffled in a way that actually doesn’t prioritize THEM, and like.... this is why I never trust media only beloved by straight people, and only ever watch anything after it’s been recommended to me by a trusted queer friend. Because sometimes I remember the difference, and WHOOF.

Because: the gays and people of color DESERVE formulaic action/superhero movies as much as the Generic White Bro (in fact, we can all agree, far more than the Generic White Bro). This is the trap where every piece of media that’s not made by a Mediocre White Man has to be the best all-time of its genre, apparently, rather than using some of the same well-loved storytelling tropes but recoding them and re-deploying them for a more diverse audience. Instead of the Hard Bitten White Man Action Hero, we have Andy and Nile (two women, and Nile as a young Black woman who literally cannot be shot to death, in the year 2020, is fucking revolutionary on its own don’t @ me). As I said in my first meta, even Booker, who comes closest to fulfilling that trope, is made the closest thing to a “villain” there is on the team and even then for entirely sympathetic motives that rest on him having teary-eyed conversations with Nile about how he misses his family and feels like he failed them. His emotions help drive the story in an actually GOOD and useful way, rather than sacrificing everyone else to coddle him through his feeble heterosexual manchildness (why yes, I AM staring directly at the Abomination without blinking). Nobody in the story is EVER penalized or made a fool of for loving their found family (itself an intensely queer trope, even before the queerness of the individual characters) or trying to do the right thing even in the middle of the horrors, and frankly, I just want to consume more media with that as the main message. I’M SO FREAKING TIRED OF GRIMDARK. GOD. IF I WANTED THAT I COULD JUST TURN ON THE NEWS.

And of course, my BELOVED Joe and Nicky: an interracial, interreligious gay couple that has been wildly in love for literal CENTURIES and gives me the opportunity to do things like write the most self-indulgent historical romance backstory fic ever with DVLA. They met in the embodiment of religious conflict and have transcended that, there are never any cruel jokes or expectation for you to congratulate the narrative for being so beneficent as to give you “an exclusively gay moment” (fuck you Disney!). Joe and Nicky’s love story is central both to who they are as characters, doesn’t revolve around them being suffering or being Tormented over being gay (when the cops pull them apart for kissing, they beat the cops the fuck up, WE STAN), gets to unfold naturally in the background of the story with these beautiful little beats of casual intimacy (the SPOONING /clutches heart) and since THEY LITERALLY CANNOT DIE, no chance of the “burying your gays” bullshit. Even when they’re captured first by the bad guys, and I briefly, upon first viewing, worried that they were going the Gay Pain route just for cheap emotional points, they remain constantly united and fighting together and able to do stupid things like flirt when they’re strapped to gurneys by a mad scientist. Then the rest of the team ends up right there with them, so it’s not something that happens to them alone, and Nile comes in to save everyone’s asses, and Joe and Nicky get ANOTHER beautiful moment of fighting the bad guys and being worried about each other and tender even in the middle of this chaos and GOD! MY HEART! MY WHOLE ASS HEART! I LOVE THEM!

And just the fact that it’s not the Evul Mooslim Turrorists or Boilerplate Scary Eastern Europeans or whoever else who are the bad guys, but Big Pharma, nasty white men with too much money and not enough ethics, the CIA (at least tangentially; they could have pushed a lot harder on that but I’ll give Copley individually a pass), and the very forces that want to stop the Old Guard and discount what they do (helping the little people) as worthless... GOD. That is fucking POWERFUL. They literally take the time to explain with Copley’s Conspiracy Wall that even the little things the team does, when they can’t see it themselves, spiral out through centuries and have positive effects down the line. And it’s NOT just in the Western world (no scene in the movie takes place in America, none of the main four characters/heroes are American, and they only go to England when the English villains capture them). They’re in Africa, in Asia, in South America, in all these places where the Western/imperial world order has harmed people the most and in a way that Euro/American audience often gets to forget. On the surface this might be an action movie with Charlize Theron beating up men (which I mean, that alone is fine if you ask me) but there are SO MANY WAYS in which it achieves these deeper moments of meaning and subversion of the narrative that we are so often fed and the ways it could have done this (i.e. the same old Mediocre White Man ways).

I love the fact that the team unabashedly LOVES each other as their family members (I will never get over them all liking to sleep in one room even in their safe house in France), even when they struggle, and that they continue trying to make it right and never consider leaving Booker behind, because he screwed up but they still love him (and he them). I LOVE LOVE LOVE that this movie gave me not just Joe and Nicky but Andy and Quynh: two completely badass queer couples who kick tons of ass and have romance and Drama and rich and well-realized lives outside being used as emotional manipulation or suffering porn for straight people. (I realise it’s only been two weeks since the first one released, but where is my sequel, I have Needs. Especially Andy/Quynh and Quynh/Joe/Nicky needs). I was disappointed that they’d gotten rid of Quynh in a Bad Medieval Way to cause pain for Andy and then shocked and DELIGHTED when she turned up alive in Booker’s apartment at the end of the film. I LOVE that this movie gave me Nile Freeman and everything that she represents in the middle of this hellish year. I even love Booker! BOOKER! When he’s usually the character type I can’t stand and have the least patience with!

So yes. I have watched it three times already. I am sure I am going to watch it several times more. It just makes me so happy.

#the old guard #the old guard meta #joe x nicky #weaverofthenight #ask

[deadlydelicious]

 The more I think about the Old Guard, the more I wish it had been a tv show so I could have got a good like 6 hours out of it. Just imagine it:

Season 1 

Ep.1- The set up in South Sudan, Nile’s introduction and death

Ep.2 - Nile resurrection, the search for Nile, kidnapping Nile and arriving in France 

Ep.3 - church dinner party, flashbacks of Andy with Quynh and Lykon, the attack

Ep.4 - Nicky and Joe kidnapped, flashbacks to their origin, Andy’s ancient storage container, Andy not healing, Nile leaves

Ep.5 - tracking Copley, Bookers betrayal revealed, Andy’s historic footprints, Andy and Bookers capture, Nile comes back 

Ep.6- Big finale, Bookers punishment, and the sequel hook

think of the fucking content we could have got out of that fucking buffet.I wanted way more quiet drama scenes, and more info about Lykon. I love the movie but damn it feels like an appetiser. 

#i'm going to have to go read this graphic novel yall #the old guard

[fightingbymoonlight]

So I watched the old guard with my brother and aunt...

and, well,l I now know the answer to what happens when you watch a movie with two stoned  (and later 3) people. Also between the 3 of us I was the only one who had seen the movie, and they both knew it

Guidelines for who’s who:

B= my brother, a college student and fellow queer disaster

A= my 70 year former hippie aunt (she’s the reason there was weed)

me=me

    So we start the movie....

A: I have no idea what’s going on

me: That’s cause we’re only 5 seconds in.

 *Booker rides to Andy on motercycle*

B: Shit, is that a bad guy?

me: 😬

B: so his name is Booker?

me: unfortunately, yes.

*they go to the hotel, Nicky hugs Andy*

A: Oh cute, they’re a couple.

me: Nope. (internally: Someone please give me a 5+ fic where everyone thinks the two of them are a couple for ridiculously hetronormative reasons.)

We reach the scene where they talk to Copley and both of them freaked out because they thought Nicky was gonna shoot him with his sniper gun.

A: Why are they considered the best?

Me: Well.... you’ll find out.

        *1 fight scene later- the team dies*

B: Are- Are they dead??

Me: It’s a bold storytelling choice, I’ll admit.

    *the team comes back to life*

*cue my family losing their shit*

later

A: Wait!? If they’re immortal why did Andy need for them to take a year off?

Me: Would you want to be shot at for enternity? 

B: LET THEM REST!

cut to Afghanistan

B: Meanwhile in a military propaganda film...

Me: there’s going to be a new immortal

My brother immediately likes Nile, so naturally he thinks she’s too good for the military. 

*Meanwhile back on the train- Joe and Nicky are cuddling*

B: (whispering)are they gay?

me: (whispering) yes.

B: nice.

*Andy jumps off the train to go find Nile*

A: the perks of immortality

*cut to Merrik giving a douche ted talk*

me: that’s our bad guy

B: I hate him already

  *back on the base*

A: How the hell did she get on the base?

Me: movie logic

*the plane fight scene, beautiful, perfect, 10/10*

neither B nor A had any idea what was going on

*meet the family, Nile asks questions*

Me: there now you get exposition, so stop asking me things.

My family’s reaction to Quynh’s fate

They stayed like that for 5 minutes.

*church fight scene*

A: (literally the same time as Nile) What’s the signal

B: *laughs at the explosion*

me: ( same time as Booker) that’s the signal.

*the van scene Joe delivers the iconic speech, Joe and Nicky kiss*

B:

A: Wait... are they a couple?

Me:

Me: if they weren’t before, they certainly are now.

*Nicky: there’s a tv Joe!

Joe: Champagne?*

B: I love them!

*Merikk stabs Joe* 

B: Fuck you!

*Booker reveals his tragic backstory*

A :(has her hand over her heart) Poor Booker

Me: (flashes back to the discourse, starts hearing the jaws theme, grabs the blunt and inhales deeply)

It literally took ten more minutes for the two of them to realize that Andy’s mortal now. I almost slammed my head on the nonexistent coffee table.

*Back in the lab Joe and Nicky talk about “that time in Malta”*

 B: please tell me that the cute gay couple doesn’t die.

Me: Um, technically speaking.....

B: Oh my god [name] really?!

Me: *laughs in a non maniacal way* 

*Nile tells Andy she’s going back to her family*

A: No! They’re your family now!

Me: I know what you mean, but she needs time to adjust.

*Booker shoots Andy*

A: Booker!! NO!!

B: called it! (btw no he didn’t)

*Copley shows Nile his knowledge board, reveals his own tragic backstory*

B: So, he turned them over because his wife died and then became a conspiracy theorist.

Me: Yep, our villains include a conspiracy theorist, a homophobe [Keane], and Martin shkreli. 

B: This is my kind of movie.

*Nile tells Copley to leave then enters the elevator*

A: Don’t go in alone, he can still help.

Me: He can die Aunt [name]

A: Oh, right, I forgot.

B: that’s a hell of a thing to forget.

*Joe briefly yells at Booker because he, you know, arranged for him and his husband to be kidnapped and tortured*

A: Oh, no, don’t be mean to him.

Me: (at this point I’m high, and have dealt with too much internet shit) Oh my God, he was kidnapped and tortured, give him 5 minutes!!!

A: fair enough....

*cue my brother’s favorite part of the movie*

Me: (whispering to B) me and those three men will keep you sake

B: (starts laughing)

*Later*

B:

*Andy starts killing men with an axe*

A: Now we’re talking!!!

*The team decides to go for San Paulo ‘34*

B: What happened then?

*Joe: does *that**

B: I love him

*Nile tackles Meerik out of the building

Me and my brother: *clapping*

Booker: [Nile] you’re going to be great for the team

A: THey might need you too Booker!!

Me: KIDNAPPED AND TORTURED AUNT [NAME] KIDNAPPED AND TORTURED!

B: Yeah, that’s not something you get over in a day.

*Copley joins the team, movie sequel baits*

B: please tell me there’s a sequel

me: not yet

B: damn it

*Quynh shows up in Booker’s apartment*

My family: THANK GOD!

Bonus: After the movie ends

(my aunt has left the room to make her dinner, it’s 4:30 pm)

Me: My theory is she [our aunt] is only forgiving of Booker because she thinks he’s hot

B: Yeah, you’re probably right. 

#the old guard #joe x nicky #no nicky is not straight I can't believe I had to explain that #joe is right #family schinanigans

[chase-the-windandtouch-the-sky]

Now having read The Old Guard comic, it makes me love the cast / choices of the movie more

My thoughts under the cut, and this contains <<<SPOILERS>>> from the comic and movie:

Andy: Andy isn’t losing her mortality in the comic books, and she’s a lot colder and angrier. I think Charlize Theron plays really well off her cast, as well as made a very harsh character likable. In the comic, she actually flat out refuses to describe Nile to help try and find her, and only relents because Nicky wears her down. Making Andy mortal and giving her time to show how much she loves her family was a great move - because she’s often isolating herself in the comic and you don’t feel like she really connects with anyone.

Booker: Matthias really did Booker a great service and his choices were phenomenal. Because Booker in the comic really isn’t that sympathetic. His first death is gruesome, he hangs for 3 days, waiting for the army to leave, playing dead the whole time. But you really don’t feel as much with him, and at the end when he’s banished (especially since Andy’s still immortal and the repercussions aren’t quite as painful), I kinda was like ‘yeah, you deserve that.’

He does have an interesting observation, though, when talking about his family. He says “And in desperation, they will do things to forever taint your memory of them.” That was particularly heartbreaking, because he’s basically admitting that he doesn’t have good memories of anyone anymore.

In this, Nile figures out Booker’s the mole because he pretends to have wifi in a cave, and has to explain to Andy that’s not how computers work, which is pretty fucking hilarious

Andy actually knew Booker was the mole, but went along with it to feel alive, which honestly, I hated, mainly because she subjected Joe and Nicky to torture because she felt numb. It goes back to how I feel Andy’s disconnect with her team, which I think was much better dealt with in the film

They actually confront Booker before going to the lab and Booker knows exactly where Joe and Nicky are (again, don’t love that). 

However, in her rage, Andy just shoots Booker over and over again, then Booker shoots her over and over again, and they basically have to be shot by Nile to get them to stop shooting each other. LMAO

Nile: Nile is a lot more intense in the comic and just sorta goes with things after Andy shoots her in the head. Kiki Layne gave her so much heart and soul, and really brought the conflict to life. In the comic, when Andy said she couldn’t speak to her family, Nile just sort of accepted it, and straight up asks Booker about his family. I loved the conflict they added to her.

Nicky: Nicky is a little more of a shit in the comic - and a little more vocal. I really enjoyed Luca’s interpretation of the character because he gave Nicky much more soul. Joe and Nicky actually felt pretty supporting roles in this, since they weren’t with Andy and Booker for such a long time. 

I will say, there is an exchange with Merrick that I sort of wish could’ve been added, but since they changed Merrick so intensely, it wasn’t applicable. Merrick in the comics is a straight stereotype villain - big dude with tattoos. He calls Nicky and Joe pincushions and stabs them quite a bit when they meet.

Merrick is furious that their genetics aren’t showing anything and he storms in the lab going “Am I gonna have to stab you guys over and over again?” and Nicky just replies “Think we’re rather if you didn’t.” LMAO

Nicky also has a metal line when talking to Copley after the betrayal, where he’s flat out telling Copley they won’t be able to give Merrick what he wants, he says “what happens when your employer’s frustration inevitably outmatches his greed?” go off, Nicky

Joe: Similarly to Nicky, he felt secondary too, and a lot more distant and old? Marwan did such an amazing job breathing life into the character - giving him fun and playfulness, alongside his deadly tendency

Seconding what I’ve seen people say - The Speech is almost directly lifted from the comic, but it’s longer in the comic. I understand we can’t have everything, but there are such beautiful lines in it. One I wish made the cut is “His very thoughts make music of the mundane” jesus christ joe, you’re making me long for my own immortal love

Joe and Nicky are more annoyed it’s taking Andy so long to get to them, they’re legit just kinda chillin in the lab like ‘wtf is taking her so long jfc’

There is a hilarious moment when they’re throwing Joe off the roof to crash through the window (like he does in the film) and Booker tries to apologize and Nicky’s just like “Kind of doing a thing here.” as he launches his husband off the side of a building

Copley: Copley is much more interesting in the film - he’s more of someone who you can buy. Merrick gave him three million dollars and then Copley double crossed him after Andy gave him a chance to prove himself.

It is interesting because when they’re all reunited in the comic, Joe and Nicky try and tell Andy Booker’s the mole, which implies when Booker blew up, he was revealed to betray them and was left to be a diversion to Andy. Makes that scene more heartbreaking - because he basically handed Nicky and Joe over and they knew it

All in all, I enjoyed the comic, but I loved the movie. I have so many more thoughts, but that was way longer than I meant it to be. Goodbye, still crying over these characters, send help

#the old guard #the old guard movie #the old guard comic #it was a fun read!

[victimhood]

The Beautiful Game - Chapter 5

The Old Guard international football (soccer) AU! Again, this is a Booker/Nile fic, with chapters of both Nile and Booker POVs. Joe/Nicky are the side ship in this fic.

Summary: In the summer of 2026, Booker is transferred from James Copley’s Liverpool FC to Andy’s Inter Milan. Nile is Team USA’s star striker but had to retire due to injury issues, and is hired as a UEFA Champions League pundit for a US TV network.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | all chapters on the tag

CHAPTER 5 Booker skips the preseason tours with Liverpool. The negotiations take a while, and he misses out on the preseason training camp with Inter as well. Finally, he is called to Appiano Gentile for a medical, and the contract is signed. Publicity photos and interviews are taken at the Angelo Moratti Sports Center, Inter’s training ground. Booker’s agent tells him that staff are briefed never to mention the World Cup incident with Di Genova under any circumstance, and Booker has an easy time of it. He is introduced to the team, and everyone shakes hands. Even Di Genova shakes hands with him, and the photographers make a big deal out of it for the website. Anything for PR, Booker thinks, smiling at the camera while Di Genova keeps his usual stony face. 

Booker is taken out to dinner and made to go through the usual initiation rite of singing a song. Oasis is too cliched and he got booed at Liverpool for that, so Booker springs for Bob Marley, Three Little Birds.

The Milanese clubs have their training grounds outside the city, and this means most of the players live around Lake Como. He is shuttled from house to house by the real estate agent, and each house is more stupendous than the last. You have got to be pulling my leg, is what Booker thinks when the car pulls into a village right by the lakeshore. A good deal of these houses have absolutely smashing lakeside views, and there’s even one that used to be George Clooney’s house.

Money is silly to Booker at this point, with his signing bonus of €10 million. He buys a turnkey house departed by AC Milan’s Kalulu, Booker’s national squad teammate. Before Kalulu departs, he invites Booker to move in early, and they joke about what Kalulu should leave behind and what he should take with him to Munich. Booker definitely wants Kalulu’s sneaker collection, shoe size be damned. When Kalulu moves out, taking his extensive collection of limited edition sneakers with him, Booker doesn’t even bother replacing the wifi password, although Kalulu has the cheek to kick Booker out of the Netflix account. Get your own, asshole, Kalulu jokingly texts him, you’re fucking up my recommendations. Booker has to phone his sister for his own Netflix password, which he doled out to his family long ago. It’s a lonely life as a footballer, and Booker calls his mom, begging her to move in with him, but his mom is helping his sister with her new baby. Booker says they can all move in, but his brother-in-law wants to keep his restaurant going. Booker has six bedrooms in this house and he’s not even using any of them. Instead, he prefers to sleep on the couch in the games room, leaving the television on to generate some background noise.

Surprisingly, Di Genova never once brings up the World Cup incident, and he doesn’t say anything nasty to Booker either, preferring to let his actions do the talking. In training, Di Genova is tough on Booker, really tough, and he gets yelled at often, but it is always for genuine mistakes and Booker just takes it as a baptism of fire.

Of all his new teammates, Booker gets along best with Yusuf Al Kaysani, who never fails to crack a joke when he senses that things might be getting too tense. Yusuf is a fellow FIFA enthusiast, being the best player in the pre-Booker team, and Booker throws down the gauntlet, insisting that he can beat Yusuf any day. They end up spending their post-training afternoons on the PlayStation, and soon they fall into a routine of visiting each other’s houses. Booker discovers that Yusuf also lives alone, in a fairly restrained four bedroom house where the nicest feature is just the heated pool, no spa room, no separate theater room. The living room is where the Playstation games happen, and Yusuf has a projector alongside the usual TV screen. When they get tired of FIFA, they move to Yusuf’s ping pong table, which sits outdoors in his garden, and Booker is influenced to buy one to put in his own games room, for wet weather days.

The new season kicks off, and their first game is an away game at Sampdoria. They manage to bag an away win, though not without struggle. Booker helps orchestrate the opening goal, but Sampdoria come back strong with an equalizer after halftime. Andy takes Booker off towards the end of the game, introducing a speedy forward, and this forward helps to earn a corner that becomes the winning goal. 

As often happens at away games, Booker discovered he has once again forgotten his toiletries bag, and he has to ask around for spare soap and shampoo. It is Yusuf who comes first to the rescue, telling Booker that if anyone forgets their toiletries, just ask the Capitano, who has an endless supply of pinched hotel toiletries and never forgets his washbag, a battered old Louis Vuitton pouch in the gray Damier pattern. Without asking, Yusuf grabs a couple of bottles from Di Genova’s washbag and tosses it to Booker. Le Labo—courtesy of the Park Hyatt. Nice. 

#the old guard #the old guard fic #TOG FC #tog: the beautiful game #sebastien le livre #nile freeman #book of nile #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #joe x nicky #immortal husbands

[homicidal-sheep]

Notable Quotes from TOG Comic

I finally got around to reading the first volume of The Old Guard and while I’m sure other people have done this much better, I’m still gonna write down my thoughts. 

1.) “Bring me one of them, I don’t care which one” - Merrick

Okay seriously? I love movie Booker but in the comics, he easily could have given himself up. Merrick literally stated he only needed one. Again, I love Book but it’s slightly harder to sympathize with him here. 

2.) “[Booker’s] practically a fucking baby” “If he’s dead thats just...its so unfair. Why does he get to die and not me?...I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I’ve lost him too” - Andy

Okay so this is multilayered. The first quote is quite a bit before the rest but it stills shows how Andy views Booker. When she thinks Copley’s men killed him she’s first a bit jealous. Bitter that this baby got to die and she would be forced to keep on living. She does care for her soldiers though, and doesn’t want to lose another. Earlier, in the argument over retrieving Nile, its actually Andy arguing against it, Booker agrees with Joe and Nicky. Andy brings up that she was made leader, and she needs to protect her people. Getting Nile puts them more at risk. She goes on to list Booker’s usefulness but its clear she cares.

3.) “...as bait!” - Andy and Nile

I just included this because it explains why Booker was left behind in the safe house. I’ve seen people discussing why. 

4.) “Andy wants me to tell you that keeping in touch with your family risks exposing us all...that is not the real reason. The real reason is to protect your heart.” - Booker

Something I thought was interesting was that Booker did not initiate the talk on family. Andy suggested Nile ask Booker. Booker is a warning of what can happen. His family grew bitter and resentful, they could easily have told anyone. He in turn also grew bitter and resentful. Andy had a similar experience, staying and loving a human as they grew old. Her lover was far more understanding but it still hurt her in the end. Both learned the hard way that loving humans only ended up with pain on their ends, so to protect their hearts they had to stop loving so much. Andy was far better at this than Book.

5.) “Andy just cuz you got a computer doesn’t mean you’re on the internet...Booker connecting to the web in a damn cave thats-” - Nile

5.5.) “Nile tried to warn me. She saw this coming. But the truth is, so did I.” - Andy

Okay first off, love Nile. So smart. I 100% support her dreams of becoming an art history major like damn, follow your dreams. You have the guards one brain cell, take advantage!

Secondly, Andy’s reaction to Booker’s betrayal. She knew, she suspected, but she was blinded by love and apathy. She says something along the lines of finally feeling angry. And how it felt good to feel things again. Between Niles presence and Book’s betrayal, she finally has something to fight for, and live for, thats not sex, booze, and death. 

6.) “I want something to live for. Right now thats the people on my team.” - Andy (which was inspired partly by Niles “Every day you waste is one you don’t get back”)

As I said above, this gave her the push she needed to realize how much of her immortal life she had wasted wallowing. This is said after Booker explains why he did what he did. How he did it for THEM because he saw his own misery in her eyes and wanted to do something about it. The parallels between her and Bookers arcs show how easy it was for them to get lost, and how easy it was to lose hope and give into their bitterness and jealousy. 

7.) I don’t have a quote but I would like to mention Nicky and Joe

They aren’t as...idk abundant? Nothing quote wise stuck out, it was more artwork. Besides the art being...questionable, I just felt they were more, maybe not ruthless, but callous. In the movie, Joe and Nicky can be violent, but they don’t take pleasure in it. I don’t know if their actions in the comics can be seen as “pleasurable” but they just seems more, willing I suppose. I don’t blame them in the least, it’s just different. I just love all the analysis of Joe and Nicky and their relationship with violence and the comics just felt off, after reading them.

8.) “What’re you gonna do?” “Live” - Nile + Booker’s last conversation. 

I have really mixed feelings on this. My initial thought was, this doesn’t feel earned. As I wrote this long ass ramble, I somewhat changed my mind. 

In the movie, I could see something like this, at least with Andy. She is the one who flat out told him, we have been doing a shit job of living these past few centuries. So it makes sense for him to look at her and say, I will try, I will try and live because thats what you want from me.” Do I think he would succeed? Maybe. Not before a lot of wallowing at least. He is still depressed and I really do not think he can pull himself out without some help, be it his family or just some random neighbors that grow weirdly attached to him. He defines himself by the people around him and what he can do for them, and never really seemed to learn grow as a person beyond his all consuming grief. 

Comics wise, Andy gave a somewhat inspiring speech, threw them out a window, drove off, then she and Booker shot each other like children throwing dirt until Nile used a machine gun on them (good for her btw. I’m also going to throw this quote from Booker in, “Let me explain damn you! You owe me that much at least!”) Andy hasn’t lost her immortality so he feels less guilt over that specifically, enough to still feel entitled to explain himself, even when he has now sentenced 2 of his brothers to torture. He still truly believes he did this for both of them as I said before, and if it was just Book and her, no Nicky, Joe, or Nile, I think she would have been more inclined to agree. Seeing her resolve, and change of heart, it seems to be enough for Book to realize that he was indeed, in the wrong.

I suppose seeing Andy with a newfound purpose could inspire him a bit to try. Good for him, maybe he’s have more luck. He seems more of a chainsmoker than an actual alcoholic (not that thats a lot healthier or a better coping skill). I just think he would grow disillusioned pretty quickly. I felt the comic was trying to show he had a newfound appreciation for life (what with him smiling (? its hard to tell with the art) off into the distance) but I just don’t think enough has happened to keep it up. So maybe in that instance it’s maybe earned, but is in no way gonna stick around for long. (I haven’t read vol 2 yet so who knows).  

Idk this was a very long ramble, maybe it makes sense, maybe it doesn’t. I didn’t mean to make that last bit all about Booker, whoops. These were just the big things I noticed while reading that I wanted to bring up. (Sorry about any typos!)

#the old guard #the old guard comic #andromache the scythian #booker #sebastien le livre #nile freeman #booker/therapy #Nile is a badass

[tenderjock]

and ted lasso perhaps <3

led tasso

blorbo: JAMIE

scrunkly: KEELEY and also DANI DANI ROJAS

scrimblo bimblo: DOCTOR SHARON

glup shitto: sam isnt really ''obscure'' but he's my darling and i love him A Lot

poor little meow meow: also probably jamie?

horse plinko: TED. i love a good ted angst fic.

eeby deeby: NATHAN. funny story but i always didnt like nate and i was fucking relieved when he turned out Evil.

old guard

blorbo: nile my love

scrunkly: probably joe my love

scrimblo bimblo: copley. i think he's so flawed and underutilized (incl by me) because he's actually a fascinating character and despite all evidence to the contrary kind of a good guy?

glup shitto: celesteeeee darling. wish you were in more than one scene

poor little meow meow : unfortunately i have to say booker. you knew this was coming.

horse plinko: also booker

eeby deeby: also also booker

#answered #mycenaae

[bdor1995]

im watching the old guard on netflix and. my god its bad. i tried watching it for the immortal gay rep but the script is so cringe

high concept plots like this always have so much potential to be rlly fun but like. It has to be GOOD!!! i love tropes and cliches but they have to be EXECUTED WELL!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

edit 1: im skipping through all the dialogue... there is no character or personality in this movie everyone speaks exactly the same.......give me something GOOD to bite on i feel like im chewing on cardboard as im watching

edit 2: i watched the entire thing. uhhh. i will list the things i liked about it below:

the action scenes were pretty well choreographed

thats all. uhhhh. hmm. this movie was bad. (spoilers/rant under cut)

comic writers... your hammy dialogue might work in comics, but it does not work in movies

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SOUNDTRACK? WTF IS THIS EDITING? 

the van scene with joe and nick felt like i was watching a fake tumblr text post from 2011

BOOKER’S BETRAYAL MADE NO SENSE...... booker is andy’s right hand man!!! its established that theyre close... why did he lie to andy in the first place??? why did booker think he was doing the right thing by betraying her??? why didnt he just approach andy about the research merrick was doing???

even if that happened.... HOW did he not realize that copley was going to double cross him with how cartoonishly evil merrick is. i thought booker did all the research/bg checking how did he miss merrick’s whole shtick

SPEAKING OF MERRICK... FDASFGKFDSFFDGS i cant believe how unhinged his motivations are. absolutely no subtlety at all. they just threw everything at us to let us know hes Very Evil. The Most Evil.

ok i get nile is a Good Person (tm) so thats why she went back to save andy from the lab but that motivation is so fucking empty. i wish more development went into actually attempting to deepen nile and andy’s dynamic so nile would have more of a personal stake in it

speaking of, nile had absolutely no personality in this movie

ALL SHE DID WAS ASK QUESTIONS FOR EXPOSITION. new drinking game. drink whenever nile asks a question. drink again when she gets a cryptic non-answer. you will die of alcohol poisoning within the movie’s run time. 

the writer has this awful hard on for “cool” one liners and monologues and it makes me want to bang my head against the wall. the actors rlly fucking tried. god help them they tried to make these lines work im so sorry i hope they paid you well at least

if you want to read a good comic about immortal beings being used as human experiments by the government and them fighting back just go read ajin: demi-human. not the exact same premise (there is no saving of humanity here, and the tone is def more dark) but ALONG with a cool high-concept plot, at least the characters have depth

maybe i’ll try to read the og comic this movie was based on and see if thats any better. maybe.

rating: 3/10. had a lot of potential but extremely bogged down by a shitty screenplay adaption, probably due to film length and other constraints

#bo's spicy hot takes: the old guard edition