Gina Prince-Bythewood’s comic book adaptation The Old Guard offers some entertaining moments of action and sci-fi curiosity, but is ultimately undermined by its by-the-numbers blockbuster narrative structure and predictable third-act twists.

Despite having not read the comic book upon which the film is based, it’s easy to pick up on its comic roots with a story that blends John Wick-like gun play and violence with the fantasy lore and secret societies/histories that have become a mainstay of recent cult-fandom-ready indie comic series (Saga, The Woods, Something is Killing the Children). Following a group of semi-immortal humans led by Charlize Theron’s Andi (the oldest and most mysterious of the troupe) who have been working to aid the human race throughout the centuries, The Old Guard sees this band of supernatural mercenaries fight to survive in a modern world. Andy’s four-person squad (completed by Matthias Schoenaerts’ Booker, Marwan Kenzari’s Joe and Luca Marinelli’s Nicky) is suddenly upturned by the arrival of a new immortal on the scene, Kiki Layne’s Nile, a US marine who’s military career is seemingly ended during a bloody raid on a hostile compound in Afghanistan. Nile wakes to discover that her seemingly fatal injury has healed, making her a subject of suspicion and fear in the eyes of her fellow soldiers. Whisked away by Andy, Nile joins the titular group to discover more about her newly discovered condition and the history of immortals, a character arc which can’t help but mirror every ‘chosen-one’ protagonist of recent pop culture, albeit on a smaller scale. From here, the film rampages through scenes following the group’s efforts to stay one step ahead of a ‘Big Pharma’ company with sights on the medical and financial potential harvesting the secrets of the group’s long life may yield. However, little is explained about the group’s particular powers, its origins and limits (something I assume is explored in more detail in the comic) and feels frustratingly underdeveloped – rather than deliberately enigmatic – as a result.

Nonetheless, Theron, Layne and a somewhat underused Chiwetel Ejifor give compelling performances, and whilst the final sequel-teasing scene did not exactly leave me with the desire to see how this story plays out, The Old Guard‘s stylistic action set-pieces and the engagingly touching relationships explored between immortals like Joe and Nicky, Andy and Van Veronica Ngo’s Quynh make for a captivating two-hour escape.

The Old Guard is available on Netflix