In both Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández’s The Old Guard and director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s new film based on the comic book series, a group of seemingly immortal warriors from different time periods all band together to commit their lives to ridding the world of its societal evils. None of the big bads they take on are quite as supernatural as they are, and so The Old Guard’s action, though brutal, skews towards the more grounded side of things.
But just because the comic’s bloodsoaked fight sequences focus mainly on the Old Guard wailing on their enemies with regular weapons doesn’t mean that the battles being spotlighted couldn’t still sights to behold.
Rather than drifting away from the comic’s depiction bare-knuckled, bone cracking brawls in favor of something a bit flashier and more in line with other comic book movies, The Old Guard actually sticks surprisingly close to the source material. A new featurette delves into how The Old Guard’s production team approached the film with the express intention of bringing moments from the comics to the screen in a way that felt both real and larger than life.
Beyond just the impressive stunt work and fighting, both Rucka and Bythewood also went into detail in another featurette about how much of the comics’ narrative essence was incorporated into the film. While there are a number of scenes ripped right out of the series’ pages, Rucka felt the need to further flesh out characters aside from Andy in order to make their cinematic counterparts feel like more fully realized people.
The Old Guard is now streaming on Netflix.
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