“The Old Guard” is a superheroes origin film.

It provides lots of action whereby the superheroes display their superpowers, while explaining where the superheroes come from.

The Old Guard is from long ago, very long ago.

You wouldn’t look twice at any of them. There are no shields, hammers (although there is one very medieval-looking axe-like tool) and no capes to depend on.

The superpowers of The Old Guard are that you can’t kill them. What would be mortal wounds for any human are not for them. They heal themselves almost instantaneously. They come back to life, to fight another day, or even that day, as they rally to the battle.

They’ve been said to be fighting for centuries, evidenced by articles, photographs and ancient texts displayed on a wall chart put together by James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a former CIA agent.

Copley is tracking The Old Guard to determine the nature of their regenerative DNA. Steven Merrick (Harry Melling), CEO of Merrick, a pharmaceutical firm, wants to develop a drug for incurable diseases.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Therein lies the plot for “The Old Guard,” which pits the superhero team against Copley and Merrick, who are out to capture them for experimental purposes.

“The Old Guard” is based on a comic book, aka graphic novel, by Greg Rucka, who wrote the screenplay for the movie, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (director, “Love & Basketball,” 2000; “The Secret Life of Bees,” 2008, “Beyond the Lights,” 2014), said to be the first African-American female to direct a superhero comic book-based movie.

“The Old Guard” is a connect-the-dots, by-the-book superheroes movie packed with nearly-back-to back super-violent martial arts style fighting, gunplay and explosions.

The film has its moments of character development in scenes between the superheroes that give glimpses of their backstories, conflicted emotions about their mission, and vulnerability toward each other.

The action scenes are payoff for fans of the superhero genre.

The real reason to see “The Old Guard” is Charlize Theron, as Andy, aka Andromache of Scythia. With a name like that you know she’s got a legendary backstory.

According to Greek mythology, Andromache was from the city of Cilician Thebe. Her name means “man battler,” “fighter of men” or “man fighter.” You get the picture.

Charlize Theron’s backstory as an actor is playing strong, difficult and often victimized female characters, no more so than in “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), and “Monster” (2003). Theron received an actress Oscar for “Monster,” for playing serial killer Aileen Wuornos Theron is the first South African to win an actor category Oscar.

Theron received an Oscar actress nomination for “North Country” (2005), in which she played a sexually-abused woman trying for justice, and an Oscar actress nomination for “Bombshell” (2019), in which she played real-life TV personality Megyn Kelly.

Theron’s other action film roles include “Hancock” (2008), “Snow White and the Huntsman” (2012), “Prometheus” (2012), “The Fate of the Furious” (2017) and “Atomic Blonde” (2017).

Theron is a dynamic screen presence. In “The Old Guard,” she has numerous incredible fighting scenes. She also has several dialogue scenes whereby her character, Andy, muses about her future.

Theron’s intense eyes, solid physicality and lower-register voice works well for the role of Andy, leader of The Old Guard.

“The Old Guard” has some flashbacks, including Theron as a medieval warrior.

New to The Old Guard in a strong supporting role is Kiki Layne (Nile Freeman), a Marine veteran of the War in Afghanistan, who presents a strong quiet presence.

The Old Guard includes Matthias Schoenaerts (Booker-Sebastian Le Livre), a French soldier who fought alongside Napoleon; Marwan Kenzari (Joe-Yusuf Al-Kaysani), a Muslim warrior who was in the Crusades, and Luca Marinelli (Nicky-Nicolo di Genova), an Italian Crusader.

“The Old Guard” has authentic-looking scenes set in The Sudan, Afghanistan, France and London. The cinematography is brisk, often with hand-held camera, and with lots of close-ups of Theron and the main characters. So close-up are the close-ups, they must have used a pore-cam.

The soundtrack has a minimalist score of keyboard, electronic and percussive effects, and includes snippets of songs written and sung by Khalid, Frank Ocean, Maddie Duke, Active Child and Elle King.

“I’ve been here before,” says Andy, “and I’m just so tired of it.”

Much the same might be said of the superhero movie genre. “The Old Guard” has elements we’ve seen before in action-violence, plot points and resolution.

“The Old Guard” also has Charlize Theron. And she makes all the difference.

“There was a time when I was worshipped as a god,” Andy says.

Theron is a goddess of action films.

Van Veronica Ngo (Quynh) appears with Booker in a denouement scene that indicates a sequel is in store.

There should be plenty of material to occupy “The Old Guard” as they fight through the centuries.

Credit Readers Anonymous:

“The Old Guard” graphic novel writer and movie screenwriter Greg Rucka wrote for “Wonder Woman,” “Lazarus” and “Stumptown” comics for DC and Marvel. “The Old Guard” graphic novel illustrations are by Leandro Fernández (“The Punisher”). “The Old Guard” was filmed in Morocco, the United Kingdom and Shepperton Studios, England.

“The Old Guard,”

MPAA rated R (Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Contains some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their young children with them.) for sequences of graphic violence, and language; Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy; Run time; 2 hours, five minutes. Distributed by Netflix.

Unreel:

AMC Theaters announced in an Aug. 13 email to AMC A-List members that it would reopen as many as 100 of its theaters Aug. 20, and expects to have two-thirds of its 600 theaters open by Sept. 3. Coronavirus pandemic protocol will be in place.

AMC will offer 15-cent tickets opening day Aug. 20 to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

AMC will screen Disney’s “The New Mutants,” starting Aug. 28, and Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” starting Sept. 3.

AMC will bring back “Back to the Future,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Black Panther,” “Ghostbusters,” “Goonies,” “Grease,” “I Still Believe,” “Jumanji: The Next Level,” “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.” the email explains.

Opening Aug. 21 is “Unhinged,” MPAA rated R, starring Russell Crowe in a road-rage revenge thriller.

Three Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes