Fairly Short and Hopefully Spoiler-Free Review: The Old Guard 2

TL;DR: Disappointing. Sequels always struggle to meet or exceed viewer expectations, but this one got very cookie-cutter very quickly. I didn't hate it, but it just didn't come close to satisfying fans' -- or at least this fan's -- anticipation of a great outing.

Trailer:

Longer Version:

The Old Guard 2 isn't so much a sequel that ends with the set-up for a third film as the first part of a two-part film.

A complete film wraps up with some kind of plot closure, its marquee goal having been achieved, even though it may (these days, usually does) work in a hook at the end of the film implying there are more stories to tell.

The Old Guard 2 ends in the middle of its story, at a "major setback" point, with an explicit promise on the part of the main character (Andromache of Scythia, aka Andy, played by Charlize Theron) to finish the story. Its only "story closure" element, and that a partial one) involves a sub-plot that closed the first movie (the fate of Quỳnh).

Furthermore the getting there is drawn out, in ways that make the characters and their stories less compelling, to get the movie to its 105-minute run time and still hit that "cliffhanger" right at the end. 

The makers would have better served the story by just making a long single film -- 2 1/2 to 3 hours -- that tells the whole story tightly, or setting up a different plot arc that gives real closure to this story with the traditional sequel "hook." The actors all do their jobs well, but basically cutting the script in half, then artificially fluffing up each half to full-film length, makes it harder for them to keep things interesting.

That doesn't mean there's nothing good about The Old Guard 2.

The new (Discord and Thua) and nearly-new (Quỳnh) characters help fill out the franchise's "universe," or at least should do so, and all the actors, new and returning, did well with the room their characters were given.

The action scenes work, although not as well as in the original film.

There are a couple of specific character relationship elements to the film that are worthwhile. Making a longer film with the full story, or telling a shorter story and leaving the play-out of one of those elements for the third film, would have made them even better, but they're well-done.

Many of my Fairly Short and Hopefully Spoiler-Free Reviews summarize as "if you like this franchise/ kind of movie, you'll like this film." This one gets the opposite take. At the end of The Old Guard 2, I suspect that if you loved the first film, you'll seriously wondering whether you should have just let yourself be satisfied with it instead of wanting a follow-up.

Which brings up one of my pet peeves: There was a time when you could tell a story and the story was told, be it in book, comic book, or film format. Sequel? Maybe, maybe not. No biggie either way.

Star Wars may have been the end of that era. Now it's all about wringing every last dime out of "the IP." Sequel! Prequel! Spinoff! Reboot! I can't help but think that in putting together The Old Guard 2, the creative thinking was entirely oriented toward "franchise"/"cinematic universe" considerations, at the expense of telling a worthwhile story well.