In The Region Of The Summer Stars

---------Kate, 22, Australia--------- My love for One Direction is so subtle you might miss it. This is now a The Old Guard stan blog. I blog exclusively through the mobile app (pray for me)

[actualmermaid]

What Women Want, according to the first 10 minutes of The Old Guard:

- cool sunglasses

- to be called "boss"

- big snuggly hugs from guys who are not romantically interested in you

- baklava

- an axe

[enjolraspdf]

me and the light switch as I walk into my room carrying far too many things to be able to use my hands to turn it on

[quellcrist]

MARWAN KENZARI as Yusuf Al-Kaysani aka Joe  THE OLD GUARD (2020)

[exxtoria-deactivated20220710]

*slams fist on the table* do you ever think about how fucking big Joe’s heart is, and I’m specially talking about the kidness line here because Joe met Nicky on the Crusades, Nicky was part of the Crusades and he was on the wrong side of it, and of course he knows better now and he’s following the right part now, and he’s doing it wonderfully and I’m so proud of him, but whatever the reason was, Nicky was on the wrong side of history then, specially when confronted with Joe’s position on the Crusades, and Joe surely must have hate him at the beginning, there’s no way to see an invader claiming your land in the name of a god you don’t believe in in a good light… But even knowing that, even meeting Nicky like that, even with Nicky being on the wrong side then, Joe was still able to set his rage aside eventually and let himself to know Nicky, he saw Nicky learnt the truth of what he had done and suffer for it, because once Nicky realized the truth behind what he was taught to believe and the extent of what he did he must had felt so terribly guilty, and Joe saw him through all that, Joe saw him understand and regret his mistakes, and Joe’s heart was so fucking big that he opened himself to Nicky’s feelings, to Nicky’s true nature, so sincerely and willing that he was able to see the kindness of Nicky’s heart, the kindness of the man who he once rightfully hate. Joe’s heart was big enough to forgive Nicky for the terrible mistakes of the past, to believe in his redemption, to see the true regret and his fierce desire to do better and the true kindness of his soul and then Joe fell in love with him, totally and irrevocably, he gave himself to Nicky without reservations, to his once enemy, and Joe is so sure of that kindness that he let himself see for the first time so long ago, the kindness he stills sees everyday now, that he’s able to honestly talk about that kindness with his heart on his sleve, with love, with admiration, and I just want to say that I do think about this, and about how Joe is a fucking wonder, and I’m sure that Nicky believes just the same.

[thedevilortheflu]

*trigger warning: suicide and suicide ideation mention*

I’ve been thinking on why I care so much about a redemption arc for Booker and I’ve come to realise that not being able to die is an extremley terrifying idea to little ol depressed, me. They touch on this in the movie, Nile even says “nothing good has come from this,” but for someone with severe depression, the idea of death has always been a comfort. If everything gets too much™️ I have an out. Now I know this isn’t a healthy way of thinking (and yes I am in therapy and working on it) but suicidal ideation is not just something I have to fight but in some of my darkest moments has been a comfort. The idea of not having that least ditch sense of relief because of something that you can’t actually control or understand is terrifying. Like, the idea makes me want to sob.

These reasonings, of course, absoloutley doesn’t justify Bookers actions. He is still a grown man who made choices that hurt people he loves and love him and he does need to own that. Exiling him for 100 years might night not be the punishment I would have chosen but hey I’m also not a thousand year old immortal who was tortured to death multiple times while also watching the same thing happened to the love of my life, sooo.

This is just to explain why I, and others also suffering from mental health conditions, may empathise with Bookers character and hope that one day this sad boy gets the help he needs and a lovely little redemption arc.

[geraltcirilla]

[kxrxnoid]

The part where they gave up trying to kill each other and started to learn about each other, their hopes and fears *chef’s kiss*

[upset-hufflepuff]

Reasons why Reginald Hargreeves is an absolutely horrible person that doesn't deserve rights:

1)

[sakura-haruka]

[thedevilortheflu]

One of the many things I love about The Old Guard is their use of guns. Theres none of that old Holywood “endless bullets” shit. You see characters empty their clip, check for rounds, pick up a new clip or gun when they run out. When Nile’s gun jams its not just for the plot sake but a reality that after using 10 different guns, one will probably fail. It might seem like a little thing but the endless bullets schtick takes me out of a lot of actions movies, so, for me, this made all the difference.

[thedevilortheflu]

Joe still seems to see the best in people, even after all this time. He literally first died fighting in a war against people who thought differently to him. Joe has spent a millennia loving a man when, for the vast majority of his life (and even now in the places they visit), it would have been punishable by death. Yet, in the van, when the guards tried to stop him from talking to Nicky, he tried to explain what he was doing and it was so genuine. Like if these people who just kidnapped understood that he loved this man, they would let him talk. Of course they just laughed at him but there is something so sweet about this man who has every reason to be jaded, still believes the best in people. (And so incredibly infuriating that 1000 years later he is still putting up with the same bullshit).

[mangoofthesea]

I don't know if anyone's talked about this yet but I'm gonna anyway. Something I really loved about The Old Guard was that Andy and Nile are never wearing make up during the missions. There's no little flick of eyeliner, no sleek eyebrows, no smokey eyeshadow or lipstick thrown on that's being sort of pretended isn't there. The first time Nile appears to be wearing make up is in the final scenes at the pub and in Copley's house where she has dressed up a bit more, and this is because they can rest for a minute, there's no action and she's paid a bit more attention to her outfit for going out somewhere. And I loved that so much. Just the women in this film getting to be dirty and bloody in realistic looking ways without it trying to be artful or making them look pretty. They are just focused on fighting and looking after their team, but even so, when they can rest Nile is still capable of performing traditionally feminine practices of wearing make-up and big earrings/jewelry and looking beautiful. Andy also wearing her hair long in flashbacks showing she has not always styled herself one way, but the fact Andy still doesn't wear make up is something I love. I really liked that the women in The Old Guard are not crammed into being one stereotype of woman, either tough and masculine, or the pretty and feminine type of "feisty" in the way spy women like black widow are sometimes portrayed. They are allowed to be three dimensional individuals in their own right and I love that so much

[caul-serrikane]

[bewires]

lil old guard headcanon

Booker was born in 1770. Booker was born in 1770 in France, and the first time he healed up after dying, he grew an extra four inches at forty-two years in age, body making up for the inches he hadn’t had after being malnourished for the entirety of his teens. He spends the next two months bumping his head on fucking everything. Booker will eat literally anything, and he gets antsy when a safehouse runs low on canned goods. Booker cooks mostly French staples, because it’s what he knows best, and he usually cooks a lot - lasts them days, weeks, once freezers become readily available. He likes rich food, sauce thick with butter and cream and he’s kind of disgusted at the concept of skim milk, but on the whole he left pickiness behind him when the crops failed in the 1780s. He’s Joe’s favorite guinea pig for weird new ingredients because he’ll enjoy just about anything Joe cooks up and he’ll usually have good ideas on how to make it better (granted, half of them are “more butter”, but he’s not wrong).

[briannabakerarchive]

MARWAN KENZARI as Yusuf Al-Kaysani (Joe) in The Old Guard

[waynedrake]

the funniest thing abt the old guard is nicky just blurting out weird profound sounding shit all the time and everyone reacting with “dude what the FUCK are you saying”. hes gay and dramatic and cant read a room to save his life and i ADORE him

[violetren]

The Old Guard did one of the best betrayal within a found family arcs I think I’ve ever seen.

It’s not some self righteous “I’m doing this for their own good” thing.

It’s not some “I’m sick of doing things your way” thing.

It’s not some “I deserve money/power/status” thing.

All of which have been done many times before, with wildly varying degrees of effectiveness. They’re not bad motives, just too often tossed in as shorthands rather than fully developed so that there is more time for action scenes.

What we get with The Old Guard though is just a very depressed man getting too caught up in his own head to reach out to the people he loves, and who love him, and making terrible decisions because of it. Booker is (up until Nile) the youngest of the immortals and is as cynical as Andy, who is at a conservative estimate about 30 times older than him.

We don’t hear about Andy or Nicky or Joe having much family before their change, or about what it was like for them to lose them, but we do hear about Booker’s. How he tried to be there for them, and how he ended up being hated by them for it. As far as we know his last time he saw his youngest alive resulted is his son telling calling him a horrible parent who never really loved him. Which is so obviously untrue just by the fact that Booker tried approaching him at all even though he’s smart enough to know how dangerous outing himself as immortal could be. Booker loves beyond reason, he would have given his immortality to his son in a heart beat even if he died on the spot in the process if it had been possible. If the opportunity arose for him to go back in time and do exactly that he probably would without a moment of hesitation. Instead he has to live for potentially milenia knowing he was helpless to save someone he loved.

So right there we have a well established clear and understandable reason quite literally presented to us as to why Booker would sell out the team to a big pharma company. It might kill him, something he believes he deserves, and it might save people who are dying from the same thing that killed his son.

But then on top of that there is another unmentioned reason. One that you’re just kind of left to realise for yourself. Quynh.

For little over 200 years Booker dreams of her drowning. Lost, alone, seemingly abandoned, and driven a little bit more insane with each revival. And it’s implied that he’s the only one up until Nile that has to deal with that. When he says he felt alone compared to Nicky and Joe it leaves the question of why didn’t he reach out to Andy who was also alone? Short answer he probably did for a lot of things. But how could he approach her about Quynh when she looks physically pained whenever the subject comes up? Even Nicky and Joe look uncomfortable thinking of her. Booker loves his found family as much as his old one. He can’t bare to cause pain to them on purpose, and talking about Quynh hurts them. If keeping the trauma of experiencing those dreams for so long to himself keeps them from being hurt then that’s just what he’ll do. 

Finding a way to die through his deal with Merrick means he gets to be free of all of it. Free of every ounce of survivors guilt he experiences for his family, and for Quynh. He’s prepared for his found family to hate him for it, he’s already lived this long with his original families hatred. They’re strong, and smart, they’ll escape and go on living eventually.

But then Merrick wants them all, and Andy isn’t healing, and he realises what a colossally bad idea all of it was, and throws himself into trying to fix his mistake. And its not some stupid last minute change of heart for plot convenience. It is 100% within expectations for his established character. Best of all when all the shooting is done he doesn’t expect instant forgiveness just because he swapped back to their side. He accepts that they’re all going to need time and that his actions had consequences. And it’s great.