Gina Prince-Bythewood Directs the Superhero Film We All Need Right Now

In a rare move, The Old Guard centers a dark-skinned Black woman in a big-budget action film

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

Action films have dominated box offices and streaming services in recent years. Unfortunately, save for a few outliers like Black Panther and Black and Blue, they’ve all been male-dominated and extremely white. Twenty years after her stunning debut, Love & Basketball, Gina Prince-Bythewood is ready to lend her vision to the action genre, while centering Black women.

Based on Greg Rucka’s visionary comics, Prince-Bythewood Netflix’s blockbuster, The Old Guard, follows a ragtag group of mercenaries led by the stoic and lethal Andy (Charlize Theron). Though they are weapons masters with exemplary fighting skills, the group also has a secret. They are immortals — people who’ve walked the globe for centuries aiding in pivotal wars and events.

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