In a movie about ancient mercenaries who's main focus is keeping humanity from destroying itself all while staying hidden. The plot here is that they're secret is about to be exposed and the mystery of their immortality is in threat. Where is the problem? Well with a lot of people there were many. I am not one of those people. I rather enjoyed the storyline and had fun with the characters involved. The actions were kick-ass and the pasting of the film was spot on. I never felt completely on board with it. If I were to change anything it would be to take away about ten or fifteen minutes out of the runtime. That's minor.
To me, this action flick lead by Charlize Theron just further proved to me that she is a bonified baddy and deserves to be put in the list of butt-kicking actors in Hollywood. There were moments in the film where there was the stereotypical cringy cliche bad guy but you are not exposed to it as much as it would take to make the film none watchable. The great thing about these films villains is that its full of people motivated by greed but also the belief that they are not the bad guys but that what they are doing is justified. That's always the recipe for great storytelling.
The cast of heroes worked well together and carried a feeling of brotherhood that was incredibly believable so when they are put to the test and have to fight for existence you are really invested in the outcome. I took the time out to read audience reviews and the comments I found were either overwhelming support that made me feel that someone's relative wrote reviews to help out the family production company and promote and others from completely bigoted and ignorant tirades that were bathed in sexism and homophobia. The most believable and fair reviews came from the three-star people who just pointed out what worked and what didn't. Seeing this film on the big screen could have been a treat but I don't see this as a huge blockbuster summer film. This could have been a great march or February release and done well.
I recommend this movie, the mythology is compelling, and the source material rich with plots for future projects that can lead this into a successful franchise. If there is a sequel I am looking forward to seeing where this all goes. Get on Netflix and hit play. You will have a good time unless you're bringing in agendas into the experience that doesn't belong in this film. This is purely an action pack movie with a lot of potentials.