Charlize Theron, who will hit a birthday milestone this summer, is back as axe-wielding superhero Andy in the Netflix action sequel "The Old Guard 2."

Perhaps that also has to do with the quality of “The Old Guard 2,” which feels like a step down from the first movie, which provided much-needed escapism in the summer of 2020 as we met Theron’s Andromache the Scythian (Andy, for short) and welcomed KiKi Layne’s new immortal Nile.

The action is mostly overshadowed by the question of who's going to live forever in a schlock sequel that takes itself inordinately seriously.