By When the first Guardians of the Galaxy hit I’m not sure any of us we’re really prepared for it being as fantastic as it was. We weren’t prepared for a team of mostly unknown superheroes being turned into one of Marvel’s most popular franchises. We weren’t prepared for it inspiring an entire Telltale game. We definitely weren’t prepared for one of the greatest soundtracks ever made. The point being: there weren’t really any expectations resting on the first film.
That has changed a whole lot. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has a ton to live up to not only because the first one did so well, but because it has to expand on its characters and introduce a broader story line for the confirmed third film. That’s a tall task, and one of the reasons sequels so often fail. Is Vol. 2 an epic mix tape or that cassette you pulled out of an old box that made you realize you had terrible taste in music when you were 12?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Director: James Gunn
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: May 5, 2017
We should just get this out of the way first: even if this movie sucked more than Suicide Squad I’d recommend it just to see baby Groot. Baby Groot is the cutest, adorablest, most bestest thing that has ever happened on a movie screen. His adorableness could reduce a theater of hardened criminals into a gaggle of teenage girls who have just seen 12 puppies playing with 12 kittens with some baby otters splashing in a pool nearby under the watchful eye of 3 baby pandas trying to lick fruit out of an ice cube while a group of babies give those tiny baby smiles that make your heart melt. You cannot even understand the level of Internet-breaking cute baby Groot is.
It’s pretty clear director James Gunn understands what he has on his hands as well. The entire opening sequence trains the camera on baby Groot doing a dance number to ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” while the rest of the Guardians battle it out with a giant space creature in the background. It’s a fantastically creative opening reestablishing why Guardians feels so different from the rest of the Marvel universe and brings us right back into the team’s dynamics while making sure everyone understands baby Groot is the best.
Those team dynamics are at the forefront this time around. After establishing their new family the intrepid group of heroes — consisting of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel) — are still bickering among each other as they charge for their services throughout the universe. Rocket lands them in a heap of trouble by stealing some fancy batteries from some gold aliens called the Sovereign. This leads the Sovereign’s high priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) to hunt them down, but the group is saved by none other than Star-Lord’s father, Ego (Kurt Russel). Turns out Ego is a Celestial, an ancient being, and now a living planet. Basically Star-Lord has some god in him. Meanwhile Ayesha hires Yondu (Michael Rooker) to chase down the Guardians, and Nebula (Karen Gillan) is on her own quest to kill Gamora. Basically, the band’s back together.
Vol. 2 has a lot to unpack, and it spends a lot of time unpacking it. Its overall themes are about family and friendship, especially fatherhood, thanks to the parenting love triangle that is Star-Lord/Ego/Yondu, but it also needs to get through a ton of exposition because of the mass amount of character background it needs to unpack. That can get a bit cumbersome. While the original film moved effortlessly through its emotional cues and action, Vol. 2 sometimes feels like its pulling you along so we can get to those spots. Exposition dominates a lot of the interaction between Star-Lord and Ego; meaning the emotional punch gets a little lost.
Luckily it’s made up for in a lot of other areas. The relationship between the crew is still fantastic even when the screenplay gets a bit too on the nose. Gunn and the cast just know how to make this crew work, and they continue to do it all while merging Nebula and Yondu more fully into things. The clunkier segments of dialogue can’t keep down the actual spark that these guys have on screen together (even if a chunk of the team is completely digital).
Then there’s the action. Gunn was let loose on this one. I can see the Marvel execs giving him carte blanche the second the first film exploded, and he goes wild with it. The opening I described above is just one example of him having an absolute blast with the action. There is a Yondu fight scene that is one of the most clever pieces of action I’ve seen from Marvel, and the final battle is simply stunning, and, more importantly, coherent. With a plethora of characters doing a plethora of things, Gunn manages to pull together an impressive sequence, which is no easy task. He’s also a master at making sure punchlines hit. Even some of the cheesiest lines in the film are timed wonderfully, leading to what is probably the funniest of the Marvel films.
Of course letting loose isn’t always a good thing. Vol. 2 is a very busy movie with a lot going on almost all the time. The color palette used is massive and sometimes Gunn can get a little carried away with what he’s doing. He’s a good enough director to keep everything coherent, but a little restraint here or there may have been in order at times. That doesn’t mean anything is bad, but things get a little overwhelming at points.
It always helps that your cast is fully into it. Pratt shines again in his leading role, showing why the first film turned him into a superstar. However, the biggest standout is probably Bautista, who is given a lot more dialogue and screen time in Vol. 2. He nails it. While Drax’s whole shtick is not emoting, there’s a skill to doing that while still emoting and Bautista does it with surprising adeptness. Baby Groot may steal the show, but it’s Drax who grounds the film more than anything.
The film still stands on its own in the Marvel universe. In fact, it quite wisely almost entirely ignores the rest of the universe and its ongoing plot. There are mentions of Thanos, but he doesn’t show up this time. There are five(!) teasers at the end, but none of them connect to the other Marvel films. Much like its style, humor, and themes, Vol. 2 stands apart from the rest of Marvel for now. That doesn’t mean that comic fans won’t have a few jaw dropping moments, but this is as far away from an Avengers tie-in as you can get.
What it comes down to is that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is just fun. It’s funny as hell, full of touching and inspiring moments and despite its screenplay issues keeps its momentum going throughout. While it never quite captures the magic of the first film, it has its own. The first movie was such a surprise and so damn charming, that it’s impossible for Vol. 2 to regain that feeling, but it makes its own, and it owns it. Even if it didn’t it has baby Groot.
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After reviewing the first Guardians of the Galaxy, I noted it shared a lot of similarities with other films of its ilk while seeming unique enough through the Marvel lens. Vol. 2, however, throws that completely out the window and delivers an experience wholly its own. While Matt is absolutely correct about the sequels frantic nature, and stimulation overload, when the film focuses itself it can go to some truly remarkable depths not seen in many of the other MCU films. Dave Bautista is indeed the standout, once again, and grounds the crazy technicolor world in a way I didn’t see coming. Gunn adds a unique flair to the MCU, again putting his stamp on the universe with some light body horror, soundtrack meshing with colorful action, but also doesn’t let moments shine. Several emotional beats were undercut by constant jokes. The humor may land, but it’s also constant. Taking a breath every so often would’ve been nice. — Nick Valdez – 78
