Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Movie Review
The first movie was a surprise hit and a legit fun movie. With its far out ideas and presentation it managed to make a point in saying that it wants to distance itself a little from the rest of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). It was a neat ensamble movie that brought together characters that each are their own thing but still build a consistent and fun group. Now we meet that group of characters again for a new adventure and wonder… will it be as magical as the first time we had an adventure with them?
The strength of director James Gunn seems to be to play with expectations and trying to avoid them but still giving the audience what it wants. It’s quite the talent to be honest and it’s at display right at the beginning of the film. It starts with our group of (questionable) heroes trying to fight a monster. Now there is a fight but we don’t get to see much of it, since this opening sequence focusses on Groot, dancing around and enjoying himself along to some fun music. All that while the rest of the team is battling a giant beast with tentacles in the background. But don’t worry, we still get to see enough of the fight. Of course our heroes win and we get introduced to the Sovereign. A society striving for perfection in everything. They hired the Guardians to fight the monster. Everything goes well until Rocket manages to upset the queen or leader of the Sovereign. The Guardians flee the planet. Luckily some mystery ship appears and helps them get away just in time. Still, they end up with a highly damaged ship and crashland on another planet. With the Guardians stranded there and trying to figure out how to move on… that mentioned mysterious spacecraft shows up and lands next to their crashed ship. We meet Ego (Kurt Russell) and learn that he’s the father of Star Lord (Chris Pratt). In the meantime we have Yondu (Michael Rooker) looking for Star Lord and closing in on his location. The Guardians decide to split up with Star Lord, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista) following Ego to his planet. The rest of the gang stays behind trying to repair the ship. Soon Yondu shows up and captures the gang left behind with the ship. Yondu is facing some problems as well. Mutiny. Half his crew isn’t very happy with him and manage to push him aside. Suddenly he’s in the same boat with Rocket and Groot. They now have to work together to get away, which gives us some really nice and funny moments. At the same time we have Star Lord learning more about his father and what he’s up to. Of course not everything is what it seems. Gamora and Drax kind of try to deal with their past and work out things. Especially Gamora gets to deal with her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan). And there is some stuff to work out for both of them. And in the end… it’s all about family.
So much for a brief, unspoiled, summary of the first half of the film. This movie is so stuffed with characters and I only mentioned the first tier so far. There also is Mantis (Pom Klementieff) who is a companion traveling and being on with Ego for a long time. Then there is Kraglin (Sean Gunn) who is Yondu’s loyal right hand. Or Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), leader of the Sovereign. It is amazing how all of these characters get enough space to shine. There literally is no character that falls short and everyone of them gets something to do. And all of them do a great job with what they got. So it’s quite an achievement for writer/director James Gunn, making it work so well. While the characters are written very nicely, I do have some problems here and there. with other parts.
We have a good pacing in the beginning up until we crash on that planet. Then it slows down. Which is good because we need a break. Up to that point we have had almost entirely action scenes. So it’s good to get some breathing room and learn a little more about our characters. We can also see that there passed some time since the first film. Groot grew a little and can run around now. It appears that there has also been something more emotional between Star Lord and Gamora. They accepted the fact that they are a team now and they seem to like it. However. I’m not sure if splitting up the gang in the second act of the film helped. Star Lord deals with his father, Gamora with her sister and Drax with his past by befriending Mantis, with Rocket and Groot not even on the same planet. Sure, you can’t always have these characters together and expect to see individual development of each character. These individual moments still work nice but it’s also a fact that it’s most fun when the gang is together. So it’s a mild nitpick from my side.
With a fast paced actiony start of the film and a more quiet part in the second act, we close the film with a huge action sequence that closes the circle and brings all characters back together again. And having all the gang back together certainly helps the film. Nonetheless the sequence is far too long. This ‘neverending action scene overkill syndrome’ in these kind of filmes really fatigues you at some point. It’s visually amazing and well done. I won’t argue about that. But it’s always too long. Unfortunately in this film too. Even if, again, every single character gets a moment to shine and take a valuable part in the final battle. It’s just too long. There is a reason why fireworks should never be longer than 15 minutes. By making it too long it will lose its magic.
Even though the script is really well written I felt that the dialogue was a little weird here and there. I rewatched the first film and felt the same with that one. But in this second film it stood out a little more. There are a couple of scenes that spell out too much stuff we (as an attentive audience) suspect anyway. There is no need to tell us everything that might go on in this film. The actions of the characters tell us enough. It’s also more fun to suspect where the plot might go instead of having it spelled out and directly know. So yeah, there are a couple of scenes where the dialogue by certain characters hammers it down the audience’s throat. That, to me, felt very unnecessary and too much like “let me take you by the hand so you understand EVERYTHING”. Unnecessary. Trust in your audience and actors a little more.
Like I said before the visuals in this movie are fantastic. I really enjoy the colour palette they work with and (in my point of view) it elevates this movie from the more ‘earthbound’ installments in the MCU. The fact that it’s in space, which allows the material to go off into a more fantasy kind of direction, works to its benefit. Something Marvel struggled with when it comes to the two first Thor films. After seeing the trailer for the third Thor movie it seems they are embracing the more fantastical elements with a little more freedom. They ‘figured out the formula’ so to say. Taking a path away from the sort of more gritty realism we usually get from an Ironman or Cpt. America movie. It’s great and a lot fun to see how much inspiration and imagination is going on there. So a big ‘well done guys’ to the concept and vfx crews that worked on this film. The creative freedom pays off.
As a final verdict I must say that I liked the first movie a tiny bit more. But that, by no stretch, means I did not like this second movie. I enjoyed it a lot and I love the universe they created there. I rarely go back to rewatch other marvel movies but the Guardians movies… I can see myself go back to watch these a couple more times in the future. I like to revisit that world.
Visually the film is a treat so try to catch it on the big screen!
7.9/10
