Green Goblin Reviews: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Every once in a while, you get the feeling that Marvel is phoning it in at this point. Make no mistake, even what could arguably be called phoned in from Marvel is still pretty damn great, but when you create as many superhero origin stories, continuations, spinoffs and collaborations as they have since they got the ball starting on this little moneymaker of theirs, there’s bound to be some overlap or parts that inevitably drag. Which is what makes the original Guardians of the Galaxy stand out as much as it did when it premiered in 2014. It wasn’t like any other superhero film; the story beats, aesthetic, humor and even the music was unlike anything that’d come before it. It was Marvel’s biggest gamble at the time, greenlighting a project with virtually no recognizable characters to any of the mainstream movie-going audience (or even most comic book nerds, like yours truly). And not only did it pay off, it fucking skyrocketed to success. It was the biggest blockbuster of the year, critically praised, garnered a new interest in cosmic-level superhero comics, created a mascot as marketable as (and less annoying than) the minions and cemented Starlord, Drax, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon and Groot (Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel) into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With a success story as strong as that, you really want the sequel to be just as strong and hit just as hard. And for the most part, yeah, that’s pretty much what we got here. Hooray!!
It feels good for a movie to start up and just be funny and engaging from jump. The titular Guardians are providing their services of intergalactic helper monkeys to those who can pay and stealing what they need to survive; the combination of which, has earned them various reputations across the universe, as well as numerous enemies. One such enemy chases the guardians into an asteroid belt and nearly corner them, only for them to be saved at the last moment, by a mysterious man in a highly evolved spaceship (even for the setting of the movie). The man introduces himself as Peter Quill/Starlord’s father, Ego (Kurt Russel). For those of you out there that don’t know, He’s typically referred to in the comics as “Ego, the Living Planet”. Draw your own conclusions. Long story short, he’s what is referred to as a “Celestial”; an elder being who has existed since that beginning of the universe and draws his power from the leftover energy of the Big Bang. Or, as Ego puts it: “god with a lowercase ‘g'”. Accompanied by his empath surrogate daughter, Mantis (Pom Klementieff), he’s been searching for Quill for decades and has finally tracked him down. Wanting to spend some time to sort this out, Quill, Gamora and Drax leave with Ego and Mantis, while Rocket, Groot and newly captured Nebula (Karen Gillian) stay with the ship as it’s being repaired. During said time, the Ravagers from the first film (led by Mike Rooker’s Yondu) are called on to hunt down the Guardians and corner and capture Rocket’s group. While, Quill and company try to come to terms with his new half-god status, Rocket and company have to break free from the Ravengers and regroup with the others.
Long story short, the film is fantastic. Just as fun and humorous as the original. James Gunn’s off-the-cuff humor makes the film stand out in ways that other Marvel movies don’t. Sure, the Avengers would toss out quips as fast as Joss Whedon could right them, but they always felt inherently scripted. The conversations were just a little too quick-witted; the one-liners a little to precise. This is a film that allows its heroes room to breath and act like actual people who slip up in conversation, which is basically what Chris Pratt has made a career out of performing. The sets are as bright and colorful as ever, giving off that wonderful Jack Kirby-inspired palette that is surprisingly lacking in a lot of superhero entries (which I hope to see more of in Thor: Ragnarok this fall). The action is solid, and knows when to take itself seriously (about 5% of the time). I’d say the one thing that feels a little off is a couple of the effects. Granted, most effects are great in this film, with Baby Groot being just as adorably marketable as the trailers would have you believe. But there are a couple moments in the middle of the film that feel more like you’re watching a comedy film from the mid-90s. It was jarring enough that I could notice in, despite the cameos and comedy that it’s being used on.
The film is just as fantastic and bigger in scope than the first film, but it’s hard to capture that exact moment again, because the first film had the element of surprise in play. Not so much, this time around. Rather than being surprised at what an awesome film this out-of-nowhere franchise turned out to be, you’re instead just left happy and satisfied that Marvel didn’t drop the ball. I just hope to never feel bored, when discussing cosmic-level storylines in the MCU. Weirded out? Sure. But never let me feel bored when dealing with magical universe powers, Marvel. I typically buy my Marvel movies in collectable sets with each wave. I’m probably gonna get a digital version of this first, because I can’t wait that long
9/10 Oh, and it’s a Marvel film, so you already know you’re gonna get like 3 or 4 credit scenes. Enjoy, folks!!