• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
  • Home
  • |
  • By Title
  • By Director
  • By Genre
  • By Year
  • By Review Date
  • |
  • #/A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M
  • N
  • O
  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • S
  • T
  • U
  • V
  • W
  • X
  • Y
  • Z
  • Date: 05/28/17
  • Location: Cinemark Century Point Ruston
  • One of the things that impressed me about the first Guardians of the Galaxy was how skillfully it injected a few convincing moments of heartfelt sentiment into what was otherwise a very silly and funny sci-fi adventure. Rather than reapply this successful formula to the sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, director James Gunn instead makes the bold decision to amp up the heartwarming to levels that often overshadow the film's humor. From its focus on family reunions to a new character who literally senses and manipulates emotion, this movie proudly wears its feelings on its sleeve in a way that no other big-budget superhero movie would ever attempt. Unfortunately, the result is an occasionally amusing but decidedly less entertaining film than its predecessor. I guess more than a few moments of real feeling are too much for a movie of this kind.
  • Like last year's Deadpool, the film never tops its opening credits sequence, which propels the returning Guardians into battle with an enormous interdimensional space monster while Baby Groot (voiced by a pitched-up Vin Diesel) dances to the strains of ELO's Mr. Blue Sky. It's the sort of ridiculously fun scene that exemplifies what sets this series apart from the considerably more stodgy adventures of Iron Man and Captain America, neither of whom have ever impressed anyone with their dancing. Equally amusing is the new character Ego (Kurt Russell), whose majestic hair and calm confidence (to say nothing of his impressive dioramas!) may explain how he won the heart of the woman who would one day give birth to Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). That's right, Star-Lord's father has returned after all of these years, and he finally wants to let his son in on some of the big family secrets.
  • But theirs is not the only deep interpersonal relationship explored by this film. There is also the conflict between Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and her estranged sister Nebula (Karen Gillan), the latter of whom has never forgiven her sister for defeating her in battle as children. Likewise, there is considerable male bonding between Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), both of whom have a strange penchant for estranging the people they care about. There are even some attempts at tenderness between new addition Mantis (Pom Klementieff), who senses people's inner emotions, and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), whose inner emotions never stay inner for long. Naturally, there is also some lingering romantic tension between Gamora and Star-Lord...you know, maybe listing all of these relationships is the best illustration of why the film feels so emotionally overstuffed.
  • Amidst all of these emotional maelstroms, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 also features a set of villains (Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan) somehow more forgettable than Ronan the Accuser and battle scenes that generate a surprisingly high body count. (Seriously, the allegedly heroic Yondu kills at least a hundred guys in this movie.) There is also a lot of expected 80's music and an unexpected homage to North by Northwest that breaks my rule of never reminding the audience that they could be watching a much better movie. Although the film is to be commended for tying in more closely to Knight Rider than to the sprawling Marvel film universe, perhaps it would have benefitted just this once from conforming more to the Marvel house style. Sure, Iron Man and Cap don't dance, but they also don't bore their audience to death obsessing over their feelings.
  • There were a lot of post-credit scenes, one of which teases Adam Warlock. I honestly don't remember the others.
  • Also appearing or providing voices in this film were Sean Gunn, Seth Green, Michael Rosenbaum, Sylvester Stallone, Ving Rhames, Michelle Yeoh, Miley Cyrus, David Hasselhoff, and your old pal Stan Lee.
  • Histogram of Films Watched by Year Released