Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Movie Review
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Movie Review
This movie tries way too hard to live up to the hype, box-office cash, and critical acclaim of the first Guardians movie, and in many ways, it succeeds. Yes, it’s as funny as the first one, and yes, the good characters are all back. Surprisingly enough, this is probably one of the best MCU movies. I’m not even kidding. The story is good, the acting is convincing, and the special effects and such are still great.
The story follows the same five people: Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel), who is now a smaller “baby Groot.” They find themselves fighting an army of golden-skinned aliens, and crash land on an unknown planet. There the Guardians find Star-Lord’s supposed father, Ego (Kurt Russell). Ego takes the Guardians to his planet, which is made up of himself, essentially, and reveals to Peter (Star-Lord) that he (and Peter) are both immortal. With Ego is his servant, Mantis (Pom Klementieff), who is an empath. The good guys realize that Ego is not who he seems, and the trouble begins. Plus, we get more of the Gamora vs. Nebula (Karen Gillan) storyline, and Yondu (Michael Rooker) returns as probably one of the most interesting characters. There’s even a cameo appearance by Sylvester Stallone as Starhawk, a leader of the Ravagers. Starhawk is actually one of the primary characters from the first ever comic book Guardians team, but here I guess he’s a Ravager member.
Ego is an interesting villain, but he still isn’t as good as Magneto, Loki, or the Green Goblin. Kurt Russell brought out a darker side of acting in this character (Big Trouble in Little China is still my favorite role of his), and it works out pretty well. In the comics, Ego is not a person who has their own planet, but instead is just a planet with a huge face. Look up “ego marvel” on the internet and you will see. His powers are a little unclear, though. I know he can make whatever he wants out of hand energy or whatever, and he’s immortal, and he’s a “celestial,” but other than that the movie doesn’t really tell us what his abilities are. Why did Ego put a brain tumor in Meredith’s (Laura Haddock) head? What was the point? If he made Peter, and everything was fine, then why did he retreat to the stars and kill someone he loved? Maybe it explained this, but if they did, it’s not clear.
Rocket Raccoon is not as funny or lovable in Vol. 2 as he is in the first film. He just seems more obnoxious and less hilarious. His best moment is when he is explaining to Groot what to do with the bomb, but even still this is mostly Groot’s moment. Rocket also seems a little depressed in the movie, and it makes a few scenes slightly damper. His relationship with Yondu is one of the more intriguing parts of the movie.
Yondu is a character I did not expect to like as much as I did. He seems like he’s having fun, while also being an emotionally complex character. Yondu is also the most brutal person in Vol. 2 by far. He probably kills at least one hundred evil-doers in one scene, all by shooting a red arrow around. His father-son relationship with Star-Lord is also pretty cool. The part where he and Rocket and Groot are on the Ravager ship is also funny. I did not find dancing Groot as funny as everyone else did in the first Guardians movie, but I actually liked his dance moves in this movie. When Rocket and Yondu are trapped in a cage, Yondu tells Groot to go get his red crest out of a drawer in the captain’s cabin. Groot comes back with a different item each time: someone’s eye, a desk, someone’s severed thumb, a space rat (still alive), and Yondu’s underwear. It gets progressively funnier until Groot finally brings back Yondu’s red crest so he can wreck havoc. Groot reminded me of my own pet kitten when Drax was holding him.
I like Star-Lord fine, but nothing has really changed with him since Guardians of the Galaxy. Maybe I was expecting a bit more, or something? I don’t know. Basically Star-Lord is playing Chris Pratt. Honestly Chris Pratt plays a lot of his roles the same. His characters in Guardians, Jurassic World, and The Magnificent Seven are pretty much the same person. Now I’m bored of talking about Star-Lord.
Drax is good. Occasionally he can be annoying, but mostly his character is solid. He even had this weird moment where he talks about his daughter, which is OK, but it doesn’t really seem necessary now.
The movie tries to really make you believe that Ego is actually nice and cool and Star-Lord’s dad and all that, but it didn’t really work that well. I mean, we were two thirds through the movie and hadn’t established a real main villain yet, so Ego was looking pretty obvious as a bad guy. But I think Ego is a pretty good villain. It’s usually fun to see an older actor who used to play a hero play a villain in a movie.
Safety Chart:
Violence: 7/10- This movie is more violent than the first one. Lots of faceless “thug” characters are killed without any mercy. There is very little blood. Spaceships shoot at each other with lasers. People and aliens are shot, stabbed, and trashed. Explosions.
Language: 5/10- Infrequent cursing. There are also some other things like “stupid,” “crap,” and “idiot.”
Drinking/Smoking: 5/10- Ravagers drink and are drunk, and even pour some alcohol on Groot’s head.
I’m sorry it took so long to put this review up, but here it is. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the best sequel I’ve seen since Terminator 2. It’s a great story with great characters, and it’s also refreshing a big blockbuster like this didn’t fail as critically as other blockbusters these days, like Transformers: The Last Knight and The Mummy. Vol. 2 is definitely a great addition to the MCU, and a great addition to 2017 movies. I’m glad I saw this movie (I actually saw it twice), and I am giving it an A as a grade. Go see this movie if you haven’t already. It’s still in theaters.
