(VERY MINOR SPOILERS)
“When you’re ugly and people love you, you know they love
you for who you are. Beautiful people don’t know who to trust.”
Marvel Studios has
a mixed record for its sequels. “Iron Man” was a great, but then the sequels
were such a downgrade. “Thor” was a decent film and then its sequel was just
plain awful. “Avengers” brought together the best of the best then the sequel
was simply a generic copycat. Then there’s the Captain America trilogy, which
kept getting better with each film. Many regard “The Winter Soldier” and “Civil
War” as the best Marvel films. So where does “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”
land on the sequel spectrum… well let’s find out.
“Guardians of the
Galaxy” was one of those movies people thought from the trailer wasn’t going to
be a box office hit, but it was indeed a hit. Many people regard it as the
biggest surprise hit Marvel ever had. It was a breath of fresh air compared to
all the seriousness of the superhero films. It brought nostalgia to some and
many laughs to all. The characters were lovable from Groot to Drax. So people
knew what to expect with the sequel.
As soon as the
film’s opening credits played people began laughing hard at the ever-adorable
baby Groot dancing in the middle of the guardians battling an inter-dimensional
monster. All the characters have their moments, but the characters that truly
stood out in the film for me were baby Groot (of course), Drax, and Yondu (who
is my favorite in the film). Baby Groot steals every scene he’s in, Drax has
more funny one liners (especially when he talks to Mantis), and Yondu has a
more emotional part in the film that I will get into later.
The film is split
up in three acts. The first and third acts are great, but the second act is
somewhat drawn out and quite disjointed. The second act was the main problem
for me. It felt like a mess and sometimes misplaced sight of its characters and
their chemistry. The characters split up and went into two groups. Peter,
Gamora, and Drax go with Peter’s father, while Rocket and Baby Groot stay
behind to repair the ship and keep an eye on Nebula. Now they all do come
together again for an emotional third act. I do think that it is probably one
of the most emotional endings Marvel has done to date, but it still doesn’t
change the fact that the second act was rather boring.
It’s a known fact
that Marvel films don’t have the best villains. For the most part they are very
forgettable. Just name 3 villains that aren’t Loki or Iron Man from “Civil
War”. Marvel just has many throwaway bad guys like the elf thing in Thor 2 or
whoever the villain was supposed to be in Iron Man 3. DC will always dominate
in that arena. There’s simply no high
stakes for the heroes to face in Marvel films. The stakes do seem higher in
this film than most and there is actually somewhat a memorable villain in here
too. Of course the villain plans on domination but there is a reason behind it,
“I wanted more… I desired meaning”. The villain has a complete emptiness and
craves to consume everything in order to do away with the emptiness. I can see
the villain still be talked about in future films.
The main theme for
the film is family. It’s brought up throughout the whole film. Peter meets his
biological father Ego who has been absent Peter’s whole life. During the second
act Peter is questioning whether or not being with Ego will heal that emptiness
he’s felt his whole life or if the guardians and Yondu have already healed the
emptiness and he just doesn’t realize it yet. Yondu even tells him, “He may
have been your father, Quill, but he wasn’t your daddy.” The reason why Yondu
keeps Peter as a kid and has always had a soft spot for him is reason enough to
make him your favorite character. Not to mention his big scene on his ship.
All-and-all the
film works, even though at times it’s a bit more disjointed than the original. “Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol.2” has more than just humor and great music it also has
heart. It’s most definitely a solid follow-up. Chris Pratt sure has come a long
way since his days on Everwood and Parks and Recreation.
4.6 out of 5
