Review: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Guardians of the Galaxy 2, directed by James Gunn, is the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Synopsis
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.”
Watching the movie was a weird experience. While I overall enjoyed the movie, I laughed here and there, the action is fine and the movie had some great moments, there are a couple of problems I have with the movie and it took me a while to narrow those down.
Guardians is funny, like most marvel movies this is an action comedy. But here some of the jokes didn’t land. Especially the “Taserface”-bit is cringeworthy to me and the golden people (the Enclave?) are on the on hand described as genetically created by scientists to be perfect beings and then they are just plain idiots. And then there is Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). I understand why people love him, but over the course of the movie I got really annoyed by him and the “Baby Groot misunderstands everything and that leads to funny things” stick. Only Drax (Dave Batista) always works for me.
The music of course was one of the big pluses the first film had going for it. In the sequel, we get to hear the 2nd mixtape, and it is just as great. The music is used in some fun way, especially during the opening, and is still the great vehicle to transport and compliment the style of Guardians of the Galaxy.
The biggest problem I have with the movie is with the story. The movie lacks a central villain for the most part of the movie. So, when the first act is over and no real villain is introduced the movie for me got very predictable and you can see the twist by the end of the second act isn’t surprising. This lack of a villain also leads to some problem with the pacing. Towards the middle the story feels a bit directionless, like everybody is just waiting for an enemy for show up.
Where the movie shines, is exploring the relations between the different characters. The Group tries to figure out how to make this new family work while also bringing in new people into the family. This way we get to know the characters better. Especially the relation between Gamora and Nebula is really intriguing. Learning about their childhood, and how they were treated by Thanos, and especially how Nebula suffered gave us one of the few heavy parts in the movie and at least balanced the levity of the rest of the movie out a bit.
The relationship the movie focuses for the most part is of course Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and his father Ego, the living planet (Kurt Russel). I enjoyed Ego for the first half, learning about his powers, the history with Peters mother and how Peter and Ego get closer. In the third act the character doesn’t work for me anymore. (possible Spoiler!) There is a twist in Egos motivation that leads into the third act and the main confrontation of the movie and for me that twist feels forced. While you can see coming that some sort of twist like that is coming, the specific choice is bland and not well developed or explained.
Just to say it, also no one is surprised, the movie looks great and acting is fine for all the characters.
We get a couple of cameos that comic book fans will enjoy and several mid- and post-credit scenes that hint at things to come.
Overall Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is a fine movie, just not quite as good as the first.
My rating: 7/10
