New Release! Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (2017) [Spoiler-Free first section]

Spoiler-Free Section

Director: James Gunn

Really fun follow-up to 2014's first Guardians film.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the 15th movie in the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Unlike most of the MCU films in the last several years, though, a viewer does not need to see multiple previous MCU films to fully enjoy this one. Seeing the original Guardians movie is really the only recommended prerequisite to staying up to speed with volume 2.

Volume 2 does a really nice job offering a different narrative from the first movie. Whereas much of the first was a typical "meet the players and get the team together" tale, this one involves seeing how the five "Guardians" deal with themselves and relationships their teammates while being splintered from some of the others. Circumstances force several of them to ally themselves with enemies introduced in the first movie. While this device can feel a bit awkward and forced in other movies, writer and director James Gunn handles it well. We get some fun combinations of heroes, anti-heroes, and outright villains in ways that are often highly entertaining.

Probably the one element that separated the first Guardians movie from other MCU offerings is the highly playful, irreverent tone. The sequel gives us just as much subversiveness as the first, and perhaps even a little more. While there are certainly a few moments that go for sentimentality, they are done fairly well, and they never rob the movie of its seemingly primary goal of kicking the legs out from under many standard tropes of action/adventure movies. It's not an easy balance to maintain, but Gunn has shown himself rather adept at the trick.

Yes, Baby Groot is as cute as advertised. Blessedly, I don't
feel that this adorability was overused. It was close, but
they managed to use him fairly equitably.

The humor is still right on par with the first movie, as well. While not every one-liner or gag lands perfectly, more than enough of them do. It helps to have several actors with solid comic chops, most notably Chris Pratt, Michael Rooker, and Bradley Cooper's voicing of Rocket. These and several other lesser players strike just the right balance between the rollicking intensity and the snarky fun that have become the hallmark of this segment of the MCU. One of my big concerns for this movie, after seeing the trailers, was that the movie would overdo the "cute" factor with Baby Groot. Fortunately, Gunn didn't lean too much on the admittedly adorable tiny version of the ponderous tree creature. Groot certainly has his moments, but I didn't feel that he was shoe-horned into scenes just to keep the attention of viewers under the age of 10.

One of my few issues with the first Guardians film was that the third act devolved into a fairly typical massive-scale fireworks show against a one-dimensional villain. Though Volume 2 certainly ends with plenty of color, explosions, and manic action, the primary adversary shows a little more creativity and novelty than the rather dull Ronan of the first film. This villain isn't exactly the most sophisticated or complex in terms of their grand scheme, but they are a relatively unique entity, not unlike Dormammu in Doctor Strange.

In the grand scheme of the MCU, I have this one in the upper half of the canon. I don't find it quite as consistent, imaginative, or fresh as what I've found to be the very best movies (The Winter Soldier and the first Avengers are still my favorites). But this is still a great popcorn movie that offers fans of the first film the same brand of fun, with a welcome dash of alterations to the original. I'm already planning to go to a second viewing.

In the first film, Nebula is a rather one-dimensional enigma.
In the sequel, fortunately, she becomes more compelling. She
and Yondu add just the right spice that a good sequel needs.

Spoilers Ahead - Fair Warning

So just a couple of things about certain, specific plot and character elements.

Firstly, I'm pretty happy with how the characters were handled, all around. One of my few gripes about the first movie was that we didn't get to see quite enough of Drax or Gamorrah fighting, given that they were reputedly galaxy-class weapons of destruction. We get a somewhat better idea of it in this one. I especially like the showdown between Gamorrah and Nebula on Ego's planet. Nebula reaches the potential suggested in the first movie. As for Drax, I love how he's written and handled - his penchant for bellowing laughter in the most awkward or dangerous situations just doesn't get old to me. Nor does his oblivious disregard for social niceties.

Curiously, I didn't exactly find Ego to be the most compelling villain. I think his nature as "The Living Planet" is actually interesting and creative, but once again Marvel comes up with a villain whose ultimate plan is basically to simply take over the universe. For what, exactly? Well, that's not made completely clear. I will admit that Ego does a better job of justifying and explaining it than certain other superhero movies (I'm looking at you, Thor: The Dark World and Suicide Squad), but it's still nowhere near as fascinating as a well-conceived, if smaller-scale, villain like Civil War's Zemo.

I'm curious to see just how the Guardians tie into next year's Infinity Gauntlet, seeing as how Starlord presumably no longer has the power to handle Infinity Stones. I feel that Nebula is more likely to play some sort of direct role in the tale, given her burning desire to avenge herself upon her sadistic, adopted father Thanos. This was a nice setup to that massive picture for next year, without having it feel terribly forced in this one. 

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

*For those interested, I did a big run-down of all of the Avengers movies to date. Here's the post.

Director: James Gunn

Spoiler-Free Reaction

If you haven't seen the movie yet and are asking yourself, "Would I enjoy it?", here's a simple test: Have you seen any of the previews that show the talking raccoon and the sentient tree creature? If you have and you did not roll your eyes at the ridiculousness of it, then you need to go see the movie.

This movie is plenty of fun, though it fell just a hair short of my expectations. Now I must admit that my expectations were extremely high, given the strength of several of Marvel's Cinematic Universe movies of late, so this is not to say that Guardians has any major issues. Minor ones, certainly, but they really don't detract from making it a great return to the unfiltered fun of sci-fi adventure films of a few decades ago.

There's nothing exactly novel about the basic story: immensely powerful and destructive object is coveted by megalomanical bad guy - in this case, a genocidal zealot named Ronan - and a band of reluctant rogues must join forces to stop him. This movie, though, turns a lot of the details on their ears, making the rogues a bit odder than your typical big budget action flick. In fact, it's probably the most bizarre grouping of heroes to be featured in such a well-funded movie. And it works, for the most part.

Don't laugh too hard - this fuzzy little guy carries large
sections of the movie. Who thought that a successful update
to the Han Solo character could be so bizarre?

While the plot itself tries to be a touch too intricate, the story does what it needs to - gives the five main characters a reason to fight through various obstacles and enemies, bond with one another, and fire off plenty of great banter. No, not every joke is a home run, but there are certainly enough to carry the film.

The basic characters are intriguing and full of potential. Some of that potential is met, most notably with Rocket and Groot, but it falls short with others. This was probably my single biggest disappointment in the  movie. I feel that more could have been done to define, solidify, and showcase all five of the 'Guardians' abilities and personalities.

The cast is, my eyes, nearly perfect. Nearly. Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista nail their parts as Star Lord and Drax, respectively. The voice acting by Bradley Cooper is an absolute highlight, and yes, I suppose I can say that Vin Diesel does fine with the many intonations of the phrase "I am Groot." However, I have to say that I found Zoe Saldana far too relaxed in her portrayal of Gamora. This characters is supposed to be a jaded, stone-cold assassin, but this doesn't always come through. Some of this is the dialogue, which wasn't always consistent in tone, but I felt that Saldana might have played it a bit icier.

The visuals are what you would expect, especially if you've seen Thor: The Dark World. There are plenty of vibrant landscapes and epic, fast-paced space battles. The CGI is top-notch, but there's a bit too much of it for my taste. Call me old school, but I still yearn for the lower-tech days that called for more use of models for the spacecraft fights. Segments of the movie blur into a massive multiplayer online video game, best fit for excitable pre-teens.

I know this all may seem like a lot of criticism, but really, all of it is fairly minor. Thanks to some humorous dialogue, the casts' ability to sell it, and a relentless attitude of irreverence towards overly serious sci-fi action movies, it's hard to imagine many people simply not liking Guardians of the Galaxy.

Spoiler-Laden, Detailed Thoughts (mostly little gripes, really):

The opening of the movie is a tad sappy, though it doesn't dwell too long on the source of Quill's emotional baggage. Think of it as a blessedly shorter version of the tear-jerking opening of Pixar's Up.

I was also a bit disappointed by the fact that the majority of the aliens were basically painted humans, with perhaps a prosthetic set of ears or headgear. I expect that from Star Trek TV shows, which had budget constraints and had to pump out 24 episodes every season. I don't expect it from a one-shot movie that has Marvel's exploding nine-digit budget to play with. I mean, if Lucas could do it in 1977 in Star Wars, and del Toro could do it in 2004 with Hellboy, couldn't we have gussied up a few more six-armed or three-headed weirdos? If not, at least give me a brief, plausible explanation as to why the Xandarians all look exactly like humans.

Drax and Gamora - they're cool characters, but ones who
I feel were never given their true moments to entertain
through administering more serious beat-downs.

Am I the only one who was a tiny bit underwhelmed by Gamora and Drax? The former is billed as a galaxy-class assassin, while the latter is spoken of as a terrifying juggernaut of rage. This had me hoping for a true demonstration of their supernatural abilities in the forms of hordes of enemies falling under the blades and fists of these supposed death machines. Yet this never quite happens. Sure, they each knock out their share of opponents, but we never get the grander scale arse-whooping by the protagonists that we get in nearly every Avengers film. Think Iron Man vs. terrorists in the first film. Thor against the frost giants. Captain America montage versus Nazis and Hydra. Hulk versus the entire Centaurian army. That kind of arse-whooping. Quill gets some of this, and even Groot and Rocket have their moments of badassitude. So why not the two members who are presented as possibly the most fearsome of the crew? It was disappointing.

There also seemed to be a slightly lax attitude towards certain details in the story. None of them destroys the plot, but they certainly could have used a little more thought. One such is how Quill, Gamora, Rocket and Groot are initially captured on Xandar. The latter three are all hauled in by the Xandarian police force for starting a shoot-out in an attempt to capture Quill for the reward on his head. However, we later learn just how intelligent and resourceful Rocket truly is, and how much Gamora is supposed to be. Yet this cunning assassin and bounty hunter never once realized that starting a shootout in a public square would result in their apprehension? It's a bit sloppy, both on the characters' parts and the writer's part. This is one of several minor oversights that, while not ruining anything, prevents the tale from being as tight as it could be.

To be clear, I did really enjoy the movie. In fact, I'll likely go see it in the theaters again, and this is the true test of whether a popcorn movie has done its job. This movie does its job.