Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

        With Phase 3 already in high gear, it made sense to have a sequel to the surprise hit of Guardians of the Galaxy. More than anything, the team’s appeal was an interesting choice to kick off the summer slate of 2017. With this one James Gunn has total control of the project since he did the double duty of writing and directing. In my opinion, it’s one of the better sequels in the MCU, considering the only good one is The Winter Soldier. 

1. Team and Family

        When you try to chronologically watch the MCU, it’s surprising to note that the first two Guardians films take place immediately after each other. Still keeping in line that they operate under their own rules outside of what’s happening on Earth. To me, that’s why I think outside of the core Avengers members, the Guardians are the most interesting since they have that renegade edge to them. I think this is the series that has it’s own fans where it involves individuals who are outcasts.

        So, we follow the team as they’re now operating as a team for hire. After Rocket steals from the gold faced group the Sovereign, they’re on the run. A mysterious being helps them ward off the fleet, he drops a bomb shell that he’s Peter’s dad. For one thing, I think it’s wise to follow up on Peter’s background, it was alluded to in the last entry on how he managed to survive holding an infinity stone. We even have a small introduction of Peter’s mom and dad, knowing what we know makes the first film more tragic.

        Here, we see just who Peter’s dad is. Kurt Russel plays the seemingly innocent Ego. His chemistry alongside Chris Pratt works since it’s like seeing him talking to his long-lost father. Basically, having Peter ask him where he’s been and why he couldn’t visit him. The casting is sort of immaculate since you can kind of believe that Rusell is Pratt’s father. We see how Pratt’s Star-Lord is still a grown-up kid as he plays catch with his dad. 

        The film still retains a diegetic soundtrack that is used nicely in the film. It's a new playlist that we see since Peter opened his mother's gift in the last film. Once again, all of it is used to represent how Peter is feeling in the scene. While we don't see him put on his headphones, but seeing the moment when part of the team arriving in Ego's planet with George Harrison playing represents just how the other characters mirror the mixtape. 

        

        If there’s one thing to say about the film and how it looks is that it looks gorgeous. I remember watching a video on YouTube where Gunn promotes the camera that they shot the film in. It’s called a RED camera; to sum it up it captures footage and records in 8K. The colors pop out is what I’m attempting to get at. All of it is a huge contrast with how the first Guardians looks like. Not to say that the first one looks like garbage, but the colors don’t pop out since the guys that we follow are criminals. To me, it makes everything pop out and you don’t have to have a fancy TV to get the total experience. 

        Aside from the Star-Lord story line, we have the team split up. With Drax and Gamora following Quill and his dad, while Rocket fixes the ship with a now baby version of Groot. It’s a compromise when you want to have the focus be spent equally by separating the team, since we see just what’s happening on the other side. In the context of the story, it works since there’s a fallout between Peter and Rocket. 

        With what the film is going for and well I gave it away in the title of the first tab is that the film is about family. Not to say that’s why it’s powerful in the film, but it’s what its about at the core. They started as a team but now they consider themselves as a family. It’s even expressed when we see Yondu being separated by his Ravagers. With how it’s shown when it’s him is a bit rocky. No pun intended when we see Sylvester Stallone make an appearance as the head of the Ravagers, but it gives them a clunky way to force a fallout between him and his crew. Of course, it had to tie back to why Yondu didn’t give Peter to Ego. 

        So back to the family angle, I think that it works in the context of the team since they have growing pains as they argue and finally trying to coalesce with each other. All of it is shown when we get the moments of them interacting with Groot. The opening title sequence shows just how all of them are different with attempting to protect Groot all the while stopping the threat. You can see that Peter is trying to hold the team together while Rocket does things out of his own volition.

        One scene that perfectly captures just one side of the family angle is when Gamora’s sister Nebula chases her down to try and kill her. They fight but it gets a breather when Nebula confesses to Gamora that she just wanted a sister. While we didn’t have more moments of them in the last film. Nebula’s cries works by having her sister finally accept her. This ultimately sets up the revelation that Ego needed Peter for his own plans. All of it is tragic when Ego turns on Peter and practically destroys the only remaining thing Quill has of his mother. 

2. James Gunn’s “Last” Film

        Of course, the film made money and the team would wound up appearing in the subsequent Avengers films. There was a period where Disney fired James Gunn and it looked like the franchise would be like the others where another person would helm a sequel. What caused it was that Gunn was very active on Twitter mostly deriding the president at the time and some trolls decided to dig up past tweets that show that he was just as grotesque with who he was complaining about. 

        With a bombshell like that, it seemingly looked like Gunn’s days were numbered at Marvel Studios. So why am I bringing it up? Mostly for context of the times that his talent to basically go weird with his movies helped another studio and their toy chest of comic book characters. His directorial vision is the only one that is discernable in the cinematic universe. Inevitably, Disney brought him back to close his trilogy and he has a gig now of his own division in Warner Bros. 

3. Overall

        Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a worthy sequel in the MCU. Of course not as good as the debut, but up there as the best sequels in the overall franchise.