Sunday, April 29, 2018

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Introduction:

When Guardians of the Galaxy arrived in theaters in 2014, the results were unexpected. In the lead up to the film’s release, the Marvel faithful were excited but everyone else saw what looked like Star Warsclone with a talking raccoon. What we got was something that was a lot more fun than the last crop of Star Wars prequels. A sequel was inevitable, and it had a lot to live up to.

Summary:

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is still calling himself the Star Lord and is still traveling with his rag tag group of heroes. These include Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and baby Groot (Vin Diesel). Now known as the Guardians of the Galaxy they are still getting in and out of trouble but these days they do it for “good causes” like protecting powerful batteries for the golden skinned Sovereign people. But nothing goes as planned and Rocket may or may not have stolen some of the batteries and well… things go wrong.

Before you know it Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) are dragged into the mess and the Guardians are facing hundreds of deadly Sovereign ships. But help arrives when a mysterious being named Ego (Kurt Russell) saves the day. He brings the Guardians to his home world and reveals his god-like powers. Ego then claims to be Peter’s father, and that he needs his son’s help for a special mission. It isn’t long before 70s music is playing, Rocket is shouting and shooting and the galaxy is in peril again.

Good Points:
  • Maintains the fun spirit of the previous film.
  • The cast does a great job balancing humor and drama
  • Excellent visuals and productions design

Bad Points:
  • The flow of the story moves in fits and starts
  • Looking for nonstop action, you won’t find it here
  • Gets a little too self aware at times

Overall:

In some ways it would be silly to expect this film to top the predecessor. We are expecting a lot from this film and it delivers on quite a bit. Lots of humor and fun for sure. But the movie feels a little too long and could have trimmed a subplot or two to make it flow a bit better. The characters are so much fun you don’t mind spending the extra time with them. Well worth checking out, especially if you enjoyed the previous film.

Scores(out of 5)
Visuals:  5
Sound: 5
Acting:  4
Script:  3
Music: 4
Direction: 4
Entertainment: 4
Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

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2 comments:

  1. At this late date it is hard to write a script for a straight-up superhero movie that wouldn’t look like a parody on the screen. All the tropes are too well trodden. Marvel has shown a knack for including enough self-aware absurdity to keep audiences from rolling their eyes while still delivering an action-adventure. I enjoyed this one, too.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah I think the use of humor is pretty solid in most of their films. It works especially well in the Guardians films. The chemistry with the cast works wonders too.

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