Matt Reviews: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

WARNING: NOW That's What I Call SPOILERS (Vol. 2)

This time around, the greatest heroes in the galaxy are Pac-Man and Mary Poppins.

After the events of the first movie, the Guardians of the Galaxy have taken up a job as soldiers of fortune. When one of these jobs goes wrong and they wind up being hunted down by a conclave of gold-skinned purists, they find solace with the last person they thought they’d encounter: Peter’s dad, a.k.a. Ego the Living Planet (played by Kurt Russell). Yes, that planet with a giant face from the comics is Star-Lord’s daddy. Long story. But while Peter bonds with his immortal deadbeat dad, the Guardians learn that not all is what it seems. Meanwhile, the Ravagers mutiny against Yondu for betraying their code. Everyone learns what true family is. And Groot is a baby.

The best parts of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are the characters and where the film takes them. Everyone gets their own fair share of development in this movie, and you’ll definitely be reminded of why you liked these characters from the first movie. The film does what a lot of sequels to ensemble/team movies do and “split the fellowship” by having some of the cast in Plot A, and the others in Plot B (see The Empire Strikes Back or The Two Towers for further examples). This way, we get to explore different corners of the universe while still following the main cast. This also allows for some interesting character combination dynamics that never really crossed my mind, like Rocket and Yondu bonding, and the chemistry between Drax and newcomer Mantis. Baby Groot doesn’t get as much focus as the advertisement made it seem, but with how many characters there are in this movie, that’s a very minor complaint.

And as good as the main characters are, it was the secondary characters that surprised me here. Like I said, everyone is given depth, and when some of these side characters didn’t have that much to go on from the first film, that makes them stand out all the more. Nebula is the Loki of this movie: a first movie villain who gets more development in the sequel to make her more fleshed out. Her monologue about how Thanos would replace bits and pieces of her with cybernetics when Gamora would best her in battle is one of the more powerful bits in the movie.

Yondu gets a character arc involving his atonement for past sins, which makes his sacrifice at the end all the more heartbreaking. Freaking Kraglin even gets to be a compelling character! Yeah, the guy from the first movie who was literally just an excuse for director James Gunn to cast his brother as a character becomes a kind of vital part of the Guardians by the end. To quote the harrowed words of the great Chancellor Palpatine: A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

I am Groot.

I also thought the villains here were better than in the first movie. Ronan the Accuser was by the far the weakest part of the first Guardians film, owing to the fact that his staunch seriousness and resemblance to past MCU bad guys didn’t really gel with the less serious atmosphere. Here, the villains feel like a more organic part of the scenery. Ayesha and the Sovereign are a quirky bunch of aliens who get a few laughs, and the stupidity of Taserface doesn’t feel out of place in a movie that has a talking raccoon.

Ego is probably the most serious villain of the lot, but with how much more emotional this movie is than its predecessor, it feels right. He’s Peter’s dad, but is also responsible for killing his mom and wants to become the entire universe, regardless of the lives it would kill in the process. On top of the much more serious, universe-level threat, there’s a layer of familial drama piled on that makes the protagonists’ conflict with him all the deeper.

The humor is still good in this movie, though I feel like the jokes were better in the first one. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of laugh-out-loud moments here. It just feels like whereas the first film focused on jokes more with a surprisingly powerful undertone of emotion, this one focuses more on that emotion and character and delegates the jokes to the sidelines a bit. Not a problem at all. Darker, more emotional sequels have worked for Marvel movies in the past, and this is no exception.

Carrying over from the first film, the visuals are astounding. The effects for Rocket and Groot continue to amaze me, and there are a few new CGI creations thrown into the mix, like the giant snaggle-toothed Cthulhu monster at the beginning. According to Marvel, Ego’s planet was the biggest visual effect they’ve done thus far, and it shows. To my knowledge, Marvel doesn’t normally do entire CGI environments, and when they do, they don’t have multiple facets and moving pieces. But with Ego, the entire environment is alive with brightly colored flora and fauna. At times, it looks like something straight out of Avatar (the alien Smurf-cats movie, not the Last Airbender).

"I am Groot?"
"I am Groot."

Another plus the film has going for it: the most important Stan Lee cameo in the whole MCU, because it pretty much confirms that STAN LEE IS UATU THE WATCHER, AND ALL OF HIS CAMEOS ARE THE SAME PERSON!!! Well…it’s actually very vague. He’s just having a conversation with some Watchers about his previous cameos, and he doesn’t really look like them at all. But it’s something, damn it! This fan theory has never been closer to being confirmed and I’m ecstatic!

My main gripes with this movie are with the pacing. The movie speeds through the first act to get Peter and the Guardians to Ego, but then it takes it time through the second and third acts. The ending especially feels like it goes on for an eternity, mostly due to the fact that the climax keeps adding in stuff to make it longer. They have to get to Ego’s core to blow him up. Oh, now the Sovereign are back to fight. Oh, now Peter and Ego are going to battle with their Celestial powers. Oh, now Yondu’s going to sacrifice himself for Peter. Oh, now we’re going to have a funeral for Yondu because apparent this is Wrath of Khan all of a sudden,

I also felt like the film couldn’t really decide who it wanted the main villain to be until the third act. When it starts out, it looks like Ayesha and the Sovereign are going to be the main threat because they’re pissed off at the Guardians and hire Yondu and the Ravagers to get them. But then when it starts focusing on the Ravager mutiny, Taserface becomes the main villain for a while, with Ayesha still in the background. Then Taserface is killed and Ego reveals himself as a villain, and he stays the primary threat for a good part of the third act. But then during the climax, the film remembers that the Sovereign still want revenge on the Guardians and toss them into the final battle seemingly as just another obstacle that only loosely ties into what’s going on right now.

Also, in terms of the broader universe’s continuity, the timeline is a bit confusing. The film is supposedly set in 2014, only a few months after the first Guardians. Which means that Vol. 2 takes place before movies like Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, and Civil War. But then there’s the issue of Ego’s plan taking hold, and how multiple planets are shown with that weird cosmic growth stuff sprouting from their crust and causing untold damage…including Missouri, on Earth. Which means that in the MCU continuity, Missouri had a giant clump of unknown cosmic schmutz destroy a Dairy Queen and probably ate a few people in 2014, and nobody – not the Avengers, not the sorcerers at Kamar Taj, not the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – mention this or look into it. Is the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the point where stuff like this happening is just not a big deal anymore? Also, Stan Lee’s cameo has him mentioning being a FedEx deliveryman, even though that happened in Civil War, which would not happen for over a year after this film takes place. A little wonky, unless Stan Lee exists out of the perimeters of time and space and experiences events nonlinearly, like Dr. Manhattan (or, arguably, the Genie from Aladdin).

I am Groot.

And be warned: there are five post-credit scenes. Now, I’ve had a problem with Marvel’s post-credit scenes for a while now, as I feel like they just haven’t been putting in the effort that they used to. But the sheer brazen amount of them in this movie is something to be admired. The first movie was already a less serious interpretation of the Marvel formula, and this movie ups the ante by basically saying, “You guys sick of post-credit scenes yet? Too bad, here’s five of ‘em.” Fortunately, these scenes are all quick and go by pretty fast interspersed throughout the credits. Only about two of them are really plot important, and the others are quick jokes. But I think they’re all pretty solid.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a good movie, but not as good as the first Guardians. It reminds me a lot of Age of Ultron: it’s a fine movie on its own, but it unfortunately doesn’t live up to the hype of the previous smash hit and doesn’t always strike the same chords as the first. The themes of family and parenthood I thought were something welcome, and the emotional bits were definitely stronger here than in the first movie.

But honestly, I’m just glad that this movie is as good as it is. Guardians of the Galaxy was a surprise smash-hit, blending comedy and adventure with likeable characters and bringing an obscure team of superheroes to the same spotlight as the Avengers. Never did I think I’d ever live in a world where Rocket Racoon is as popular as Iron Man. The first film could have easily failed, and it certainly was a gamble by Marvel. It’s hard to pull off that kind of magic twice.

In terms of Marvel sequels, it’s not as good as movies like Winter Soldier or Civil War, but it’s also not as disappointing as Iron Man 2 or Thor: The Dark World. I’d rank it around the same as Age of Ultron, though this movie probably scores a little bit higher.

I. Am. Groot.

Final verdict: 7.5/10

So now that the MCU has Howard the Duck, Taserface, and Ego the Living Planet, how long before we get Beta Ray Bill? Come on, Thor: Ragnarok, throw us a bone.