Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Spoiler Discussion
If you have not seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol, 2 and do not want to read spoilers click here to read my Non Spoiler Review.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 opens with a great battle sequence where the team is fighting a giant inter-dimensional monster who wants to eat the batteries belonging to the people known as the Sovereign. What makes this sequence work is the fact that the first part the battle only focuses on Baby Groot as he dances to music and tries to catch some sort of alien rat. The way the camera follows Groot and the audience is able to witness the action behind him and his level of innocence to the whole situation sets the tone for the movie in a clever way. The fight is true in Marvel fashion with a combination or great visuals, cool action and humour. The CGI work during the opening credits is fantastic and Baby Groot is set up to be the show stealer of the movie.
I actually think that the story of Rocket stealing the batteries from the Sovereign works as a great start for the movie. It shows just how big the universe is by introducing a new culture of people, who are quite an interesting culture. Their space ships are remotely piloted similar to arcade games is a humorous and clever way to address the mass death that occurred in the first movie when all the Nova Corp ships blew up. The Sovereign were a interesting addition in terms of a different culture who are easily offended and think they are superior to every other being in the galaxy. The interaction between the High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is great comedy with the awkward discussion of sex and pleasure over reproduction. This plays perfectly to Chris Pratt’s charm and charisma. The Sovereign also worked really well as side villains that fight against the Guardians, with their motivations explained and offer some great sequences and left field humour.
The middle act of the movie is where it began to lose me, now that’s not to say that it didn’t have some great moments in there because there was some incredible scenes. I felt as though there was too many stories happening and not enough time was given to all the characters. The story between Rocket and Yondu is easily the best part of the second act as we see so much character development between two outcasts who shelter themselves to save themselves pain. In fact Yondu may be the standout character of Guardians 2 with his great one-liners, his action sequences and his emotional arcs. I wish we got to see more of the relationship between Gamora and Nebula, it felt like there could have been more of a story to tell. Their resolution at the end could have been more emotional if the audience got to spend more time learning what the two went through when they lived under Thanos. Dave Bautista was fantastic as Drax and for a character that had mostly humorous scenes; he brought some incredible acting to the emotional scene when he discusses the memory of his daughter. Some of his moments with Mantis were cool but it was his interaction with the Guardians and the daughter scene where he was able to really shine.
Kurt Russell will now be considered one of the best Marvel movie villains as Ego the Living Planet. Who would have thought of that, a planet being a bad guy as well as the hero’s father? Not only was he a great actor in the role but also the visuals surrounding him were incredible, in particular the shot of the planet with his face on it looked straight out of the comics. An actor like Russell brought a lot of charm to the role making him likeable right up until the moment you discover that he was responsible to the death of Peter Quill’s mother and is exposed as the main villain of the film. That scene was perhaps one of the best in the movie and a great turning point for out characters. He also had a fantastic dynamic with Chris Pratt with both actors working well as Father and Son.
Despite my opinions of the middle portion of the movie I believe the final act was brilliant. The visuals are incredible and the action rivals the final battle in the Avengers. This is another character driven scene with a great conflict between Ego and Star Lord that ties in action and comedy, with stakes that occur at the climax of the fight. Rocket explaining Baby Groot how to set off the bomb was shown in the first trailer but it still works fantastic, with Baby Groot being a fantastic character. Michael Rooker was a stand out in the film and the final battle is just one of his highlights. From the Mary Poppins comment, to his emotional speech to Quill about being a father followed by his sacrifice is what makes this movie stand out above the rest. Marvel have a track record of not letting character die so when Yondu died to save Peter Quill it really shocked me but also packed an emotional punch.
I believe one of the strengths of the movie was the addition of the family dynamic. The first movie was about a group of outcasts coming together and working as a team, so naturally the next step would be to examine how this team would work together. It worked in The Avengers when we saw these individuals come together and then in Age of Ultron we get to see how this team operates now they are use to working together. Joss Whedon did a great job at this and so does James Gunn. There is plenty of bickering between the team, in particular between Quill and Rocket (Bradley Cooper), which is humorous to begin with and ultimately becomes emotional when it needs to be. Each member has their role to play inside this family and despite the bickering and arguing they do feel like a family, or at least like my family. It allows the ending to pack an emotional punch
Perhaps one of the things that bothered me the most about Guardians was the post credit scenes. It was advertised that there would be five scenes during the credits but very few of them had some relevance or significance. We see Sylvester Stallone’s character assembling his own version of Guardians that may get a spin off movie, We see Kraglin (Sean Gunn) practicing with Yondu’s Arrow, Groot going through puberty, a Stan Lee cameo and Ayesha unveiling her latest creation to take on the Guardians that she calls Adam (a tease of Adam Warlock). Really the only sequence that teases any real set up for future movies was the tease of Adam Warlock, which would have gone over most fans heads if they are unfamiliar with the character. For the most part they were fine with some humour but not at the calibre of some of the previous Marvel films that set up a future instalment. I would have liked something to relate to a future movie since Spider-Man Homecoming is the next with Thor Ragnarok due out in November. It may have been hard to do Spider-Man but it would be easy to tie in to Thor.
Overall I really enjoyed this film. Was it as good as the first one? No but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great movie. It is really funny and the action sequences are incredible. The cast work really well together and there is some great emotional scenes throughout. Plus Baby Groot is awesome; you get the perfect amount of Baby Groot to keep everyone happy. The soundtrack does not pack the same punch as the first movie but the use of Fleetwood Mac definitely makes up for it. If you like Comic Book movies you should check out Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at the cinema.
Thanks for reading my Spoiler Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. What did you think of the movie? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
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