Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 : Movie Review
The Guardians are back! YEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!
Phew. Sorry, had to get that outta the system before I could give you readers a more objective review even though I am a huge fan of these characters. Right, let's get into it.
This is Vol 2, the sequel to what was unarguably a massively epic movie in 2014, and dare I say it, with more fun characters from Marvel than the Avengers. Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is back and he's packing plenty of narcissism, good looks, quick wit and a great playlist. Then there's the lovely green Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who still has her guard up at all times (almost) and she gets to handle a really big gun. Alongside them is not-so-dumb-but-far-from-clever-and-often-confused Drax (Dave Bautista) with some classic taking-things-literally humour and being a bit too honest at times. Now the second-shortest but still the most insane and violent of the action-loving Guardian, there's Rocket. Let's just say we all get to know and love lil old Rocket a lot more in this movie, even though we all agree, he's quite the professional asshole.
And then there's the smallest in size, but the biggest love for all fans: Baby Groot!! Baby Groot is simply there as a baby talking tree with some cool abilities with a limited range of dialog, being raised by an odd-bunch of violent but compassionate individuals of different species who somehow got to be the Guardians of the Galaxy. Plenty of laughs and aww moments coming your way.
Now, before I sat to write this review, I came across an online piece from Forbes, written by Erik Kain explaining why this movie is the perfect sequel. Now, I don't agree with him on everything, but I would like to borrow some of the points he mentions.
A good sequel takes the original characters forward, giving us a more detailed back story and helping us, the audience, attain a deeper understanding of them. And Vol.2 does that pretty darn well. Without giving away spoilers, I can tell you that the main plot revolves around Quill's family heritage and who his father is and how he ended up becoming part of a gang of cosmic thieves. Let's just say that things get biblical, in terms of both the emotional scenes and the action scenes.
We also get to explore a little more about Gamora and her twisted relationship with her sister Nebula (the freaky bald blue one from the first movie). It's not like we didn't know that Thanos as a father was pretty messed up, but thank's to Nebula's role in this story, we find out just how tough of a parent the Mad Titan is. We also love it when Peter and Gamora get their moments to show a little about the unspoken thing between them.
Drax is...mostly Drax, shouting and fighting and laughing maniacally. But there are times when he does say some profound things, reminding us that he is a...'man' who knows how to love even if it his in the odd way of his own species.
But in this movie, it is the character development of Rocket, and the back story of Yondu the Ravager, that truly provides the sentimental backbone for the story to engage the audience on a deeper level. There's so much more to these characters who are formidable in battle, often being unhonorable and mostly being difficult to care for, that makes us love them even more. We also get to see Yondu getting some badass kills with his whistle-controlled Yaka Arrow.
Baby Groot meanwhile, is the reminder to all the Guardians that they are a family and that amongst all the chaos, there is time and space for some family love. That, plus he gives us the best laughs and we really hate anybody who makes Baby Groot cry.
There's a couple of new characters, chief among which is the celestial being named Ego (Kurt Russell), who claims to be Peter's father. I figure the name right there should count as proof of their genetic connection. But as the story unfolds, we learn more about Ego and better understand both him and Peter. Any more than that and I'll give away a bit much about the plot.
Then there's Mantis (Pom Klementieff), a different kind of species, who serves Ego on his planet and has the ability to sense and change people's emotions when touching them. It's hers and Drax's chemistry that does help take the plot forward at times and is fun to watch as well.
A whole new species is introduced in this movie and they're called the Sovereign. A civilisation of pompous, gold and technologically advanced beings with a genetically coded purpose. Originally, they hired the Guardians for a job, but then Rocket stole some of their precious batteries and insulted their High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki). The Sovereign's have been bitter about it since and the fact that the Guardians keep kicking their ass hasn't helped at all.
Another character introduction that caught me by surprise was that of Stakar Ogord played by Sylvester Stallone. A setup for future Stallone appearances in the Marvel universe? I hope so!
So it has some new characters, we get to see a bit more of their galaxy, there's a new villain and we get to fall in love even more with the characters from the first film. Director James Gunn has really nailed it as sequels go, let's see if he can manage the huge challenge of getting the third one right too.
Right, rating time. All said and done, I think Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a really fun movie and superbly entertaining. But it's not as awesome as the first one. That said, I'd rate this movie 8 out of 10 bowls of the candy that Baby Groot likes to eat. I think those are Skittles. Or maybe M&Ms?
Phew. Sorry, had to get that outta the system before I could give you readers a more objective review even though I am a huge fan of these characters. Right, let's get into it.
This is Vol 2, the sequel to what was unarguably a massively epic movie in 2014, and dare I say it, with more fun characters from Marvel than the Avengers. Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is back and he's packing plenty of narcissism, good looks, quick wit and a great playlist. Then there's the lovely green Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who still has her guard up at all times (almost) and she gets to handle a really big gun. Alongside them is not-so-dumb-but-far-from-clever-and-often-confused Drax (Dave Bautista) with some classic taking-things-literally humour and being a bit too honest at times. Now the second-shortest but still the most insane and violent of the action-loving Guardian, there's Rocket. Let's just say we all get to know and love lil old Rocket a lot more in this movie, even though we all agree, he's quite the professional asshole.
And then there's the smallest in size, but the biggest love for all fans: Baby Groot!! Baby Groot is simply there as a baby talking tree with some cool abilities with a limited range of dialog, being raised by an odd-bunch of violent but compassionate individuals of different species who somehow got to be the Guardians of the Galaxy. Plenty of laughs and aww moments coming your way.
Now, before I sat to write this review, I came across an online piece from Forbes, written by Erik Kain explaining why this movie is the perfect sequel. Now, I don't agree with him on everything, but I would like to borrow some of the points he mentions.
A good sequel takes the original characters forward, giving us a more detailed back story and helping us, the audience, attain a deeper understanding of them. And Vol.2 does that pretty darn well. Without giving away spoilers, I can tell you that the main plot revolves around Quill's family heritage and who his father is and how he ended up becoming part of a gang of cosmic thieves. Let's just say that things get biblical, in terms of both the emotional scenes and the action scenes.
We also get to explore a little more about Gamora and her twisted relationship with her sister Nebula (the freaky bald blue one from the first movie). It's not like we didn't know that Thanos as a father was pretty messed up, but thank's to Nebula's role in this story, we find out just how tough of a parent the Mad Titan is. We also love it when Peter and Gamora get their moments to show a little about the unspoken thing between them.
Drax is...mostly Drax, shouting and fighting and laughing maniacally. But there are times when he does say some profound things, reminding us that he is a...'man' who knows how to love even if it his in the odd way of his own species.
But in this movie, it is the character development of Rocket, and the back story of Yondu the Ravager, that truly provides the sentimental backbone for the story to engage the audience on a deeper level. There's so much more to these characters who are formidable in battle, often being unhonorable and mostly being difficult to care for, that makes us love them even more. We also get to see Yondu getting some badass kills with his whistle-controlled Yaka Arrow.
Baby Groot meanwhile, is the reminder to all the Guardians that they are a family and that amongst all the chaos, there is time and space for some family love. That, plus he gives us the best laughs and we really hate anybody who makes Baby Groot cry.
There's a couple of new characters, chief among which is the celestial being named Ego (Kurt Russell), who claims to be Peter's father. I figure the name right there should count as proof of their genetic connection. But as the story unfolds, we learn more about Ego and better understand both him and Peter. Any more than that and I'll give away a bit much about the plot.
Then there's Mantis (Pom Klementieff), a different kind of species, who serves Ego on his planet and has the ability to sense and change people's emotions when touching them. It's hers and Drax's chemistry that does help take the plot forward at times and is fun to watch as well.
A whole new species is introduced in this movie and they're called the Sovereign. A civilisation of pompous, gold and technologically advanced beings with a genetically coded purpose. Originally, they hired the Guardians for a job, but then Rocket stole some of their precious batteries and insulted their High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki). The Sovereign's have been bitter about it since and the fact that the Guardians keep kicking their ass hasn't helped at all.
Another character introduction that caught me by surprise was that of Stakar Ogord played by Sylvester Stallone. A setup for future Stallone appearances in the Marvel universe? I hope so!
So it has some new characters, we get to see a bit more of their galaxy, there's a new villain and we get to fall in love even more with the characters from the first film. Director James Gunn has really nailed it as sequels go, let's see if he can manage the huge challenge of getting the third one right too.
Right, rating time. All said and done, I think Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a really fun movie and superbly entertaining. But it's not as awesome as the first one. That said, I'd rate this movie 8 out of 10 bowls of the candy that Baby Groot likes to eat. I think those are Skittles. Or maybe M&Ms?
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