Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The Guardians o’ the Galaxy are back and…well…then they all kind of split off and do their own stuff while fulfilling a larger story during the film.

The film opens with the group saving the home world of the Sovereign from some Cthulhu-esque interdimensional being. Why do this? Well the Sovereign have Gammora’s sister and quasi-villain from the first movie, Nebula as a prisoner. So it is job with Nebula as payment. Of course the group cheeses the Sovereign off and they are on the run. While fleeing for their lives they are saved by a guy, who happens to be Star Lord’s dad, one Ego the Living Planet. Well the humanoid version of the sentient planet the inhabits the comic pages. Ego also comes with a female companion, Mantis, who is a different take on the comic character as well.

 

The party now splits so that Rocket and Groot are guarding Nebula. Star Lord, Gammora and Drax all head off to Ego’s home world to chill there. This is where the film shifts to little pieces of a larger puzzle. Star Lord reconnects with his father Ego. Drax and Mantis pair off…well so that Mantis can learn about stuff and Drax so he can…well be a springboard for some great comedic work. Gammora and Nebula (after escaping and coming for revenge) pair off for their own little sister story. Rocket, Groot and Yandu ( after a Ravager mutiny ) go off on their adventure of revenge and redemption. All this set against the Sovereign seeking revenge against the Guardians and a plot of galactic father son supremacy. It seems like a mess on paper, but on the screen it works really damn well. 

vs.

I had really high hopes for this movie because I expected the 1^st film to be drek. It surprised the crap out of me. I mean could there be a lamer Marvel comic? I hated Marvel space stories and then the Guardians movie came out and it was damn fun! Now the second film, in the probably trilogy, is out and it was pretty damn enjoyable!

Now there were a few misses, but they are only a tiny bit.

• The soundtrack is nowhere near as awesome as the first movie. The song choices were pretty lame and I don’t need to hear “Brandy” by Looking Glass again until the DVD release. Yes it did drive a lot of the Ego/Star Lord story arc, but they really crammed it in there to prove that point. Yeah a much weaker and less fun soundtrack for sure.
• There are two minor 80’s cameos that felt really lame and just didn’t fit with what was going on in that moment. They were building to serious and then they drop comical 80’s visual references. It was pretty weak.
• The Gammora/Nebula story was a bit drek for me. I know why they did it and that I may be in the minority here. I thought it was the weakest bit of the little stories in the whole character pair business.
• I missed having a full sized Groot, but I get it. Having him tiny works for story and double so for marketing. He is totes-adorbs and that sells to the masses.

Yeah that was the stuff was left feeling meh! about. It against everything else that did work, this stuff seems trivial.

Still everything else was really damn fun!

• The comedy hits and character banter in the movie are just so damn enjoyable!
• The Mantis/Drax scenes were just amazing! The empathic, sheltered and socially inept Mantis playing off the ultra-literal Drax was just pure comedy gold!

• Pretty much every scene with Rocket was amazing; him playing off the other Guardians, any scene with him dressing down authority figures, the buddy road movie that arose with him and Yandu, the Rambo-esque action sequences against the Ravagers were all great!

• The Ravager mutiny and story arc is fun and, by the end of the film, is incredibly fulfilling.
• One word, Taserface!
• The space battle stuff is frenetic and I likey that!
• The Sovereign looked to be a throwaway group until the end credits and then I was floored by what looks to becoming in the future!
• Kurt Russell! Love his 80’s work and his charisma works so well with his role as Ego.
• Stan Lee’s cameo was actually worthwhile because it introduces the Watchers to the Marvel film universe. I was wondering if these big bald space librarians would ever appear on film. Sure it might be their only appearance ever, but I hope not.
• The end credit sequences (yeah like 5 of them) are alright with three being fun, one homage and one being an interesting look to the future.
• The Guardians are still that great functional yet really dysfunctional family, that have adventures in the Marvel space universe.

If you liked the first Guardians o’ the Galaxy then you should have no problem with this one as well.