(Originally Published on May 19, 2017)
I’m just going to come out and say it, I was never impressed by Guardians of the Galaxy. With the exception of Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Drax (Dave Bautista), the guardians range from being bland with no personality like Gamora (Zoe Saldana) or unlikable smart-alecks like Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper). That’s not say that I downright hate these movies, on the contrary they do their job on being entertaining with great action, adventure, amazing visuals, funny moments even by the leads, and ending on a high note.
The sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 delivers more of the same with a few extra things. Where the characters were tolerable in the first film, their welcome began to wear thin on me. Gamora is bland as ever even with her reunion with her vengeful sister Nebula (Karen Gillan), while it does provide more depth to them, it felt forced and out-of-nowhere that as far as I can remember was never established in the first film. I would add that her romance with Quill lacks chemistry if there was any romance to talk about. They seem to have hit it off on a good start when we last saw them,now that spark is nowhere found. Baby Groot‘s only purpose is to look cute for the audience other than that he doesn’t do anything meaningful until the last act. Rocket is more obnoxious than ever who basically just screams his entire dialogue that I wanted to punch that ungrateful jerk. Even Drax seems to have lost some of his funny charm with most of his joke missing their mark. Star-Lord or Peter Quill whichever you prefer is still a smug smart aleck but whenever he isn’t you do feel for the guy especially when he is reunited with his biological father Ego (the ever charismatic Kurt Russell) as well as the pain he’s felt for not having a father after the passing of his mother.
I didn’t expect that the best character would not be the guardians but Yondu (Micheal Rooker), the alien space ravager who pillaged young Star-Lord from his home planet Earth at the start of the first film. He was probably the most developed of the cast as we explore why he still sticks up for Quill despite the countless banters and back-stabbing that they’ve done to each other. This guy steals the show especially when he puts Rocket in his place in one the movie’s strongest scenes that it even earned some sympathy for Rocket. Newcomer Mantis (Pom Klementieff) is a welcome addition to the cast with her empathic powers that are used to their comedic potential for brief moments and knows more to Ego than he is letting on. Like the first film Vol. 2 is filled with eighties memorabilia and other classic references that I won’t spoil but will brighten up the audience (I myself was one of them), including some memorable cameos that opens the possibility to some new stories in the MCU that I wouldn’t mind it at all.
If you want action you’ll get it in that good old Marvel way that you won’t be disappointed. Like the first film it ends on a high note though different in tone that I’ll give it more points of praise. Don’t forget to stick around after the credits for the usual Marvel Easter Eggs in preparation for the next Marvel installments. I just ask of one request: no more Baby Groot, have him back as his full grown Grooty self when we see him again.
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