Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

One of the first things you may notice about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is that it's insanely colorful. It shares this with its predecessor, but over the course of the 2+ hour run time I couldn't help but notice just how gorgeous and vibrant this film is. 

The second thing you'll notice is just how much it cares about its equally colorful characters. More so than probably any Marvel film before it, Vol 2, spends the time to flesh out the backstory of its characters. Not all are relatable, but most provide context for previous character interactions and actions. 

The final thing you may notice about Vol. 2 is that, despite being outrageously fun and having the jokes fly at you a mile a minute, it seems to be trying just a little too hard. The casual ease of the first one's take-it-or-leave-it attitude is less present and instead you can tell that James Gunn and co. really set out to achieve the highs of the first film.

For the most part, they absolutely do. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is still a great Marvel movie and a very worthy follow-up. It's likely that by the time Vol. 3 comes out, we'll have one of the best "comic-book" trilogies alongside The Dark Knight and Captain America. But it can't be denied that some of the fresh "pizzazz" from the first feels a little less natural this second time around. 

DJ Baby Groot bringing down the house!!

Vol. 2 finds our heroes hanging around likely months(?) after the events of the first film and still completely oblivious to the rest of the MCU outside of big baddie Thanos, who isn't in this film at all. They're doing odd jobs here and there and the film throws us into a really fun one where they need to battle a monster to protect some batteries. Immediately the colors start flying as the monster has what amounts to rainbow-fire-breathing capabilities, Baby Groot plugs in some tunes and starts dancing, and we see the Guardians duke it out with the monster. It's a rousing good time and is a collection of everything we love about this group and these movies. From there, the film sort of accidentally trips into a film about Peter finding his father, Ego (Kurt Russell), and him discovering his true meaning in the galaxy. I appreciate that the film works so good as a standalone feature and a follow up to the original, but I do wish it had even the slightest tie in to the MCU as a whole. We're only a few films away from another Avengers and for this one to not have even the slightest connection to everything else going on was a bit shocking. That aside though, I actually loved the story and plot. It's not incredibly unique on the surface, but the villain that emerges, their motives, and how Peter relates to all of that was grandiose and makes the MCU feel just that much bigger. As with the first film, this one has a well-orchestrated degree of emotional impact to it and while the final message/lesson isn't anything new, the route to getting there is quite the tale.

"It's raining man, Hallelujah!"

Each character gets their time in the sun and looking back it's impressive that Gunn was able to manage his time as well as he did. Our core group of Starlord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot are the stars, sure (with more focus on Drax this time around), but characters like Nebula, Yondu, and Mantis all have considerable backstories and dedicated screentime. Yondu in particular is much more fleshed out and given that he was one of my favorite aspects of the first film, I was pumped to see him front and center for a handful of scenes.

Guardians is still very funny too, but it's here that I felt like the film faltered the most. That may be over dramatic, but anytime I got the sense that something was being forced because, "Hey it worked in the first film!", it was with the jokes. If memory serves me correct, nearly every joke in the first movie landed, and landed hard. Unless your theater didn't know what an Jackson Pollock painting was, I don't think there were any jokes that went un-laughed at. In Vol. 2 there are a few duds and I attribute that to their forced nature. Luckily though, the laughs keep on coming throughout and there are some very funny scenes/one liners. It's just as funny, if not funnier than the first despite the dip in percentage of jokes that hit their mark. Similarly too, it felt like some of the action was forced, or at least not as well-thought out. I was never expecting Civil War levels of creativity, but we're given one too many generic space battles here and one too many "I slam you, you slam me" fights that seem out of character for a Marvel film. Again, there are moments of greatness -- a particular Yondu scene -- but ultimately it's a dangerous thing for Marvel to plateau with its action, especially after something as wildly imaginative as Doctor Strange's final half hour.

There's a lot of CGI in the film, but since it's Marvel, it all looks pretty miraculous. I mentioned the colors before, but just speaking to them doesn't really do them justice. Personally, I cannot wait to get this one home on Blu-ray. The sound is also quite the technical achievement and between the perfect soundtrack and the original score, which is usually an area that Marvel drops the ball on completely, this is probably one of their best looking and sounding films to date. 

Gonna have some future indigestion...

At the end of the day, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is so close in quality to the first that it's almost splitting hairs. To match the quality, fun, and feel of the first is an achievement in and of itself and I imagine that everyone will have different opinions about how they feel it relates to the first one. I've already heard some people say they like it more than the first and I've also heard the opposite. My final opinion is that: I enjoyed it every bit as much as the first one, sometimes more even, but the first remains the better film for a variety of reasons.

But the easiest way to sum up this whole review is likely the following: if you loved the first, you're going to freaking' love the second too.

CONS

• Seems a little forced, particularly in the humor. Not all jokes land this time around
• Some surprisingly uninspiring action
• About 10 mins too long
• The main plot bullet points are generic
• Bummed that there was no greater connection to the MCU

PROS

• What a fantastic cast of characters. Our main heroes remain as fun and endearing as ever while the side cast is able to shine with their added depth. Fantastic character design too
• Probably the most colorful movie you'll ever see
• I enjoyed the villain that emerged as was as their motives. The size of scale that is implied in this film makes the MCU thus far look like a blip in comparison
• Strong and well-done characterization all around. The balance of time for each character takes some serious skill
• Packs a decent emotional punch
• Funny as hell. The jokes that land (and that would be most of them) land uproariously
• Gorgeous special effects
• Another perfect soundtrack and probably Marvel's best original score yet
• Highly entertaining, instantly re-watchable, and loads of fun. It's a great way to kick off the summer

Rath's Review Score | 9/10