REVIEW: Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2

Courtesy of Marvel

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to be a paradox in franchise filmmaking. The studio’s films take surprising creative risks on a standalone level while also crafting a vast, intricate mythology that spans 15 films and counting. On paper, that should be a recipe for disaster, but almost every installment has been met with critical acclaim and financial success.

Nowhere is that more evident than in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The writer-director took a group of C-level characters (at best) and transformed them into some of the studio’s most beloved heroes, while simultaneously launching Chris Pratt into superstardom. The movie was a revelation, introducing casual viewers to Marvel’s cosmic subgenre (i.e., stories that aren’t about traditional superheroes) and proving you can take a story seriously and still inject it with a refreshingly wicked sense of humor.

Gunn goes even further in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, building on the elements I loved about the first installment while expanding the boundaries of Marvel’s ongoing narrative in unique, mind-boggling fashion. Every frame is basically a ’70s blacklight poster come to life. I adored every minute of this fun – and surprisingly emotional – movie, but part of me still can’t quite believe it exists. If you told me it was a vivid fever dream instead of a real movie, I probably wouldn’t argue.

The story picks up a few months after the events of the first film, with Peter Quill – aka Star-Lord (Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) functioning as more of a team than ever before. A strange alien race has tasked the Guardians with retrieving powerful batteries from a massive space creature, but they’re targeted for destruction when the aliens realize Rocket kept some of the batteries to sell on the black market.

Just when it looks like the gang is doomed, the alien’s fleet is exterminated by a mysterious figure – but not before the Guardians’ ship crashes on a nearby planet. That’s when their new ally introduces himself: he’s Ego (Kurt Russell), a god-like being who also happens to be Quill’s long-lost father. He invites his son, Drax and Gamora to visit his home, while Rocket and Groot stay behind to repair the ship.

Soon after, Quill’s former mentor Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Gamora’s sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) track down the Guardians in order to collect a large bounty on their heads. But, like all the other characters, they become entangled in the ongoing quest to uncover Ego’s reason for wanting to reconnect with his son. Has he really been looking for Quill his entire life? Or is something else going on?

While the visual effects are dazzling (I recommend spending the extra money for 3D, which I rarely do), the performances are top-notch, and the dialogue is equally hilarious and bizarre, my favorite part about Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is that Gunn loves these characters as much – if not more – than viewers.

As such, he’s content to spend large chunks of the film’s 136-minute running time hanging out with the characters instead of constructing an overly-complex plot revolving around a giant glowing doohickey that must be shut down before it destroys the universe. I mean, it’s a Marvel movie, so that’s in there. He just knows we all expect it by now, so he presents it matter-of-factly instead of spending a lot of time setting it up

Performance-wise, there’s not a bad one in the bunch (although Sylvester Stallone shows up in a couple of scenes seemingly designed to make the audience go, “Wait, what?”). Pratt is back in top form after a brief stumble with Passengers, proving he needs the right director to harness his skills. Russell is also fantastic, employing his typical onscreen persona in ways we’re not used to.

But the film has a trio of MVPs in Rooker, a reliable character actor who is going to shock some people with his heartfelt performance; Cooper, who somehow delivers the best work of his career as a talking raccoon (I don’t know whether he’d take that as a compliment or an insult); and the visual effects team who created the adorable Baby Groot.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is as critic-proof as they come. It’s going to make a bazillion dollars whether I love it or not. Fortunately, however, the first (and quite possibly most successful) movie of summer also turns out to be one of the year’s most entertaining. I know I certainly plan to see it one or two more times on the big screen.

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and brief suggestive content.

Grade: A-