Review: "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2"

GUNN, James, “Guardians of the Galaxy – Vol. 2”, 2017, Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios

My review of the first film in this series from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was certainly not particularly sympathetic. I’m no fan of slacker humour and these movies are redolent of that type of capering. As well, the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” (“GOTG”) flick was mired with poor editing and lazy writing which guaranteed that I’d rate it down. I rather liked the soundtrack of the first movie though, and that was some recompense for gnashing my teeth throughout the proceedings. Any review however, is going to come down to a balance between things that are good and things that are bad, coupled together by the preferences of the reviewer. I have many friends and associates who think that “GOTG1” was the best thing since sliced bread and many of them have told me that I ought to just chill, and enjoy the film for what it is. That’s a fair comment, and I have taken it on board; however, the fact remains that these are not movies for everybody, and certainly not altogether for me.

That being said, I liked this iteration of the Guardians a lot better than the first trundle around the block. In essence, my review boils down to the following two points: better story; worse music. There’s still a lot of broad, jock humour but, unlike the first film, it generally has a point and it generally moves the plot forward. The first “Guardians” was bogged down with the need to establish a new reality for the MCU and to inject a handful of new first- and second-string characters, which – arguably – reduced the story (such as it was) to a series of “Hey! Look at me!” cameos held together with a bunch of special effects extravaganza. This time, we know the characters and we are able to get on with things. And the major thing which we get on with, is to ask Peter Quill (aka, “Starlord”) a vital question:

“Who’s your daddy?”

The storyline of ‘Ego, the Living Planet’, is a classic of the comic series and rightly deserves its place as the first real adventure that the newly-established Guardians get their teeth into. Kurt Russell is an instance of inspired casting to play the self-involved sentient planet; not – let me be clear – that I think Russell is particularly narcissistic, but he’s a perfect fit as Starlord’s biological father and he literally vibrates with the ‘70s redolence of Peter Quill’s mysterious sire. Bringing him on board was a classy move; roping in “Sly” Stallone – as a “Tango and Cash” natural follow-through – was something else again, but more later. Kurt Russell is the natural good-guy from so many geek-essential films that we naturally incline towards him (as does Peter Quill) as the perfect dad. However, the trippy-hippy weirdness of his extruded human form’s home planet, along with the Jeff Koonz-inspired plot-exposition statues, lends him a subtly creepy undertone that puts us – and the other Guardians – on edge. Add to that, the choice of the flesh-crawly song “Brandy” as his leitmotif and you know at once that something’s just not right with this dude, despite appearances. (Seriously – that song is awful. Imagine someone singing it to a horse and replace the word ‘bride’ with ‘ride’ and you can see it for what it is – an anthem of the patriarchy.)

The other theme that plays counterpoint to this storyline is the notion of family. Demonstrably, it’s a bit heavy-handed – there are friends and there are family; friends come and go, family sticks with you ‘til the end. And there’re a lot of arguments, apparently. The Guardians are not work colleagues, but a closely-knit clan – this we discovered at the end of “GOTG1”, and it’s reinforced here. As well, we see that the Ravagers were Yondu’s family, before he crossed a line and was exiled; but in the end, we learn that despite his crimes, his family never considered him gone (although – it has to be said – they did little to help him when the situation demanded it). We learn that Yondu and Rocket have a brotherly understanding of each other’s motives; that Yondu is more Peter’s father than Ego; that the Guardians are Groot’s essential family unit; that Nebula and Gamora have unresolved sister issues despite reaching a greater understanding of each other; and that Drax and Mantis have a – weird – avuncular relationship. It’s ‘family’ coming at you from all directions, like the relentless gunfire and explosions that form the backdrop of the whole movie. Even the Sovereign, the notional golden bad guys of the film led by the viperish Ayesha, are a twisted, bitchy, in-fighting corruption of the idea of a family, just to provide some relevant contrast. And to cap it all off, the whole mess ends with Cat Steven’s warbling “Father and Son”. If it wasn’t such a thematically-appropriate term, we’d all be rolling on the ground crying “Uncle!”

Despite this, the film hangs together well. There’s a scene that I’m going to have to replay with the subtitles on when the DVD comes out – the one with Yondu and Starhawk confronting each other on the Ravager World – because none of the dialogue made it across the gulf between the screen to the place where I was sitting (I saw this on a VERY big screen). Between the faceful of prostheses that Michael Rooker was wearing and whatever it is that’s going on with Sylvester Stallone’s face, the plot exposition fell into a rumbling, occasionally argumentative, grumble that made little sense. I just assumed that these two had had a disagreement about stuff and I made a mental note to follow it up when I buy the disc. It’s eminently worthy of James Gunn and his co-writers that they stick so closely to the source material as to bring in the original characters and storylines of the comic series, but the ‘good idea’ of the “Tango and Cash” reunion, in hindsight, let them down just a little. In fact, it’s a great testament to Gunn & Co. that they are able to bring what is essentially a kid’s comic into the adult mainstream of the MCU. Kudos.

In fact, what with the upcoming “Thor: Ragnarok” the MCU seems to be more than able to blend the outré elements of the comics material into a real-world setting in a fashion that’s pleasing and – more to the point – believable. With “GOTG1” and “Doctor Strange” the boundaries got a little stretched and they seem set to get even more tested before we get to “Infinity War”. My fear is that the MCU might lose its grip on reality and float too far off into the psychedelia, leaving such down-to-earth characters as Captain America and The Defenders in the dust. However, we can place our faith in “Black Panther” and “Ant Man and the Wasp” and see how we go. They’re still doing a far better job than DC (who should just ditch the Justice League and focus on Kirby’s “Fourth World” material rather than further ruining the former and muddying the latter), although they should definitely drop Howard the Duck: he’s deader than Leisure-Suit Larry people; let him go.

I have to say that I was delighted most by the opening credit sequence. All of the trailers for this film showed the fight with the big Cthulhoid creature and I was primed to see this scene as a major part of the story. When it turned out to take place completely in the background of a silly sequence of Baby Groot dancing while the titles rolled, I was absolutely delighted. This is inspired and quality stuff – setting up expectations and blowing them out of the water. Take that, “Suicide Squad”!

I’m giving this three-and-half Tentacled Horrors.