I really have no idea how I feel about this movie.
You know the crew right? Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Nebula (Karen Gillian). Okay now you know if you didn’t before. Oh and who can forget the ugly new comer Mantis (Pom Klementieff). As usual the cast is great, it’s by far the best part of the entire movie. They all love these roles so much and give so much to them, that it just makes the whole thing work. Honestly, who knew Dave Bautista could be so funny and deliver so many quality one-liners. Bradley Cooper kills it at Rocket, it’s perfect voice casting. And of course, the star of the show Star Lord himself, Chris Pratt was born to play this role. And he says he wants to continue for 20 more years! That won’t happen but that’s commitment baby! And Zoe and Karen almost feel like real sisters at this point.
The whole movie is about family. Peter has his daddy issues; Gamora has her problems with her sister Neubla. Drax is still getting over the loss of his family, while welcoming a new member to the team Mantis. Rocket is trying to learn that it’s okay to love, and to want to be part of a family and Baby Groot is well kind of just doing his thing. Yondu is also trying to learn that he loves Peter Quill and trying to find his purpose and spot in life. Guardians is full of so many messages and trying to be more than just another superhero movie. I’m all for the messages, and during parts of this movie it can get emotional, James Gunn does a great job in making this movie pull on your heartstrings, but sometimes that gets drowned out by words, rather than just letting me feel what they are trying to make us feel. So his whole life, Peter has wanted to know who his father is and we get introduced to Ego (Kurt Russell) who has been searching for Peter for a long time. Ego is essentially a god, who has created an entire planet for himself. He isn’t all that he appears to be; he’s kind of a shady Dad. Knocked up Peter’s Mom while on Earth, and then left her for a strange reason. I’m going to go pretty light on any spoilers because I wouldn’t want anything being ruined for this movie. As usual Kurt Russell is dynamite and the chemistry between him and Pratt was fantastic. They meshed so well together, and it just made the whole father-son relationship seem a little more real. Another father-son relationship going on was between Yondu and Quill, as from birth, he has raised Peter and believes that he is his real father. Michael Rooker who plays the blue man himself, for me was the highlight of the movie. He was incredible, and he’s always been a fantastic actor, but in the first Guardians there simply just wasn’t enough Yondu. Now he’s part of the team, and him and Rocket had some of the best scenes together in the whole movie. Yondu understands Rocket, who feels isolated and alone and pushes away anyone who gets to close. Yondu feels that and they form a great friendship and actually a Yondu-Rocket spinoff would have been amazing!
Another reason why I have such mixed feelings about this movie, was the soundtrack. Remember how awesome the mix tape was in Guardians Vol 1. This time around, I can maybe remember one song from Vol 2. Great song, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, but I wanted more from the soundtrack. Music was such a big part of the first one, in terms of making certain scenes click and feel more emotional and I just never got that this time around. Which was kind of a letdown, that was one thing I was really looking forward to.
I thought the story was great, James Gunn is an extremely gifted writer, and one of the strongest components of the film is its solid writing. But towards the end, once again, the galaxy is about to end, but why do I feel like nothing is at stake? Literally the galaxy is going to shit, and Rocket is asking for a piece of tape, yes I know that bit was hilarious but sometimes that’s the problem with the MCU. I just never feel like anything is at stake or anything truly awful will happen. And when it gets mixed in with humor at the wrong time, sometimes I just shake my head. It was just a massive CGI-fest towards the end, like I said, it felt very Man of Steel like, I couldn’t handle Peter and his Dad flying through the air punching one another. And once again, we need to be reminded a handful of times throughout the movie, that this is part of the MCU, so don’t forget that. It’s almost forced at this point; it’s been almost 10 years now, WE KNOW! I was angry that we didn’t see Thanos; they should have had him show up, because I feel like when he finally show up, it will be Whiplash all over again. I just wish sometimes they would hold back on the larger picture references and just let us enjoy the story for what it is, but maybe that’s just me.
At the end of the day, I went into this movie thinking I was going to love it. That didn’t end up happening, I certainly had a great time, because first of all I love Chris Pratt, and I was laughing my ass off the majority of the movie. I guess it just wasn’t the movie I thought it was going to be. I went in expecting one thing and was completely thrown off guard by the ending. It didn’t derail the movie for me, but it just felt so out of place. I guess that’s the best way to describe it. It looks beautiful, it’s funny, but it’s just not what I wanted from Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2. I wonder if people are now going to send Dave Bautista pictures of their turds. Maybe I’ll tweet him and ask….
Check ya later.
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2 = 77/100