Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

TL;DR Version: Guardians 2 was really good, really funny, had good action and writing along with a good story that seemed a little rushed at times.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the newest Marvel sensation to hit the theaters and, to put it short, it’s everything the first one was and more. Guardians one was a superb movie, even by Marvel standards, and yet the sequel somehow managed to top it in almost every aspect: acting, writing, effects, cinematography, action, humor, and story were all just a little bit better than the first. If you laughed at the first one, you will definitely laugh harder and more often for this one.

Spoiler Free section:

Guardians 2 may just be the best Marvel movie of the year, and the year is not even halfway over! The combination of one of the best casts, comprised of A-list actors like Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel and with rookies like Dave Bautista. On top of these amazing actors the same great writing style as seen in the first made the film even more entertaining and fun. The cinematography was virtually perfect, combining slow-mo pans with wide shots and focused on the most important things in the scenes. Along with beautiful cinematography come fantastic effects (It’s Marvel, what’d you expect?) that make every battle as entertaining as an entire Transformers movie (maybe even more).

Marvel movies pride themselves on their comedic factor, and Guardians 2 is no exception to this. James Gunn’s writing and timing of all the jokes is so perfect that the movie is funnier than most comedies without even trying. There are those moments that make you laugh so hard that you’ll want to watch the movie a second time without even leaving the theater. To complement that, the main characters all feel like themselves, with the same style of humor as the first along with new characters who bring in a new style of humor. If all of that wasn’t enough to convince you to see the movie, there’s Baby Groot; who doesn’t want to see Baby Groot?

Spoiler Section:

Guardians 2 is like the prequel to Guardians 1 that isn’t a prequel; it gives all of the backstory to what Peter Quill is and how he ended up on the strange adventure he is on. It turns out he is part celestial, which is essentially a god, able to manipulate matter, energy, life, etc. I found this unexpected and intriguing, as I figured his father was just some other race of alien, not a nigh omnipotent being. The story seems to be going well when Peter meets his father, Ego, but takes a turn for the worst when he finds out that his dad wants to consume all life in the galaxy and become all that there is. So the galaxy is in just as much of a pickle in this film as it was in the first, maybe even moreso. The conclusion to the film was one of the best parts, as it combined action, humor, and emotion all into one big finale. One of the reasons why the ending was so good is that one of the most unexpected characters, Yondu, becomes the hero of the movie. Yondu tells Peter the key to controlling his celestial power, his heart, and ends up saving peter and being more of a father figure to him than his own dad was. Nobody expected Yondu to be a hero when you first meet him in the first film, and that is what makes the ending so great. It tells us that in the most dire of situations, the people we least expect can be the heroes we need the most, and that is the beauty of Yondu’s character. You also get to see him get revenge on all of his Ravager crew who betrayed him, with a sweet new fin and arrow, which is probably one of the most satisfying moments in the whole movie.

Complaints:

My one lonely complaint about the movie is that it seemed like it was a little slow at first, and then rushed a bit to fit everything in at the end. The last 30-45 minute of the movie seem to squeeze in quite a bit of action with no room to breathe. Granted it was very entertaining action, but rushed nonetheless. Other than that I have no complaints about this movie, it was extremely entertaining and fun and will make anyone laugh.

Final Score: 9/10