Hey All!
A few days ago, we shared our experience chatting with the cast of the film. Today we’re sharing our thoughts on the film! Marvel Studios is back in theaters with their fifteenth release Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. Director James Gunn returns with his space adventuring misfits in what plays more as a continuation than a sequel to the 2014 hit. Also returning are The Guardians themselves; Starlord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel). Also returning is Gamora’s villainous sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Ravagers Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn).
As the film opens, we find The Guardians working a job for The Sovereign. The Sovereign are a race of genetically engineered people with gold hair and gold skin led by their queen Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki; The Night Manager). Though the Guardians complete the job, through a turn events caused by Rocket, The Sovereign seek retribution against the Guardians. This leads to the Guardians crash landing on a planet far away. The Guardians are followed by Ego (Kurt Russell; Escape from New York, Sky High) and Mantis (Pom Klementief; Old Boy 2013). As is revealed in the trailers Ego is Starlord’s father.
Ego wants Starlord to come to his home world, which provides a twist on Starlord’s origin vastly different from the comics, but the Guardian’s ship also needs repairs. This is where Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 splits its characters up into different stories which allows for individual arcs and growth, very similar as to what was done in The Empire Strikes Back. Starlord, Drax and Gamora go with Ego while Rocket and Groot stay to repair the ship. Meanwhile, The Sovereign seek out and hire Yondu’s Ravagers to find and retrieve The Guardians. This sets up the three storylines that continue through the film.
Other than the Marvel trademark of the Stan Lee cameo, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 boasts a whole other cast of characters whose parts are brief but memorable. Seen in trailers and promotions, the biggest name “cameo” is movie star Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, The Expendables). Stallone plays Startak, a Ravager that used to run with Yondu in their youth but now shuns him. Stallone has 2 scenes in the film and the second sets up what may lead to an even bigger expanded Marvel Cosmic Cinematic presence. As for the rest of the cameos, they are best seen in the film and I am not about spoilers.
For fans Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, like all other Marvel films, is full of Easter eggs, references to Marvel Comics, a cameo by The Great Stan Lee, and post film scenes that run during and after the credits. For the rest of the audience, Marvel films provide spectacle, fun and heart. Being the space opera series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film has oodles and oodles of spectacle with colorful planets, space ship battles, and a wide variety of aliens. The fun is with the characters; Drax’s outspokenness keeps surprising me that Dave Bautista is playing this character, Rocket’s moral ambiguity and cruel sense of humor is still disturbingly funny, and Baby Groot doing anything…nuff said. In fact, one would argue that Baby Groot does in fact steal the movie.
He dances, he fights; the Marvel special effects house really wins with creating a completely digital character that can express such a range of emotions, and it’s freaking adorable. In addition to anything Baby Groot does, this film’s heart lies in the strongest message the best Marvel films convey; the sense of familial love with people you share no blood relation.
In a film filled with aliens, explosions, and cosmic magic, the most spectacular thing you will see is the way each character expresses their love for one another as family.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 is in theaters NOW! Run out and get you’re tickets! You don’t want to miss the movie of the summer!
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Jesse Delia
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