Film review: Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2
By Isaac Nowroozi
When the first Guardians of the Galaxy film entered cinemas viewers were unsure of what to expect.
What they got was a funny, fast-paced and clever sci-fi adventure with a killer soundtrack. Audiences witnessed what could arguably be called MARVEL Studio’s finest picture.
So walking into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 my expectations were very, very high.
It posed the question, will this movie be as good as the first, or will it fall victim to its own hype?
The answer is both.
Whilst Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn’t as good as its predecessor, it’s still one of the best films MARVEL Studios has ever produced.
With that said, the film just didn’t feel new and lacked a lot of the bravado that made the first film stand out.
It relied on a lot of the humour of the first film, but this time it seemed to be overloaded with gags, as if writer / director James Gunn was trying too hard.
What we did get however, was great story progression, a visually stunning piece of art and another incredible soundtrack.
Picking up just months after the first film, Peter Quill, or ‘Star-Lord’ (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and the incredibly adorable Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) are still working as the Guardians of the Galaxy, acting as the A-Team as the universe.
Right from the get-go we fall in love with Baby Groot (if you don’t, you may not have a soul) as he stumbles around amongst his friends who are fighting a giant squid monster.
From there we delve deeper into the backstories of our characters.
Character development is a big theme in Vol. 2, with both heroes and villains alike making the audience conflicted as to whose side we should actually take.
Peter Quill finally crosses paths with his father, Ego (Kurt Russell), where we find out that Star-Lord’s daddy issues go far deeper than we initially thought.
The strength of Quill’s story could have been stronger, although Chris Pratt, who still oozes charisma, didn’t really seem to put in the performance that we saw in the first film.
We were expected to see a different side of Peter Quill, but Pratt, who did a great job overall, didn’t do much to develop the character.
Pratt somewhat redeemed himself at the end of the film, which was not only grand, but also the right mixture of heartbreaking and satisfying.
A true bitter-sweet end to a bitter-sweet film.
Score: 4/5
Featured image from BagoGames
This film was seen courtesy of Dendy Canberra.