Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

I've been thinking about this movie for the past few days since I've seen it. Here are my thoughts.

Story- The Guardians, fresh off of saving the Universe from Ronan, find themselves helping the Sovereign, who enlist them to protect very important batteries. After they save the batteries from a giant alien monster, Rocket steals the batteries to make some quick cash. Once the Sovereign find out, a chase ensues and the Guardians get an assist from an unknown source. After they crash land on the closest planet, the stranger introduces themselves, and the movie takes off from there. I'm not going more in depth because the movie is relatively new and I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet. The story does not drag along, it has steady pacing and really picks up during the climax of course. The ending was handled perfectly, and anyone who has seen it knows exactly what I'm talking about. It was nice to showcase some lesser known characters, or ones who were in the first but didn't have much screen time as well.

Cinematography/Props- As I mention later in the directing section, this movie is gorgeous. I planned on seeing this movie at least 2 times, and once I saw it the first time I knew I needed to see it in 3D. Normally I wouldn't feel the need to see any movie in 3D, but I think this one actually benefits from it, because it's so vibrant and the colors pop much more with that extra depth. There's one fight scene in particular about halfway through the movie that I really enjoyed because it was filmed exceptional. There weren't quick cuts to where you couldn't see the action, and benefited from being filmed at multiple perspective angles. As you can expect from what I've already had to say about this movie, the props were excellent as well. They bring back the shiny new ship the Milano, equipped with the same 70s/80s aesthetic. Yondu's whistling arrow is one of the coolest movie weapons ever (I know it was a comic thing first but eh, I haven't gotten to read them yet so these movies were my first exposure to the awesomeness that is the arrow). Starlord's dual blasters are also insanely cool. The different planets showcase nice set-pieces, in particular on Ego's planet where the palette is bright orange which contrasts nicely with Gamora's green skin.

Acting- Chris Pratt helms the band of misfits again, and what can I say, the man is a hot commodity in Hollywood these days. He has a similar type of character (super heroic but smooth dude) in his movies lately, but that isn't a bad thing by any means, because he has a charm with the roles (Jurassic World, Magnificent Seven, first Guardians, etc). Vin Diesel gets paid Schwarzenegger in Terminator amounts of money for limited dialogue, but it's (well) deserved because who doesn't love Groot let alone baby Groot, which is the cutest thing you'll ever see, especially in the opening credit scene. Bradley Cooper does fantastic voicing Rocket, Zoe Saldana brings her A game for Gamora and Dave Baustista brings his cold but comedic demeanor to Drax. Michael Rooker also brings his signature flair to the character of Yondu. Also notable were Karen Gillan returning as Nebula and the newcomer Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and last but not least Kurt Russell as Ego.

Directing- James Gunn is known primarily for the first Guardians movie, which was an underdog success. Many thought that bringing the story of some unknown Marvel characters would be stupid, but it turned out to be one of the best and most popular Marvel movies made. His style has a certain flair to it, and his movies are full of all color pallets, which I personally like because it almost adds extra character. Something interesting that I picked up on was during the rising action (I won't spoil anything) but it paralleled a scene from the second live action Scooby-Doo movie (Gunn worked on that movie so it makes sense). He really cares about his films and it shows, which presents a fantastic experience for the audience.

Soundtrack- If you go into a Guardians of the Galaxy movie expecting nothing less than the best from the soundtrack, you'd be mistaken. They've done it again by making the 80's soundtrack with hits from back in the day. After seeing this movie, I went out and purchased both "Awesome Mixes" (the first one I should've had bought long ago), one of only a few movie soundtracks I've bought (Scott Pilgrim, Drive and The Nice Guys being the others). That's a testament to how good it is because I made a playlist with that type of music and listened to just that for about a week straight.

Final Verdict- A. 2017 has seen 2 fantastic sequels in this and John Wick 2, and I'm almost certain Kingsman 2 will follow this trend. This has become one of top 2 favorite Marvel movies (Deadpool being the other). Definitely one you have to experience in theaters. It deserves all the success it has garnered.

#Marvel #ChrisPratt #Action #Comedy #JamesGunn