Movie Review- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Title: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Director: James Gunn
Rating: PG-13
Run Time: 2h 18m
The second installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy had large shoes to fill after the huge success of the first Volume. What makes the Guardians series stand out from other Marvel movies is the amount of comedy that is used. The first Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorite Marvel films and I was very excited to see the group of criminals hit the big screen again.
The movie doesn’t waste anytime at all as it jumps right into developing the plot. Guardians Vol. 2 is engaging and fun although it doesn’t have a lot of scenery. The scenery that the movie does use however, is well made. The vibrant colors are a work of art and are truly spectacular. As good as the stunning visuals are in this movie, what truly makes a movie is the story and the acting.
The acting in Guardians Vol. 2 is excellent. Dave Bautista has dived into his role as Drax and James Gunn recognized this and rewarded him with a larger role. Kurt Russell and Chris Pratt are nothing but excellent and so is everyone else. The plot, although following the relationship between Chris Pratt’s and Kurt Russell’s characters, doesn’t give preference to almost any character and focuses on each character equally. This is probably one of the movie’s greatest strengths.
The movie does seem a little long for the amount scenes that are shown. A lot happens in a film that doesn’t have too many different settings and this causes the movie to feel longer than it really is. This can also be credited to what I feel is the movie’s biggest flaw, the comedy.
Now don’t get me wrong, the comedy in Guardians is great and is one of its defining characteristics. Comedy is what separates Guardians from the rest of the Marvel Universe and they must stick with this strategy in order to ensure that the series is a success, but in the case of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 it held the film back. Many scenes were stretched out in order to add comedy that, while good, isn’t really necessary in the degree that it was shown. If these scenes were cut down it would reduce the run time and allow the plot to be even more engaging. The true flaw is near the emotional ending. Guardians Vol. 2 had the opportunity to break from the comedy and still maintain the identity of the movie. This would be difficult to do in a movie that relies so much on comedy, but with the excellent plot that Guardians Vol. 2 provides us, it would have been possible. The ending to Guardians, while good, could have separated itself from its predecessor. Each sequel to a movie series must build off the movie before it. Too many times does a sequel fail due to doing too much of what the first movie was great at. I have faith that James Gunn and the rest of the cast and crew will figure out how to make the third Guardians work, but they must be careful as they are approaching very quickly to the line of doing too much.
Overall Guardians of the Galaxy is a great film that fans will enjoy for years to come. If my biggest complaint about the film is that it didn’t let emotion dominate the end of the film, then I would say Marvel should be very pleased in the cast and crew of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Overall Rating: 8.8/10
