Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Mini-Review — The Analytic Critic
It turns out that giving James Gunn more creative freedom is a bad idea. Previously, he had a writing partner to remove some of his more idiotic character and story choices. This time, he has complete control over this mess of a film. What do I mean? Let’s take a look.
WRITING:
Guardians Vol. 2’s main plot is pretty simplistic and easy to summarize: Peter Quill finds his intergalactic father, who is literally a planet. Seems good, but nothing’s as it seems. Meanwhile, Nebula hunts her sister to get revenge and Yondu tries to save Quill.
That’s it. That’s the whole plot. It feels barebones, lacks wit, and is written horribly all around. Gunn’s writing leaves a lot to be desired. The script lacks any strong action setpieces, and the humour is both childish and unimaginative.
Even the main theme is bad. Thanks to the first film — which explores the theme of family amazingly — Guardians Vol. 2’s central message is redundant. Moreover, it’s on-the-nose, literally explaining the significance of family not being just about blood. With dialogue like this, the script is just stupid.
Now there are two saving graces. The first is with Nebula’s relationship with Gamora. This starts off quite rocky, though Gunn gets a handle on things later in the film. The second is with Yondu’s relationship with Quill. There’s actually a strong sentimental moment towards the end; it’s too bad that there isn’t more of this subplot in the film.
CAST:
The cast have definitely dropped down a tier from the first film. Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldaña return, though both have somehow gotten worse. I think the issue lies with overacting. If they stopped trying so hard to be convincingly emotional and acted more naturally, their characters would be easier to invest in.
Similarly, Dave Bautista and Bradley Cooper overact to varying degrees, while their previous performances were much more nuanced. That said, they are both still good enough to keep my attention.
Among the best of the cast are Michael Rooker and Karen Gillan. Not only do they play the best characters this time around, but they also are the only cast members able to deliver conviction and believable emotions.
New additions include Pom Klementieff and Kurt Russell. I wouldn’t say either are that great, honestly. There’s just too much exaggeration with gestures and dialogue to take this film even slightly seriously. And although it’s meant to be funny (someone forgot to tell Gunn to write humour into this), the primary theme he explores in this is meant to be serious.
If I had to guess, this is likely partially due to Gunn’s poor direction of the actors, which leads us to the…
PRODUCTION:
Gunn’s cinematography is pretty solid. His visuals are actually quite enticing and frequently ambitious. Where his direction really fails is in directing the actors, as mentioned before. No one acts naturally, and almost every line sounds forced.
Other visual elements such as the lighting, set design, and costumes are all crafted with care and an attention to detail. These just aid in the viewer’s immersion, which is certainly necessary due to the crappy script and acting.
The special effects and CGI are also quite enthralling. With high visual flair that only occasionally goes over-the-top, the effects are actually beautiful to a certain extent.
However, there is another major issue with the production — sound. Silly sound effects and overblown audio design really take away from the quality of many scenes. This is only made worse by the mediocre soundtrack, which features far less memorable tracks than its predecessor does.
SUMMARY:
Honestly, I’m stunned at how awful Guardians Vol. 2 ultimately is. It’s an overblown, overacted, atrocious mess of a film that serves little purpose; everything good about it was pretty much already done before in the first film. Is it Marvel’s worst film? No. But it’s certainly down there.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 gets a 3.5 out of 10.
