Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) by Rated N — 27 Nov 2017

The follow-up to one of the biggest surprises for cinema in recent years. I thought the first movie was going to be a failure. It came out during that time of year when summer movies are usually not very good, around August. It looked like it was going to be too silly when you look at it, a talking tree and a raccoon in space. How is this going to work? Well, it did work, and almost everybody really seemed to love it, myself included. The characters were so likable, the action was a ton of fun, and I really like how it took on a refreshing change in tone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I got surprisingly so wrapped up in the action, the comedy, and even the drama of the first movie. However, many people are treating as one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made and also their favorite MCU movie. I don't know if I can go as far to say it's one of my absolute favorites. It didn't leave that much of an impact on me. I thought it was extremely fun, hilarious, and definitely among the better Marvel movies; but at the same time I didn't think that much about it. Regardless, I still loved the movie.

Because we all loved the first movie, everyone got excited by for its sequel and thought it was going to be twice as good. But I kept my optimism for this movie low because I didn't want to be disappointed. From what I've initially heard about it, it's said to be not as good as the first one. It wasn't a surprise to hear that. After people adoring the original, they're likely to be disappointed with how its sequel turned out. So I went in to see this movie with that mindset.

Watching the movie, I was trying to see where the people were coming from. I guess there are a few things about it that I can understand. Some of the humor did feel a bit forced. The movie felt like it did want to be twice as good as the first so they wanted to add twice the comedy. But sometimes the timing is a bit off. There were a couple of jokes that came at inappropriate moments, like when one character delivered a joke while another character was explaining her troubled past. I remembered not many people laughed at that part, that joke shouldn't have been delivered at that moment. Also, the story felt a bit choppy. There were many subplots that felt out of place when the movie goes from one scene to another. I was really getting into one scene, but then all of the sudden it jumps into another scene unrelated to what we just saw. Then it goes back to the previous scene after I was getting into that other scene. This cycle goes on throughout the movie and it gets a bit distracting. And one last thing, the character choices for the main villain are pretty clichéd. It's another one of those bad guys who want to control the entire universe. On the same subject, the side villains are absolutely useless and not the least bit intimidating. They never played a major role in the movie until one of the after-credit scenes, which I guess gives them a purpose the be in the movie.

With those reasons, I can understand why some people would be a bit disappointed with this movie since the first one didn't have those problems. The first one knew when to deliver the comedy, it had a much more flowing narrative. Although, both movies do have stereotypical bad guys. But what this movie had that the original didn't have enough of was character development. I really enjoyed the main characters in the first film, but I wasn't particularly interested in them. In this movie, we get to explore what makes these characters who they are as we get to know about their backstories and understand more of their relationships. Star-Lord is finding out something about his lineage that makes him special from the others and creates a dilemma between his friends and his father. His fatherly figure, Yondu, is realizing that he's been doing nothing right his entire life and his crew are giving him that treatment. With that, you suddenly feel sorry for one of the antagonists from the first film. The same thing with Nebula, she has had this strong rivalry with her sister Gamora that has inflicted her to do bad things. You can also feel for her character as well the relationship with Gamora since they're sisters. There's also a bond between Drax and a new character named Mantis about how their relationship grows just for who they are, I thought that was a very sweet and charming aspect to the movie. There's even a growing relationship between Yondu and Rocket Raccoon as they realize each other's similarities, both have had similar pasts and share some of the same traits. Yondu even gets along with Baby Groot, who by the way is the most adorable thing... ever! Anyway, it's this way of understanding the characters that really makes me care about them. For me, the most important aspect of any film is the characters. They are what we as human beings relate to, so if we understand the characters then we get invested in the movie. Basically, if I love and care about the characters, then I'll most likely love the movie.

Not only that, this movie is hilarious! Even though I said the timing of the comedy doesn't always hit, most of it still works really well. There are many types of humor used here, with many references and visuals, a lot of it has to do with delivery along with one heck of a great soundtrack, and some are just completely random that you can't help but laugh at it. There's this one brilliantly random joke towards the end that almost had me in tears it was so funny. I think those who've seen the movie will know what it is, it's the most quoted line in the movie. It just goes to show that Marvel clearly wanted to have some fun. Even though I said the narrative of the movie was a bit choppy, the movie has great pacing. That's one other problem I had with the first movie is that the pacing was a bit inconsistent. There were moments where I was feeling a kind of bored and wanted some scenes to wrap up. In this movie, not ONCE did I ever feel bored! And the drama in this film is so strong, especially at the end. Never would I've thought there would be so much genuine emotion in a movie like this. Without giving away too much, one of the characters dies at the end. Because I cared and learned so much about that character, the death of that character was not only very emotional and even tear-jerking, but it felt earned; and it was handled in a way that made it feel important. I was even getting a little teary-eyed, which is rare for me.

If you haven't already guessed, I love this movie... a lot! I saw this movie three times already in the theater and I still want to see it again, that's how much fun I had with it. The action was extremely satisfying, the visuals are absolutely gorgeous and really colorful, almost all of the comedy works and is very clever, and the character development is incredibly strong. Because of that, I do enjoy this movie more than the original. I just really love these characters. Sure, the movie still has its flaws, but honestly, I had so much fun with this movie that I can pretty much overlook any of its problems. If you think you'll have fun with this movie, by all means, go watch it!

Grade: A-.