Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) by Mojito — 07 May 2017

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is fun and enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly great movie. If you begin watching with a relaxed attitude ("I want to be entertained for 2+ hours"), you're in for a treat. If you were hoping for a film of similar quality to the first? Then prepare yourself for some disappointment.

The full cast is back (plus minor characters I was surprised to see again). I felt the actors did an excellent job, and really put in effort, given the material. With the frenzy of CGI eye candy; I'm sure they spent most of the filming in front of green screens. Drax has more screen-time this round, while Rocket isn't quite as prominent. Groot is a hoot, stealing both your heart and the show.

The theme of this movie is "family and friendship", but unfortunately it's forcefully overdone. The film goes to great lengths to emphasize this point, raising a dozen separate subplots to demonstrate complex relationships between characters. There are lots of social conflicts, dramatic moments, and ultimately new realizations about self. It's not so complex you won't understand it. It's just way, way overdone. Everyone has issues to work out with everyone else, and it gets very tiresome. Should have been spread out into further sequels (which are inevitable), or toned down.

What isn't believable (almost immediately from the start) are the action sequences. Granted it's sci-fi + comedy + comic book. I'm a huge fan of all those things. I'm very willing to suspend my disbelief a whole lot. But GotG2 is really over-the-top, in a very "Peter Jackson-ish" way. Characters whirl and spin, fly and jump, fall from great heights, get pummeled, eaten, beaten, blasted, stomped, the works. And they emerge wholly unscathed. Always. Every laser dodged, every impact absorbed, every explosion washes over them.

And that makes it difficult to care or worry about them. Sure, there dangers threatening them, bad guys closing in, and threats. But who cares? They seem impervious to all harm, can improvise every situation. After a while, once madcap CGI battle sequence seems the same as the next.

I loved the music from the first film. But can you have too much of a good thing? The answer is yes. Prepare for much more 70's and 80's songs (and references) than the film needs. I'm exaggerating, but it sometimes felt like every scene change started a new song. We all get it: Peter is from the 80's and loves his mix tapes. Cool, so do we. But instead of fun and refreshing, it felt really forcefully inserted this time.

Ditto with the comedy. I loved the humor....but eventually too many wisecracks, one liners, and running jokes, and you'll become numb to them, or start rolling your eyes. It also felt overdone and forced.

The main story was different and had great potential. But it sure took a looong time to get there. Our heroes have questions. Very important questions, and there are mysteries to be solved! Not to mention they're being chased by some disgruntled former customers. What do you do? Leave half your friends behind, while you fly across the galaxy, get a tour of a planet, and sit around patiently hoping for answer. Why aren't explanations demanded? Why aren't you concerned about those pals you left behind? The main villain and plot is ultimately exposed, pretty confusing (what are they actually trying to pull off?), and with the world literally exploding around them, our heroes don't even get a papercut.

I enjoyed it. I'll probably watch it again someday. But like so many movies, it's overdoing everything in a misguided understanding of its fan-base, and goes too far. "Producers: If you liked "such-and-such" from the first movie, just wait! We do that 10 times as much now!".

I'd rather watch something that's paced, clever, and marginally believable. But it was fun adventure nevertheless, and worth seeing again.