Guardians of the Galaxy manages to keep the heart and spirit of adventure from the prequel and inject a new level of weirdness into the sequel and it is 100% appreciated by this comic book fan.

I really loved this movie. When I said there is a new level of weirdness in Vol. 2, I meant it in the best way possible.  In this movie we are literally walking around on a friggin Living Planet!  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 features the group who has now, through a series of adventures and misadventures, begun to mesh together as a tea

m and family.  They lend out their special talents to others, in this movie a race of genetically perfect, super pretentious, gold skinned people called “The Sovereign”, to take on threats that would send other people running for the space hills.
That threat is a giant rainbow shooting, bug eyed tentacle monster that has been eating (?) some very expensive space batteries that the Sovereign use.   The interesting part about this scene, which is right at the beginning of the movie, is that in most sci-fi movies a fight scene like this would usually be THE key scene in the film.  It’s a scene that would usually be the end or mid movie climax that is meant to grab and hold your attention.   In Guardians of the Galaxy it’s just a backdrop for baby Groot to dance to Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra.

The music in this movie is just as good as the first with some nice cuts like Fox on the Run by Sweet, My Sweet Lord by George Harrison, and Southern Nights by Glen Campbell and Bring it on Home to Me by Sam Cooke.   The highlights of the soundtrack for me were Brandy by Looking Glass and Father and Sons by Cat Stevens.  It was amazing to see how “Brandy” was used to illustrate the longing and the calling of the sea to the vast ocean of space that called Ego the Living Planet (played by Kurt Russell) away from Peter Quill’s mother and how that same calling can and will affect Peter in all of his future relationships. It’s a powerful and nuanced moment that I can’t help but feel that is almost too deep for a movie that features a talking tree and raccoon and where almost every other main character is a different hue.  But it fits.  It fits perfectly.  I didn’t think that that soundtrack was quite as powerful and striking as the Awesome Mix vol. 1 (Peter dancing to “Come and Get Your Love” is my favorite opening scene in all of the Marvel movies) but it still hit all the right notes right when it needed to.

To be completely fair and objective despite the amazing visuals and banging soundtrack, the first act of this movie is a bit of a mess.  It’snot unwatchable by any means (far from it actually), it just lacks direction.  There isn’t that one thing that really advances the plot (like trying to constantly stay one step ahead of Ronan the Accuser and keep the Infinity Gem out of his hands) and it kind of meanders a bit between action set pieces and people sitting and talking.  I’ll say this though, characters sitting and talking never gets boring because all the actors in this movie are all over the top interesting and the delivery of comedic lines are on point. When Ego finally lays bare his plans, that’s when things get REALLY get interesting.  I won’t spoil anything here, but he reveals a critical plot point that elicited loud gasps of disbelief in my theater.

That’s all I can really say about this movie for now because the longer I talk about it the more I’ll want to reveal some spoilers!  If you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend going as soon as you can.  It’s worth the full price of admission, especially if you were a fan of the prequel.

What did you think about the movie?  Have you seen it yet? How many times have you seen it?  Comment below and let me know.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Rating: 4.5/5

+ Amazing visuals and soundtrack.

+ Some truly touching and heartbreaking moments.

– Plot meanders a bit in the first 1/4 of the movie.

 

*make sure you stick around for all 5 post credit scenes…