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MOVIE REVIEW: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2″ Is Just a “Pretty Good” Mix

 

 
Overview
 

Directed by: James Gunn
 
Produced by: Kevin Feige
 
Written By: James Gunn
 
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillen, Michael Rooker, Pom Klementieff, Kurt Russell.
 
MTRCB Rating: PG
 
Genre:
 
FG RATING
7.5
7.5/ 10


User Rating
4 total ratings

 

Raves


Gorgeous Visuals, Creative Action Set-Pieces, A Fairly Good Self Contained Plot, An Engaging Cast as Always, Solid Twists, Surprisingly Heartfelt Moments.

Rants


Jarring Tonal Shifts, Most Jokes Fell Flat, Terrible 3D Conversion, Predictable for the most part.


Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may not be better than its predecessor but it is a wildly entertaining movie packed with gorgeous visuals and an always charming cast of characters. I guarantee that it would leave you a smile plastered to your face from start to finish anyways (it sure did for me at least). I would also give credit of they were able expand the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe with some familiar concepts subtly – new and old comics fans would be happy to see what’s in store for them when it comes to the cosmic side of things. If you were one of those people who had those complaints before, this may not be the movie that would convince you about siding with Marvel’s formula.

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Posted April 26, 2017 by

 
FULL REVIEW
 
 

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3 years ago, who knew that a space opera of how this set of obscure characters would become household names of Pop Culture? But as most sequels come and go the pressure does add up to how would they be able to recreate the same charm while also moving forward to explore better things. Did they with this movie? Well….

Plot Summary:

The Guardians of the Galaxy are now a force to be reckoned with in the cosmos. But after a deal went awry between our heroes and the Sovereign it led to them not only seeking refuge in a strange place but also have them meeting Peter Quill’s father, Ego. The rest of the team now found themselves trying to unravel the mystery behind Ego even with The Ravagers, Nebula, and the Sovereign on their tail.

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Photos Property of Walt Disney Pictures Philippines

In their latest installment, The Guardians of the Galaxy aren’t going around fighting the likes of Thanos which also involves a (insert McGuffin here) that matters to other movies in the future. This had more of a self-contained story, sort of like that one solid filler issue of a long running comic book. If the first movie was more about unlikely friendships and their purpose, in this one however you get to see them try to come together as a family.

The core members have always been this weird family like Star Lord being the easily distracted dad, Gamora being the mom who tries to pull everyone together, Rocket being the loud sibling, Drax being the oblivious uncle, and of course there’s Baby Groot. However, they do split the team up in this one Ala Empire (Strikes Back, not the TV show about hip hop) this time around. But they were able to follow through with the familial theme and have these different characters reconnect with one another, which does lead to the film’s emotionally profound moments. It was really Rooker, Pratt, and Russell who had the best overall arc in the entire movie, while the rest had enough to do. Most of the outcomes may be painfully predictable, but the characters and the cast’s performances do make up for the how they act towards certain situations that are either touchy feely or more serious ones.

nullThe visuals in this movie are astonishing! Leave it to James Gunn to make use of all 120 colors in the Crayola box. They traded in the raggedy set-pieces to grander and more lavish ones from the castles of the Sovereign to Ego’s planet. This does give some creative action set-pieces as well. They got to do more with Yondu’s telepathic arrow, the space battles, and Groot’s cuteness. However I couldn’t really appreciate the darker or deep space scenes much due to the fact that we watched the regular 3D version, making it hard for me to adjust and tell what’s going on in specific scenes (so I’m really going back for a second round on this movie).

If there’s really some major flaws I do have, they are recurring ones with the films in the MCU in which the humor not blended well with its more serious moments. It takes a while for the movie to find its footing right after its opening scene, making the first half be rather disjointed since every scene is grasping at straws for a joke. It’s quite jarring to have a serious moment and then they suddenly revert back and forth to a joke. Granted there are still a lot of funny moments, albeit there are some jokes that felt more recycled or went out for too long.  It’s sad to even hear me say it because I remember it working so well in the first one (Yes, even with Star Lord dancing on top of a grave of collateral damage during an invasion). Another recurring complaint about Marvel would be its “throw away” villains, though it is present here with Ayesha there was however one villain that surfaced until later on in the movie. They did craft a rather sympathetic enough villain and even so provided a more meaningful thing to fight against with actual stakes. They weren’t Loki per se, but they weren’t a Malekith kind of villain either.

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Photos Property of Walt Disney Pictures Philippines

Conclusion:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may not be better than its predecessor but it is still a wildly entertaining movie packed with gorgeous visuals and an always charming cast of characters. I guarantee that it would leave you a smile plastered to your face from start to finish anyways (it sure did for me at least). I would also give credit that they were able expand the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe with some familiar concepts subtly – new and old comics fans would be happy to see what’s in store for them when it comes to the cosmic side of things. If you were one of those people who had those complaints before, this may not be the movie that would convince you about siding with Marvel’s formula.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are going to rock out in a theater near you in April 26!  Do stay for the credits, there are really 5 credit sequences!

 


GP Manalo

 
G.P. Manalo is a student by day, and a resident tortured writer by night. Writing to keep him sane from all the Business School papers and presentations piling up each week.


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