Director: James Gunn
Writers: James Gunn, Dan Abnett (based on the Marvel comics by)
Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
Plot: The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage.
Running Time: 2 hours 16 Minutes
Rotten Tomatoes Score: Critics 83% Audience 88%
Why I Watched It: I really enjoyed the first one, and for Marvel they took a risk, this was a cult comic and lesser known heroes but Marvel did what they do so well, the perfect cast a director they trusted and it was great. I will say this one is more bloated and much bigger and you can tell they’ve traded off from the goodwill of the first film, I was excited to see what they came up with this time and of course Kurt Russell is always welcome in any movie I watch.
What I Liked: Say what you want about Marvel but they really don’t make bad movies and they don’t make boring movies. You can call it a formula but it’s more of a style and something they nail every time. Marvel is smart enough to know what works and what they’re fan base wants to see. The other big thing Marvel does is they spend money and a lot of it is on the screen. This film looks great, all the tech stuff, the sound, the editing, the score is top notch.
Guardians is a different comic book movie, sure it’s set in space but it’s really about this ragtag group of outsiders who have formed more than friendship but a family and what makes these films different is it’s really about their relationship and their dynamic that make the films work. The cast is tight and you consider two of the characters are CGI it works seamlessly. The standout for me is Dave Bautista here’s very good here and oddly gives the best performance. Kurt Russell is good here, he’s always good but he doesn’t have much to do but he fits in well.
I said it earlier but this is a much bigger film, lots of characters and lots of balls in the air, lots of things going on, the one thing they hit on is they have five main characters and all have issues so there’s lots of things to play off of and this movie they decide to focus on family and for the most part it works, it’s nice to have a story this epic in scope come down to not being alone.
The thing I was glad they kept was the humor cause that’s what makes Guardians different, it’s heavy at times but they keep that light tone and the humor works and of course you have baby Groot here who is beyond cute.
What I Didn’t Like: The film is bloated, and at times it’s all over the place, clearly director James Gunn had a lot on his mind and blew his wad here. The biggest flaw for me was splitting up the team, I don’t think that worked as well as they thought, the group dynamic isn’t as strong here. Also they added a lot of characters and a ton of sub-plots. The film feels overly busy and man it’s too long, it drags at times and really they need to trim this down, losing at least 15 minutes would have been this film better.
The first film had a soundtrack so of course we needed a mix tape Vol. 2, the music cues felt like that and the songs were a little too on the nose and really anything big that is happening gets this famous golden oldie as well, I would it a bit distracting.
The cast if fine but I will say rocket does come off a little too harsh and at times annoying, also they didn’t need Stallone here, he gets nothing to do and really anyone could have done that part. Also they didn’t need all the story they threw in here, the should have just dealt with Star Lord finding out who his father is and the team dealing with it.
Final Thoughts: It’s a fun but flawed film not as enjoyable as the first but an entertaining Summer film just the same.
Rating: 7/10
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