I AM GROOT
By James Andrawes
In 2012 Marvel announced they would be making a Guardians of the Galaxy film and everyone outside of comic book fans didn’t really know who they were. Then in 2014 the film was released and gained thunderous applause both by fans and critics. How do you top that? how do you top a franchise opening that was so widely accepted and so popular? Well, you do it with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, more of the same but hitting the heartstrings and the comedy harder.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 starts off with the Guardians being hired to protect some important batteries which Rocket then steals. They are then chased and are saved by a mysterious spaceman who claims to be Starlord’s dad and from then comedy and adventure begin. The only difference this time is that the team is split up, Empire Strikes Back style.
The split up allows each character to be explored a little more with the main team development being focused on Starlord and Rocket and their love/hate relationship. At the centre of the story is Starlord’s father and why he left Peter’s mother and his plans for Peter. The film does a good job at juggling the two adventures and you never feel like your time is being wasted with one part of it. The development of the team wasn’t in the first film too much, as the first film was about getting the team together. At the start of this film, they’ve been a team for awhile and the cracks start to show in their relationships.
Another thing Guardians 2 does well is the secondary characters with Yondu, Nebula, Kraglin and the new character Mantis being some of the best aspects of the film, especially Yondu and Mantis. Yondu goes on as much of an adventure in this film as the rest of the guardians and the result of that is really the icing on the cake that the film needed to be better than the first Guardians adventure.
The best parts of Guardians 2, however, is what was already done so well in the first film, the comedy and the soundtrack. Every joke hits perfectly and not one punch line isn’t laughing out loud funny. Drax and Mantis, mainly their growing relationship throughout the film, is worth seeing just on its own. The soundtrack somehow manages to top the first film and plays out as if it were simply the score for the film. You just expect it to be there and add another level of emotion and joy to the film.
One thing I’d like to give applause to is the visuals which are impressive and insane at the same time. The aspect that separates the Marvel movies from the DC movies is the joy the movies have and, well, the actual use of the colour spectrum. If you can get anything out of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 you’ll hopefully get that you can portray even the saddest of emotions even when everything in that scene isn’t pitch black. The Guardians films, especially this one, show the beauty of the universe and makes you care not just about your favourite characters but what the Guardians are actually guarding. This crazy yet wonderful light display of a universe.
With all that in mind Guardians Vol 2 is a pretty dark film. There are a lot of moments that I’m surprised made it into the film. A lot of people die in the film and not in a someone just destroying a world style but some really surprising stuff. It was good to see that in a Marvel/Disney film because it kind of takes you back as you don’t really think that it could happen. There are also some slightly weird plot elements that I won’t spoil but they are strange.
The visual effects are good, the comedy is hilarious, the soundtrack is awesome and the story and the emotions are heart warming and heart breaking but there are some downfalls in the film. Drax is unfortunately left to be a more comedic character with not too much to do in the final battle, which unfortunately I guess someone has to be, hopefully, he gets a bigger part to play the next time around. Also, some background characters aren’t shown as much as you might like them to be. That would mainly be because of the large roster of characters there are for the films, it’s just odd because it’s basically introducing big characters/actors at the start of the film for basically the next film.
Guardians 2 is definitely the series’ Empire Strikes Back and I think its meant to be like that. The team split up after escaping only to try and get back together to stop a huge villain. The story of Peter Quill’s father creates a fantastic back story for the captain of the team and continuing on from here will be interesting as the team could do anything next. It’ll be weird seeing them next in Avengers: Infinity War but after this marvellous adventure the team is ready for its time in the big leagues and will surely steal the spotlight when placed against the rest of the Marvel characters. Yes Baby Groot is adorable and yes he’s everything you’ve ever wanted from a talking/living tree.