By George Haerle
For The Daily World
The sequel to Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” is just as much of a sci-fi adventure ode to the 1980s as the original. But, unlike a few ’80s sequels that were as good as or better than the first movie (like “The Empire Strikes Back”), this one feels a bit more like the very flawed “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”
That’s not a huge knock, as both “Guardians 2” and “Temple” are still very lovable movies; they just take big steps in directions that end up in a few places you don’t care for. Where the first “Guardians” movie was an A-grade popcorn classic, the sequel tries too hard to do all of the things you loved the first time — and then extrapolate them unnecessarily.
Director James Gunn returns to continue the adventures of Star-Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora the assassin (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and everyone’s favorite walking tree, Groot (Vin Diesel), who is restarting his life cycle as something resembling a bark-skinned toddler.
Now famous intergalactic heroes for hire, the Guardians are forced to go on the run from a former client who wants them dead. After an exhilarating first act that has all the fun of the original movie, the appearance of Star-Lord’s long-lost father, Ego (Kurt Russell has a lot of fun with this role), stops our heroes in their tracks — and, unfortunately, the film’s pacing. Though most of the movie flies by, the second act does not.
As in “Empire Strikes Back,” our heroes are separated, each forced into their separate ways and given their own subplots. This could have worked, but the movie ends up focusing on a lot more individual stories than it needs to.
There’s plenty of heart in the sequel. The central plot of Star-Lord and Ego turns out to be an incredibly exciting and poetic dynamic, and the Guardians discover terrible things on their journey that force them to save the galaxy again — this time with Gamora’s deadly sister Nebula (Karen Gillan), Ego’s sidekick Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Star-Lord’s poor excuse for a father figure, Yondu (the fantastic Michael Rooker) in tow.
There are way too many hero characters in this movie. There were six Avengers in the first of those films, and five initial Guardians; both worked well. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” had nine heroes by the third act and had major problems because of it. “Guardians 2” has eight.
Nebula, a villain in the first movie, is made an antihero here and given a better subplot than Gamora, who gets the shaft on any kind of decent storyline. Nebula was a great secondary villain in the first film, but did anyone care about her enough to warrant her own subplot and role on the team? And Mantis, although funny and adorable with her big buglike eyes and tiny voice, could have been nixed from the movie completely. Yondu’s role, however, is quite essential.
Just like the extra characters, there are a lot of jokes that seem like the movie was molded to accommodate rather than vice versa. Forced gags are worked into the plot to up the ante rather than add any kind of substance. “Guardians 2” actually seems to sacrifice swashbuckling and simplification in its attempt to be the cool, funny kid that you just want to slap for trying too hard.
The first “Guardians of the Galaxy” had plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, but most of them arose from the characters’ situational comedy and their commentary on it. There were equal parts swashbuckling and heart in the original, with maybe a dozen really good moments of comedy that felt natural. Very few of the countless attempts at laughs in this sequel feel organic in any way, and Gunn seems to be going for a comedy rather than any kind of adventure story.
And here’s the next big letdown of “Guardians 2”: the soundtrack. Everyone remembers the music from the first movie — it was part of what made it great. But I recall only two good songs from this sequel: “Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO, and “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac. “Awesome Mix Vol. 2” it most certainly is not.
It feels like James Gunn, who wrote as well as directed, had so many good ideas and wanted to outdo the first so much that he actually took a big step down by cramming it all into two hours rather than saving some of those ideas for the inevitable third movie. Most of it is good enough that “Guardians 2” is still plenty of fun and pretty enjoyable. It’s just also somewhat of a letdown. I didn’t expect the movie to be as good as the first, but I did expect it to be a lot better than this.
***
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” is playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.
George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.
