So I’m going to do this without spoilers…which is going to be difficult because they honestly hadn’t revealed anything in any of the trailer. Which I thought was a very smart move for James Gunn to have control over marketing and showed great care over his work.
Now, I have to admit that the cosmic side of Marvel is one that I’ve never been incredibly knowledgeable on but since the first film I’ve tried to enlighten myself a bit more from time to time. The fan in me was incredibly happy about them building on different aspects of the series by adding in new characters and new elements that I won’t spoil here but they also allowed me to care more about the characters that we had already seen. Characters like Nebula, Yondu and Kraglin not only get more screen time but they also get more involved stories and I genuinely enjoyed learning about them.
This film also allows us to build on the main five characters as well. Rocket, in particular, gets a bigger storyline in this one and it made me love his character even more than I already did. About 20 to 30 minutes into the film, certain characters split up for different reasons and they all get different introspective moments with other characters and it creates a really great storyline where we get to learn more about everyone we’re watching and it’s just done very well. It wouldn’t work as well in any other film but between the charisma of Gunn’s writing and direction and the ever impressive cast it works when it probably shouldn’t. That’s the true strength of this film, the knowledge that any other team would’ve let this movie fall flat but Marvel Studios knows exactly what they’re doing.
I’m gonna counter on the reviews that have said that this film doesn’t have the same magic as the first one because I think it does but in a different way. This isn’t the same Guardians movie because this isn’t our first time seeing them, it’s obviously gonna be very different and I think it works in their favor that they try out new things in this one.
It does have to be said that the entire cast shines in this one, the returning heroes only get better the more we see of them and new characters like Kurt Russell as Ego and Pom Klementieff as Mantis make this even better. Russell is clearly having the time of his life in this role and you can tell that this won’t be the last time we see a talent like Klementieff. I can’t say much more about their roles but just take my word that they’re great.
And of course the soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal. It’s the perfect backdrop to the rest of the film from the opening of “Mr. Blue Sky” to the best usage of “The Chain” that I’ve ever seen.
Overall, this film is not only a perfect representation of the Guardians but even just Superhero films in general. It draws a balance between comedy and drama that many films only hope to come close to.
