The second Guardians of the Galaxy movie basically delivered on what I wanted and expected of it. It was big, dumb and fun. It was spectacle and it was funny interplay between characters. It also managed to do so without devoting a lot of running time to pointless Infinity War setup. Everything that counts as that is in this movie for the sake of these characters and this plot, so it works and sits naturally in the movie.
This is a fun successful blockbuster.
It’s not flawless; the middle of the film in particular drags. This is in large part the result of the main cast being separated. The greatest strength of this (and the first movie) is the great interplay between its main heroes. The humor and the movie in general just loses steam when they’re split up.
I think the movie is held hostage by needing to do too much. Every major character has their own emotional arc through the movie, and there are a lot of primary characters (It goes beyond the core 4). The arcs are well written, but it’s just too much for one movie. And for my taste it means too many sentimental moments, instead of fun banter or great action.
There’s kinda just too much movie here and it just ends up diluting itself a bit.
Also, (and this isn’t really a problem just a note) this is another comic book movie that comes down to two characters with the same power sets. This is less a weird trend and is just starting to feel like a weird inside joke.
But none of that fucks up this movie. They didn’t ruin what made the first one work, this is just another Guardians of the Galaxy moves. This is still one of the best Marvel movies period. It’s inherently less surprising than the original, but it has a better villain. I dunno which of these movies will standup to the test of time better. Initial impression is that they’re pretty much on par.
The real key to that is that James Gunn is back in the director’s chair, and man he does a good job. There’s a lot of great eye candy here; just some tremendous visual sequences. That, and character interplay, are what I want from Superheroey Comic Book Movie things so I was pretty pleased.
It’s no The Belko Experiment, but it’s a fun popcorn flick that’s worth seeing on a big screen. And that’s no small thing.
