Last night I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. I was lucky enough to get a free ticket from Regal Cinemas through a special promotion they were having. They set aside a theater just for the promotion, and I was kind of surprised at how few people were there. At least I had plenty of elbow room!
Long story short, I thought it was a great follow-up to the first film, which I loved. I'll get into some of the details below, but in summary, Vol. 2 felt like a natural extension of the story of Star-Lord and his band of heroes, providing more insight into Quill's background but also giving us enough history and depth into the other characters to make it feel like a cohesive story without leaving anyone out.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 – Hero Shot
Family
If Vol. 1 is about bringing together a band of misfits and turning them into heroes, then the second movie has at its core the cohesion of that group into a family. The trailers showed Kurt Russell revealing himself as Star-Lord's father, so it's no surprise that this movie explores Peter Quill's parentage and legacy, which makes up the main plot. I won't go into detail here, but I think in broad strokes the writers did a good job of showing the wide range of hope, anger, joy, disappointment, and other feelings that both Quill and his father feel at being reunited and becoming acquainted with each other – not to mention navigating the differing values that each one has.
What I wasn't expecting was the sub-plot with Star-Lord's other father figure, Yondu. As was hinted at in the first movie, Yondu kept Peter instead of giving him to his father as he had been hired to do. As a result, Peter grew up with the Ravagers because he was small enough to fit into tight places that others couldn't. Peter's life as a young ravager wasn't easy, and the first movie shows the rift that had grown up between him and Yondu (and the other Ravagers). In Vol. 2, however, we learn not only the backstory of Peter's biological father, but also of his adoptive father and some of the reasons behind doing what he did. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that I was pretty surprised and impressed at how sympathetic of a character Yondu actually becomes.
As a parallel plot, Vol. 2 also continues to explore the sororal relationship between Gamora and Nebula. After playing the part of a fierce antagonist in Vol. 1, Nebula first appears in Vol. 2 as a prisoner being held by Gamora and the Guardians with the intent of exchanging her for a bounty. Without spoilers, I'll note that the interactions between Gamora and Nebula resemble a supercharged rivalry between the most antagonistic of siblings. Between their bickering, fighting and firing of huge weapons at each other, we get to understand a little more about their own struggles and the reasons why they are so heavily at odds with each other.
Those are the main threads of the story, and such as they are, they fit nicely together. But what I really like is that the theme of family was fleshed out with the rest of the characters as well. We get a sense of Rocket's feelings of inadequacy because of his lack of family, due to his having been genetically engineered. We also get some background about Drax's wife and daughter, with a hint at the intense grief (without explanation) that he feels toward whatever has happened to them, despite his often stoic and strong exterior. And then there's Baby Groot, who we see relate in various ways to the rest of the team – i.e., his literal guardians. (Oh, and don't miss the short scenes during the credits – teenage Groot is almost as good as dancing Baby Groot in Vol. 1.)
Ultimately, the story of Vol. 2 is about the family you choose, rather than the family you are born to. As I and my co-host discuss regularly on our TV review podcast, this is also a big theme in the works of Joss Whedon, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, and other shows and films. In fact, it may just be one of the biggest themes of great stories in general.
Humor
The humor of Vol. 2 holds up just as much as the first film, which was to be hoped for and it's nice to see they managed to hit accomplish it again. What I really like, however, is how the humor often pays off with more earnest sentiments later in the film. For example, the scene in the trailer where Mantis, an empathic alien, reveals Star-Lord's lust for Gamora later pays off in a big way for another character in a much more touching and revealing way, especially given that the scene with Star-Lord shows us how precise her empathic abilities are. I won't go into a ton of examples of humor, but it's everything it should be: subversive, surprising, substantial, and more.
Go See It!
If you liked the first film, you will definitely enjoy the second one. If you didn't see the first film, I believe some theaters are holding double-feature events, and it's a good opportunity to catch two great movies on the big screen.
Here's the trailer. Enjoy!
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