Marvel Studios is back in theaters with their fifteenth release Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. Director James Gunn returns with his space adventuring misfits in what plays more as a continuation than a sequel to the 2014 hit. Also returning are The Guardians themselves; Starlord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel). Also returning is Gamora’s villainous sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Ravagers Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn).
What made the first Guardians of the Galaxy exciting was how it stood apart from the rest of the Marvel movies by not being on Earth. The Marvel Films are not just comic-book or superhero stories, they tend to fit in specific genres. The Iron Man films were high-tech adventures, Ant-Man was a heist movie, Doctor Strange is magic, even the Captain America films are high octane political thrillers, but they all take place on Earth. Even the first two Thor films take place mostly on Earth. Guardians of the Galaxy is Marvel’s space opera. There are space ship battles, an uncounted variety of alien races, interstellar technology, colorful worlds, and cosmic beings of unimaginable power. This is just like how the Marvel Comics began their Cosmic Line of books in the late 60’s. This expanded Marvel from just being about adventures on the third rock from the sun to encompassing the entire universe, thus why it’s called The Marvel Universe. Getting back to the genre, a good space opera is always expanding with the introduction of new worlds and new alien races but keeps its focus on forwarding the story of its characters. This is best exemplified in the other space opera series owned by Disney: Star Wars. Star Wars A New Hope had two or three planets and a variety of aliens in the background, but its main focus was the characters of Luke, Leia and Han and their teaming up to save the galaxy. In Empire Strikes Back, we are introduced to more worlds and see more aliens, but the worlds and aliens are introduced because the three characters are split up and travel to these different worlds and meet these new aliens. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 follows this example.
As the
film opens, we find The Guardians working a job for The Sovereign. The
Sovereign are a race of genetically engineered people with gold hair and gold
skin led by their queen Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki; The Night Manager). Though the Guardians complete the job, through
a turn events caused by Rocket, The Sovereign seek retribution against the
Guardians. This leads to the Guardians crash landing on a planet far away. The
Guardians are followed by Ego (Kurt Russell; Escape from New York, Sky High) and Mantis (Pom Klementief; Old Boy 2013). As is revealed in the
trailers Ego is Starlord’s father. Ego wants Starlord to come to his home
world, which provides a twist on Starlord’s origin vastly different from the
comics, but the Guardian’s ship also needs repairs. This is where Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 splits its
characters up into different stories which allows for individual arcs and
growth, very similar as to what was done in The
Empire Strikes Back. Starlord, Drax and Gamora go with Ego while Rocket and
Groot stay to repair the ship. Meanwhile, The Sovereign seek out and hire
Yondu’s Ravagers to find and retrieve The Guardians. This sets up the three
storylines that continue through the film.
Continuing
the space opera and Star Wars
comparison, the most memorable take away from that genre isn’t the space, it’s
the opera. The opera is how the characters relate to each other. The Guardians
relations to each other is best categorized as family, and the importance of
family is the big takeaway for this film. Every action taken in this film by
the main characters relates to how best to take care of family. These are the
Guardians of the Galaxy, but their number one priority is taking care of each other.
As you see in the trailers, Groot is now Baby Groot and stands less than a foot
tall. In the first film, Groot was their muscle, in Vol 2 they are constantly telling him to watch out and buckle up. There
is a scene where Groot is flying around and each Guardian makes sure to catch
him. It’s almost like “4 Guardians and a Baby.” When they encounter a moment
where they have to save the galaxy again, Rocket mentions that they will be
able to jack up their prices; focusing on what’s good for the family and not
the galaxy. The interaction between Gamora and Nebula is that of rival siblings
as they have known each other as sister since forever but they share no blood
relation. And my favorite part of the film comes at the climax where Starlord
has to make a decision and there is a series of quick cuts of him with each member
of The Guardians which reflects that the decision he is making is based on his
love for them and not necessarily the galaxy. These moments reflect the
importance of family and not blood family but the family that is always
present, always has your back, and never will abandon you.
With a
perfect blend of family and the cosmic, the Guardians of the Galaxy series is
the space opera of our time and Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol 2 continues that legacy.
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