I'm back from the Captain Marvel hype train, and with that, the Rewatch must return. And what an opportune time to come back as well, with the second Avengers: Endgame trailer having just dropped yesterday. If I wasn't hyped before (note: I very much was), I'm certainly hyped now. Can you believe we're only six weeks away from Endgame? I couldn't believe it either. That also means we're six rewatches until the Rewatch is complete. Let's start the countdown with the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie. BACKGROUND:
To this day, I am still in awe at the breakout success of Guardians of the Galaxy at the box office. These characters went from virtually unknown to household names in record time. Now that they were established in the mainstream, I was personally excited to see how they'd go in the sequel. How many more obscure characters and concepts from the cosmic side of the MCU are they gonna throw in? Will there ever be a reference to the original Guardians apart from Yondu? The comic book regions of my brain raced with possibilities. Another thing I (and many other people, I'm sure) was excited for was the prospect of these characters crossing over with the greater MCU. Apart from the obvious Thanos and Infinity Gem connections, the first GotG was mostly a standalone affair, so the hopes that there are gonna be more substantial tie-ins to the Earth side of things were quite high, if a bit farfetched. COMICS TO READ:
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
THE EASTER EGGS:
THE HEROES: While some of the cast get individual character moments, the primary focus of the movie seems to be on family, and the bonds between the Guardians. Between Quill and Gamora's blossoming relationship, Nebula and Gamora's sisterhood, Drax and Mantis's bond, and more, you get moments big and small to highlight how much these guys have grown to care for each other. Quill gets a lot to work with, between coming to grips with who his father is, his Celestial heritage (which is promptly removed so he doesn't kick Thanos's ass), and how all of that comes between his newfound family in the Guardians. Again, we don't see much of Rocket's backstory, but how he grows as a character here is great enough that I don't really mind. Seeing him go from general dickishness to having a moment of introspection and realizing that he's not as heartless as he plays himself off to be was fascinating to watch. Groot gets to be a lovable oaf again, except he's tiny and cute. Neat. Drax sadly gets the short end of the stick and is relegated to comic relief, but he does get a brief moment where you see a hint of the tragedy that befell him and his family. Not that I don't appreciate Batista's knack for humor, but I really wish they'd explore that more instead of lame sex jokes. Mantis makes her debut in this movie, and she's this cute, innocent, and silly minor character that I quickly took a liking to. At first, I was concerned at how she had no combat prowess (she knows martial arts in the comics), but seeing how they managed to use her powers in a combat situation quickly alleviated my concerns. I'm happy she's here, and I hope to see her grow more as a character. However, I think the star of the show is Yondu. We finally get some context as to why he takes Quill in GotG 1, and we get a substantial payoff for his throwaway line on how Quill's dad is an asshole. Turns out Yondu had a heart of gold after all, and his decision to keep Quill for himself wasn't an act of selfishness. We see him gradually come to terms with his many mistakes (even drawing an interesting parallel between himself and Rocket) and redeeming himself at the very end with his sacrifice. As much as I would've liked to see more of him, the funeral scene is a testament to how his arc in this movie is near perfect, and I wouldn't change a thing. THE VILLAINS: Though it's very clear that Ego is the main villain of the movie, the slow burn from "he's kind of a cool dude" to "oh god, no" was quite enjoyable. The chilling shot of the bones of all his children, to the reveal of the hand he had in the death of Quill's mother gave the pretty telegraphed twist more impact than it should have. Sure, his endgame wasn't too compelling (an obsession with becoming the only thing in the universe, hence the name), but other than that, I enjoyed the character. There was also the typical, not-like-the-comics brouhaha of why Ego wasn't a talking planet (he's literally a planet with a face in the comics), but having a sort of human avatar for Ego to talk through made things a bit more personal and helped me connect more with the character. I don't think learning that Ego killed Quill's mom would've had the same emotional impact if it had been a giant planet with a face telling Quill that instead of Kurt Russell. Nebula gets the character development she sorely lacked in the first movie. Between fleshing out her relationship with Gamora and making clear her feelings towards Thanos, she got plenty to work with. She even gets a few heroic moments by the end, cementing a face turn once the movie reaches it denouement. It got me really excited to see what role she'd play in Infinity War. The Sovereign served nothing more than to be nuisances in this movie, which is kinda lame. Maybe they'll get their day in the sun in the sequel (that may or may not happen). OTHER THINGS:
THE AFTER-CREDITS: We get not one, not two, but five short stingers strewn about the credits. Settle in, folks; I'm talking about all of them. The first sees Kraglin screwing around with Yondu's arrow. It ends well as you'd expect. I found it hilarious. Second, we see some of the Ravager captains reunite as a team. As I've said before, these guys are the Guardians of the Galaxy team that predated Quill and co. in the comics. This had me excited at the prospect of seeing them again in a sequel in some capacity. I was most excited for the third scene. It features Ayesha decidedly miffed with her encounters with the Guardians. We then see a cocoon of sorts (at this point, I was already suspicious of what this reveal might be), and to put the nail in the coffin, she drops a name for whatever (or whoever) is meant to come out of the cocoon: Adam. No doubt, this was a setup to Adam Warlock, a character who is notably absent in the build to the Infinity War movie (he's a pivotal character in the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity Crusade, and Infinity War comics). In the fourth scene, Quill deals with being a parent to a moody teenage Groot. Cute. The fifth and final scene shows us a continuation of the Stan Lee cameo. I love this cameo a lot. It's the perfect blend of tongue in cheek and paying reverence to the source material. VERDICT: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is as sequel as a sequel can get. It doubles down on what made the first one so great, so it ends up feeling more of the same, with the added bane of some of the jokes not quite sticking the landing, and a pretty standard third act. Nevertheless, the variety of character moments (especially for Gamora and Nebula, who I thought didn't get much in GotG 1) made this movie more than worth the trouble. There's some neat superhero action in there, but what I love most about this one is all the character stuff, hands down. We're back in the full swing of rewatches! Speaking of "swing", tune in next week for Spider-Man: Homecoming! - end -
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
June 2024
Derryck
|