In 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy, a film adaptation of a relatively obscure Marvel comic, was triumphantly welcomed as a refreshing departure within the ever‑expanding and unstoppable Marvel Cinematic Universe. Its director, James Gunn, received numerous accolades for stripping his otherwise not particularly profound or coherently plotted film of all seriousness and filling it with a host of absurd characters, scenes, situations, and references to contemporary pop culture. Because of this, Guardians of the Galaxy seemed a precious respite from the melodramatic epicness of other Marvel films, though it was clear to everyone that Gunn would struggle to repeat the same effect in the inevitable sequel, and that the new film’s quality would unavoidably be weaker than the first. When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 arrived in cinemas in 2017, these suspicions were largely justified—yet, on the other hand, it cannot be said that Gunn didn’t invest serious creative effort into his film.
The title protagonists, the Guardians of the Galaxy, are a group of space adventurers led by Peter Quill, alias Star‑Lord (Chris Pratt), who have gained fame and are now sought by the most powerful governments and other entities for delicate missions. One such client is Ayesha (Eluzabeth Debicki), the sovereign of the race called the Sovereign, who hires the Guardians to protect valuable batteries from interdimensional monsters. In return, she hands over Nebula (Karen Gillan), the sister of Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a member of the Guardians team. The sisters have a long‑standing feud, but the real trouble for the Guardians begins when one of them, Rocket (Bradley Cooper), decides to keep the batteries for himself, provoking Ayesha’s wrath and leading her to order their elimination with the help of all sorts of galactic mercenary rabble. Consequently, the Guardians find themselves in enormous difficulties, from which they are rescued by Ego (Kurt Russell), a deity in the form of a living planet who claims to be Quill’s father.
As one might expect from a Marvel film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 makes no secret of its hundreds‑of‑millions‑of‑dollars budget, above all in scenes where exotic alien worlds are created with the aid of state‑of‑the‑art CGI effects in a rather impressive way. Throughout all this, Gunn—who this time is also the sole screenwriter—seeks to impose a kind of authorial stamp, primarily through the use of garish colours, deliberately making his film gaudy and unserious. Thanks to this, certain plot motifs and scenes, such as the mass slaughter of villains, which might otherwise seem inappropriate for a family‑friendly or overly sensitive format, become relatively easy to digest. Gunn also attempts to achieve this through a furious pace, though here he is not always successful. The first part thus feels over‑extended and hard to follow for anyone not fully acquainted with the first film or the Marvel universe. Some characters are not developed particularly well, and their sub‑plots come off as soap‑operatic. Some of these problems are only resolved in the second part, when Gunn introduces a twist that seems quite unexpected by today’s Hollywood standards. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 also holds up relatively well thanks to a fairly spirited cast, though it might be said that the actors who get to perform without excessive makeup—such as Pratt, the always‑reliable character actor Michael Rooker as Quill’s former mentor Yondu Udonta, and the excellent Kurt Russell—are more successful in every respect than those who do not. One tragic example is Karen Gillan, the Scottish actress popular for her role in the BBC series Doctor Who, who is utterly unrecognisable as Nebula. Although Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 largely fulfils its reason for existing and will provide most viewers with two hours of undemanding escapist entertainment, one is still left with the impression that the freshness is gone and that not all creative potential has been exploited. That impression grows even stronger if the film is compared with the later‑released promotional trailer for the DVD edition, which stands as one of the most effective examples of film marketing in recent years.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)
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