Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Sylvester Stallone, (voice of) Bradley Cooper, (voice of) Vin Diesel, Kurt Russell, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki
Paraphrasing my final sentence of my two and a half star review of the original Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). I wrote that it would be fun to see these characters in a movie with a better plot. That is what I got in Vol. 2, which is goofy fun, visually inventive, inspired, and has a heart. Vol. 2 establishes the arrival of the Guardians as Marvel characters to be reckoned with on the level of The Avengers and surely more so than X-Men. And it has a coherent plot.
The Guardians battle an intergalactic octopus while Baby Groot dances through the opening credits. The movie opens in the middle of the action instead of building up to it. The Guardians defeat the creature and return stolen batteries to a gold-painted princess named Ayesha (Debicki). Rocket Raccoon (Cooper), who is consistently referred to as either a fox or a puppy, steals the batteries back in hopes of selling them on the black market. This angers Ayesha, who sends her spaceships after the Guardians and sets everything in motion.
Along the way, Star Lord (Pratt) meets his long-lost father, an alien being named Ego (Russell), a name which should make your spidey senses tingle (to quote Spider-Man, another member of the Marvel Universe). Ego takes the Guardians to his home planet, which he actually created himself, a la God creating Earth. Ego doesn't say whether it took him 6 days or longer. He promises Star Lord this will all be his someday, although the peculiar Mantis (Klementieff), Ego's companion, seems frightened to tell the Guardians that something may be amiss.
The Guardians interact with easy familiarity with each other. There is plenty of fun chemistry in their byplay, which includes bickering, insults, and ultimately loyalty. Pratt dials down on the snark this time and is a credible leader of the Guardians who may or may not be in love with Gamora (Saldana), who in turn may or may not be in love with him. It is also fun to watch Drax (Bautista) do a complete character about-face in Vol. 2. In the first one, he was angry and brooding. In Vol. 2, he is a hulk with a sense of humor and a hearty laugh. And then there is Rocket, who has his own issues, but we all know has a tender spot underneath his gruff exterior. As tender a spot as a raccoon could have anyway.
Also along for the ride is Yandu (Rooker), who is blue and looks like a refugee from Avatar who nonetheless provides the soul of the movie. We learn about who he is and the role he played in Star Lord's life. Why did he choose to draft Star Lord into his band of thieves at a young age instead of reuniting him with his father? The answers aren't as simple as you may think. But, we see Yandu grow into what he truly is...Star Lord's father figure in the absence of the dubious Ego.
While Star Wars and even Star Trek take place mostly upon sterile spaceships populated with inventive creatures and people who speak rigidly, Guardians has creatures in it that are just plain unpleasant looking, like intergalactic pirates, but the grime and grit of the sets provides a unique spirit. The Guardians of the Galaxy is lower rent Star Wars and proud to be so. They don't getting down and dirty.
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