Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review: You Shouldn’t Have Killed My Mom
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Director: James Gunn
9.5
Where to Watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2?
For me, a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy needed two things for me to love it. It needed more laughs and another killer soundtrack. However, what I was not expecting was the MCU’s most heartful film to date. Without a doubt, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was more heartfelt and more emotionally resonant than any previous MCU film.
It really explored the relationships of these characters and also a lot of the trauma of their past. While I still prefer the first film I still think this movie holds some of my favourite Guardians moments and my favourite MCU moments. I only have one albeit subjective critique of this film. I don’t find it as funny as the first film but again that’s my preference.
Now getting to the good stuff I’ll start with a basic one. Once again, the soundtrack to this film is amazing. My two favourite tracks on it would have to be “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra and “Come a little bit Closer” by Jay and the Americans. All the songs are used in great moments but “Mr. Blue Sky” is a great song for the opening and “ Come a Little Bit Closer” is part of one of my favourite sequences in the film when Rocket, Yondu, and Groot escape the Ravagers.
The action in this movie is also elevated from the first with an awesome space battle at the beginning of the film that pays homage to The Empire Strikes Back as well as a climax that is more epic than the first. Now in my opinion there are four characters that get necessary arcs in this film. Those characters are Peter, Rocket, Nebula, and Yondu.
To start with Star-Lord, he is certainly still the lead of this film and you can tell he is still trying to fit in his new role as leader of the Guardians. For those who are unaware, while this film was released three years later it technically only takes place six months after the first Guardians film. That is why Groot is still so small. Any back with Peter we see he still argues with his team quite a bit and has a weak spot when a conversation of his father arises.
That is why I love his interactions with Ego so much. Ego feeds into Peter’s longing for a dad and someone who loves him. He expresses this to Gamora when he says that he finally found his family. Ego is the cool badass dad that Peter always wanted and he is the man Peter probably would be without the heart he inherited from his mother. One of my favourite scenes is when Yondu tells Peter to use his heart and we just get a montage of Peter being with the people he loves. That is the motivation he needs. We see in general throughout the final battle he also steps up more in his leadership.
Moving on to Rocket and Yondu. I put these two together because the movie itself shows the parallels between them. Rocket has never been part of a team and doesn’t know how to behave on one. He acts selfishly so that he can not allow how much he cares about others to affect him. If he focuses on himself instead of others he can make sure that he doesn’t get hurt. I like that he finds a friend in Yondu who shows him how much Rocket’s friends truly mean to him. Yondu is a character who was presented as an antagonist in the first film.
Here we see he is much more vulnerable and we see he hides a lot of plane. We find out he was sold into slavery by his parents and since then he has kept everyone at arms length. We see him realize the only good thing he has done is raise Quill. He gets some more cool action scenes with his arrow and he gets two of the best lines with “I’m Mary Poppins y’all” and “ he may have been your father boy, but he wasn’t your daddy”. His death is one of the first major ones in the MCU and it still hurts to watch.
Nebula is another character who has been an antagonist up to this point but now we get to see her in a different light. We see her as a victim of an abusive situation and while she and Gamora were tortured, she received the brunt of it. She becomes consumed and I like how her mind is really on track as she plans to kill Gamora and then Thanos. However, her reconciliation with Gamora in the caves is a fantastic scene where they let it all out.
Our new characters include our villain and a new member of the Guardians. Mantis is a fun addition to the team because she is hilariously naïve and quirky. Her powers are very specific and do prove useful for the future of the Guardians. Ego is a really fantastic villain because he has such a personal connection to the Guardians specifically Peter. Kurt Russell does a great job at being seductive in luring Peter in and also when he goes full villain.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is exactly like a good Vol. 2 of a greatest hits album. It has all the hits you remember from the first volume while having some great different tracks that make it distinct. With an emotional and some fun action, this film is everything you would want from a sequel to a smash hit!