Film review: "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2"
I saw this a few days ago with one of my regular film-watching friends. We agreed that it was amusing but unmemorable. This may be due to the irretrievable dullness of Peter Quill as a leading man compared to the rest of the cast. Of course, expecting him to compete on-screen with Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone was a little cruel. Further-more, unlike his colleagues he had the disadvantage of not being (a) furry and a technical genius; (b) blue, stylish and wearing his own personal hunter-seeker on his head, (c) green, sensible and a martial-arts mistress, (d) blue, cyborg and bad-tempered; (e)gigantic, pink and tattooed; or (f) an unbearably cute dancing sapling. But still, he is by a long way the least interesting of the Marvel leading characters so far.
Other thoughts:
1 Kurt Russell chewed the scenery magnificently, even when he was the scenery.
2 There is a certain daffy charm about both Mantis and Drax that makes them very sweet together.
3 Also, Drax seems to be the only member of the cast who actually had a happy and unproblematic family life, which he lost through no fault of his own.
4 Everyone else but Groot clearly needs therapy very seriously; galaxy-threatening situations are not suitable times in which to work out your issues with your parents, siblings or lack thereof. I like Nebula's approach, which seems to be charmingly straightforward.
5 She and Loki would make a lovely couple. I think they would get along very well.
6 Sylvester Stallone was lovely too, and hopefully will re-appear in the next film. I kept expecting him to make someone an offer they couldn't refuse. I am generally not in favour of pirates, of course.
7 How someone as cool as Yondu could raise someone as boring as Peter is a bit of a mystery.
8 The Sovereign are quite baffling sociologically. Though doing their fighting via drone seems eminently sensible. And what was that business at the end about naming whatever it was "Adam"?
9 For someone with Ego's technological capabilities, having to go to the trouble of actually having children seems a bit retro. Couldn't he have either checked the genetic compatibility of his assorted partners' species beforehand or built his own children in vitro?
10 Also one would think that trying to turn the galaxy into himself would exacerbate, rather than solve the problem of being alone. Not that he was alone anyway.
11 The film becomes much better if you think of it as Gamora's story instead.
Other thoughts:
1 Kurt Russell chewed the scenery magnificently, even when he was the scenery.
2 There is a certain daffy charm about both Mantis and Drax that makes them very sweet together.
3 Also, Drax seems to be the only member of the cast who actually had a happy and unproblematic family life, which he lost through no fault of his own.
4 Everyone else but Groot clearly needs therapy very seriously; galaxy-threatening situations are not suitable times in which to work out your issues with your parents, siblings or lack thereof. I like Nebula's approach, which seems to be charmingly straightforward.
5 She and Loki would make a lovely couple. I think they would get along very well.
6 Sylvester Stallone was lovely too, and hopefully will re-appear in the next film. I kept expecting him to make someone an offer they couldn't refuse. I am generally not in favour of pirates, of course.
7 How someone as cool as Yondu could raise someone as boring as Peter is a bit of a mystery.
8 The Sovereign are quite baffling sociologically. Though doing their fighting via drone seems eminently sensible. And what was that business at the end about naming whatever it was "Adam"?
9 For someone with Ego's technological capabilities, having to go to the trouble of actually having children seems a bit retro. Couldn't he have either checked the genetic compatibility of his assorted partners' species beforehand or built his own children in vitro?
10 Also one would think that trying to turn the galaxy into himself would exacerbate, rather than solve the problem of being alone. Not that he was alone anyway.
11 The film becomes much better if you think of it as Gamora's story instead.