Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, 5.5.17

Finally got to go see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 yesterday...I can't wait to see it again! We are Groot!

Caution: do not click and read any of these links if you don't want to find out any spoilers before going to see GoGTGV2!

Capone is dazzled and moved by signs of maturity in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2!!!
Published at: May 5, 2017, 9:41 a.m. CST by Capone

Just when I think I have figured out what writer-director James Gunn is capable of, he goes and makes GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 and shows me he’s capable of so much more. There’s no getting around the fact that his first go-round with the Guardians team was a whole mess of pure, undiluted entertainment. Certainly the most colorful and expansive of all the current crop of Marvel films, Gunn got a chance to build a universe more or less from scratch (acknowledging the comic book source material, of course). This is unlike the other AVENGERS-linked movies that all seem to be firmly rooted here on a version of earth very similar to our own. No two characters in Guardians of the Galaxy even looked the same or were the same species, let alone color.

Set just a few months after the events of the first film, GUARDIANS VOL. 2 almost immediately does something I wasn’t expecting: it shows us how much the core team members have changed.

Quint reviews GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2!
Published at: May 5, 2017, 4:34 a.m. CST by quint

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Guardians of the Galaxy is the most important Marvel movie since Iron Man. I know that honor should probably go to The Avengers, the first film of its type to tie a big cinematic universe together, but the more I think about it the more I'm inclined to say Guardians of the Galaxy is the more important step for the studio.

The brilliance of that first Iron Man movie was that it tapped into Marvel Comics' two big secret weapons. First, it was funny. Serious stuff happens, but it's light... as light as a movie about a drunk weapons dealing billionaire who get kidnapped by terrorists can be, anyway. Tony Stark's a dick, but he's a fun dick.

Two, it's grounded in a recognizable character reality. What James Gunn did with Guardians of the Galaxy is bring that cinematic Marvel secret sauce that made Iron Man so great to a whole new level. With Guardians we had to buy all the crazy ass cosmic Marvel stuff with a lead cast that includes a smart ass human, a green-skinned assassin, a rage-filled brute, a walking tree that can only say three (okay, five) words and a talking raccoon.

Things can (and will) get dour in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but at any point they can throw us a fun, swashbuckling space adventure filled with bright colors, f***ing bananas characters and a sense of levity. And this feeling is leaking into the rest of the MCU. Don't believe me, just watch that Thor: Ragnarok trailer.

So while The Avengers films are the big milestones, Guardians was the most important, bravest step the studio has taken.