***SPOILERS***
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 (2017) has it all, it is brilliant, funny and full of action and heart (wow that's a lot of things!). The film builds on the themes from the first film and builds it into pre existing tropes. I argue that without Star Wars (1977) and Firefly/ Serenity (2005) there would be no Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) & vol. 2 (2017). Of course the origins of this type of story go further back to the "everyday hero" but I'm more interested in how this has been applied more recently in science fiction or rather scifi fantasy (in my opinion Star Wars series are scifantasy not pure science fiction, but hey lets not split hairs!). Also importantly this film and Firefly are comedies as well, they make fun of their own genres but in a loving way rather than a critical and judgemental way, in that delightful Gen Y fun loving special snowflake hipster post-modern way.
Ok another thing, in this film we have some major names, my favourite of which is Kurt Russell as Star-Lord's/ Peter Quill's father/ creator (can anyone say Empire Strikes Back?) Kurt Russell did the genre spoof thing back way before it was cool in Big Trouble in Little China (1986) which was a box office flop, but a cult hip once released on (remember VHS?) video. I feel like they created the Guardians movies for those who grew up in the 80s or are 80s music and movie fans (like myself).
Ok lets do a mini visual comparison of heroes. We have Star-lord (Chris Pratt) alongside Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and of course Han Solo (Harrison Ford who played that same type of anti-hero in Bladerunner and the Indiana Jones franchise) see below. There's the Western genre colour scheme (specifically drawn attention to in Firefly as the "brown coats") and the sort of "swagger" and use of guns, specifically pistol style guns (see below) they all have a warm brown/ red tone to their coats and clothing (although Han Solo tones are darker and more black).
Star Lord
"Mal" / Malcolm Reynolds
Han Solo
It is my argument that we wouldn't have had Guardians (1 & 2) without Firefly and Serenity because what Joss Whedon did was show that there is humor in action as well as depth of character. And Serentiy specifically set up that large ship ensemble (ok, ok Star Trek really established that I know!).
Another strength of Guardians vol. 2 s is that the music, (something that very clearly established in the first film) hits very specific emotional notes playing on the way score and music choice plays on our heartstrings in films, particularly blockbusters. Action movie music and scoring can be way too on the nose and this just plays it to the extreme, but in a good way. Some amazing classics are in Guardians vol. 2 including some Cat Stevens, George Harrison and my favourite Fleetwood Mac's "Chain" and that's just to name a few.
This film also works in my opinion as an origin story for Star Lord and develops his back story detailing how his dad "Ego" (Kurt Russell) was in fact a malevolent deity who is basically a disease that wants to spread throughout the universe. Russell does an amazing job in this evil role. And they did a bit of a Star Wars digital effects with the flashback by showing him all "young" from 1980 (story time) through CGI work. Thematically this storyline (aka the main storyline not the red herring that is the start of the movie) is literally about destroying your father (can anyone say Empire Strikes Back? (again!)). (The visuals on Ego's planet are stunning particularly the use of colour, but colour in the whole film is delightful and vibrant). Interestingly the film adds to this notion that it is the parents who raise you that are the important ones rather than your genetic parents. It also involves the notion of choice and identity in relation to parenthood. This is demonstrated in the relationship with Yondu vs. Ego.
One disappointing thing about this sequel is the traditional roles of gender played out between Quill and Gamora who were nemesaries in the first film (which is of course another stereotyped gender dynamic) but in this film they are more typical Rom-com or "Cheers" romantic interests which Quill refers to as the "unspoken thing" that he learnt from Earth's tv shows. I think this is a fond choice and I just make note of this change/ development of these characters rather than criticise it, but it is very literal a mother/ father or heteronormative dynamic with "baby" Groot.
Peter and Gamora try to dance scene (above)
Baby Groot (above)
If you were a true fan and stayed for all the little extras in the credits you would have seen "teen" Groot and Quill as "dad" role yelling at him for the mess in his room.
I also enjoyed the themes of family and the side story between the two sisters (see below).
Nebula and Gamora
OK so there's so much to analyse like additional stuff with Sylvester Stilone and Sean Gunn (as a fan of Gilmore Girls I just love him in this too!) and so much more, I feel I've barely touched on the concepts, themes, music, performances argh...but that's enough for the moment.
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