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Rating: Three years after his excellent debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, James Gunn faced a challenging test: to avoid creating a disappointing sequel to a film that was met with unanimous acclaim from critics and audiences. Well, let's not beat around the bush, Gunn fully succeeds with this Volume 2. The novelties of the first chapter, which marked a significant stylistic change in the Marvel universe, have now been internalized by the superhero film universe (see Deadpool), so merely repeating them would not have sufficed to make a truly convincing film.
So James Gunn does something different: he works meticulously to perfect all the strengths of his saga, adding new ones. This is no longer so much an action film as a comedy with some action inserts. The emphasis is distinctly on defining or deepening the characters, with remarkably positive results. We are witnessing a film about human relationships: father and son, sister and sister, leader and subordinates, enemies – friends. The beauty and pleasure of the viewing experience are largely derived from these always nuanced and unpredictable relationships. Without revealing too much, it's important to recognize the director and screenwriter's ability to construct believable dialogues, which set up a specific kind of relationship, only to suddenly overturn them while maintaining credibility.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 successfully avoids being predictable in its developments, which is no small feat for the genre; this is thanks to the divergence within the team of heroes, leading them to face different perils in distant, seemingly irreconcilable places. Well past the halfway point of the film, it's still not clear where it's all heading. It's suspected, but various elements seem to indicate a winding path to resolving the issues. Perhaps this is why the speed with which all the protagonists reunite appears somewhat contrived, once again united against an enemy that suddenly becomes trivial and ordinary. That is one of the few flaws of the film.
Aside from that, it almost borders on perfection. Characters are well-developed, changing in nature, learning irony or sensitivity, realizing they are too grumpy, or growing into unruly teenagers. The action sequences are few but magnificent and observed in an original way: the opening is stunning. Our heroes battle a gigantic monster, but the camera follows the playfulness of little Groot, leaving the fight merely as a backdrop. A similar approach is repeated in the final battle, but inevitably the focus can't completely shift away from the heart of the action. The aesthetic care is equally commendable, reaching truly exquisite levels in the execution of action sequences and in the general depiction of the cosmos. The planets, the characters, the ships, the weapons: everything is wonderful, colorful, quirky, unusual.
The irony, which was surprising in the first film, could have become pathetic and entirely predictable. For this reason, Gunn works on the alternations, avoiding overly repetitive mechanisms: therefore, during an epic moment, there could be a subversive joke, or there might not be one. This is crucial to avoid flattening the narrative. For the irony to work, it becomes more improper, vulgar, and edgy. It's a sign of the desire to unsettle the viewer, not leaving them in too soft a comfort zone.
Moreover, the epic dimension of the battles is constantly undermined by the music: the killings and destructions are always accompanied by vintage songs, which temper the drama. This doesn't detract from the fact that in a Disney film, one of the protagonists manages to take down a hundred people in a matter of seconds. It's quite a leap forward, not reaching the bloodthirsty extremes of Logan, but still involving a target audience shift.
There's also room to explore Groot's language issues, to measure Rocket's character flaws, to explore Yondu's paternal dimension, Nebula's emotional scars, Mantis's relational limits. And everything flows smoothly, without a single slowdown.
Adding to all this are the increasingly evocative settings of deep space, the tenderness of baby Groot, the presence of two iconic actors like Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone, perfect for the vintage imagery of the music and neon color schemes, and the emotional density of certain moments, it's easy to understand the level achieved by Marvel and the talented James Gunn. These characters truly leap off the screen; it's as if we know them, so rounded is their credibility. At the end of the adventures, a funeral is celebrated: although antithetical to the dominant mood, the emotion for the painful goodbye reaches the viewer intact.
7.5/10
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