It maybe took a little while to get there, but Marvel Studios has really started to run more with the fact that they are adapting superhero comics - the kind in which dudes in brightly colored spandex outfits punch and kick other dudes in brightly colored spandex outfits. There's an inherent strangeness and goofiness to the genre that makes it so lovable. For a while, they seemed a bit slow to fully embrace the superhero genre on the big screen. Everything was hunkered down in these "real world" rule sets, trying to ensure that everything were more "realistic." It had to all be explainable for a fictional universe that - in the comics - features a giant purple guy that literally eats planets and a literally eternal Hercules who is frequently drunk. Point being, it's about time they abandon the more boring versions of Phase I and start running with the oddness of the comics.
Nowhere is the weird side embraced as much as James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy. While it suffers many of the same problems as all Marvel movies do, it still stands out given its unique make-up and set designs. For crying out loud, it's most lovable characters are a talking raccoon and a walking tree! Just to backtrack for a second as well: one of the reasons why Guardians of the Galaxy might resonate so much to fans, many of whom had no idea who any of these characters were going into it, is that it is one of just a very small number of Marvel movies in which the director is given the freedom to write the script. Out of fifteen Marvel movies, only three have a writer/director at the helm of the projects - Gunn with both Guardians of the Galaxy films and Shane Black with Iron Man 3. It's hard to imagine the studio giving such control over any of their earth properties - indeed, they missed a golden opportunity for an amazing Ant-Man film when they chased Edgar Wright out - largely because those films have to serve as build up for the next Avengers movie. Guardians plays a role as well, but they're removed enough that they can take more chances.
Indeed, Marvel even had to work out a deal with Fox to get the film rights to Ego the Living Planet - a character that Gunn specifically wrote into his script from the beginning before knowing whether or not Marvel Studios had the rights. As easy as it is to criticize Marvel Studios for being a bit too formulaic and sanitized overall, they do get some credit for working to give Gunn the characters he wanted to use rather than tell him to simply replace him with another character they already own the rights for.
All that said, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn't ultimately terribly different than the normal crop of Marvel films. It's very good at what it wants to be, which is a fun, safe piece of entertainment reaching as wide an audience as it can. It tells a comparatively interesting story and has some of the best character beats in all of the Marvel franchise. That isn't so surprising given that was also true of its predecessor. It might suffer a bit from having too many characters in the film, each of whom has their own part to play and their own little arcs. Not all of them hit, like Mantis or Drax, but they also get some great moments.
There is a bit of a tendency to give Marvel movies more credit than they deserve. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, for example, was credited for being great because it tackled themes of government surveillance and pitted Cap against the government. Additionally, Iron Man 3 often got credit for being about a sort of self-discovery, that it was about learning strength was internal (and not reliant on the technological suits). Yet when you really watch those movies, those themes are barely tackled in any sort of meaningful way, or just completely fall apart by the end. (The government is not the bad guy, for example, because it was just that evil Hydra had hijacked it. Tony Stark is Iron Man without the suit, but he saves the day by using a literal army of suits.) The themes are there, to be sure, but in such a shallow capacity that it isn't really worth mentioning too much.
A similar thing happens with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Many have praised it for the way that it embraces feelings of sadness or struggling to find one's place. Indeed, there might be more of an emotional gamut here than in most other superhero films, but it isn't entirely accurate that the film truly runs with those in a particularly deep or meaningful way. All of the characters feel sadness at some point, which makes it a more emotionally complex film than, say, all of the other Marvel movies. Still, for a film being credited for embracing sadness, it never seems to want that feeling to linger for more than a couple of minutes.
One of the biggest problems with Marvel movies is that, tonally, they have really fallen into a single category. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 suffers from the same problem that Vol. 1 had: too many jokes. To be clear, the issue isn't that jokes exist. It's just that they over-rely on them, especially here where sadness is such a prominent part. Can't have audiences feeling bummed too much! Have a heavy, great, emotional sequence? Immediately follow it up with a dumb gag! It's an ongoing struggle in the film that never gets sorted. One of the best scenes in the movie - when Mantis and Drax are alone talking - is a good example. It starts off with some stupid Drax-oriented jokes before he makes a comment that causes Mantis to touch him in order to absorb his emotions. When she does, she just starts balling. It's one of my favorite moments, as it's such a great way to visually show that for as stupid as Drax is, he is also dealing with an internal sadness that he suppresses rather than shows. And immediately when that scene starts to come to a head, Gamora pops in to interrupt, makes a comment designed to "lighten the mood," and then the plot moves on. We got a Serious Sandwich. They want to push a serious moment, but can't just give it to us straight up. Instead, they start with a joke, put in that emotional moment, and then follow it up with a joke, always careful to not have us sit too long in the serious sequence.
Drax, of course, has always been something of an odd character. He is very far removed from his comic counterpart that it's hard to like him if you are a fan of the comics. Even without that, his role in these films is a bit odd. He essentially is comic relief in a movie in which only Gamora is a straight-shooter. Did they really need to make Drax a comic relief character here when you've got Rocket Raccoon, Baby Groot, and Peter Quill? At the same time, there is a general, weird positive attitude that helps create a little bit of a balance to the more swashbuckling Star-Lord, more serious Gamora, the more sarcastic Rocket, and the more just goofy Baby Groot. All in all, Drax is a strange character, and it's hard to know if he is written well or poorly.
As much as they could have (and probably should have) laid off the jokes per minute thing, some of the gags are actually really good. These are entertaining movies, and the humor is more often effective than it is distracting. It's really just that they need to sometimes back off the jokes and let the film and characters breathe.
The story is solid compared to other Marvel movies, but drags a bit in the middle. There is a pretty long exposition dump that occurs that might as well have been an entire reel of film. (Not that any of these things are shot or shown on film, of course.) Even more, despite having one of the more interesting and better villains (not that that says too much, really), it still falls into that trap of requiring a giant space battle. An elitist group of aliens known as the Sovereign spend the bulk of the movie chasing the Guardians, culminating in a giant fight with thousands of space ships inside Ego the Living Planet. It is so heavy on CGI and moves so fast that it is difficult to keep up with the action. Even more, though, is that it ultimately is just a distraction. The central villain only really pertains to Peter Quill, so there isn't really much for the other Guardians to do. Thus, they need to bring in this totally separate, disconnected group of "bad guys" for the others to fight at the same time. It feels forced and distracting. All of the characters get their part to play and have their own little arcs, which are great! But come the time for the big action finale, it's very Star-Lord-centric, and they struggle to work everyone in.
With better character arcs and moments, a more interesting villain, and some cooler alien make-up and costumes, whatever Vol. 2 does worse than Vol. 1 is easily made up for. It's hard to say if it "better" than the previous film, but it's not worse, by any means. It has problems, but it's still a fun time. This, I think, is the benefit of having a writer/director who has the freedom to play with the toys more fully. Gunn clearly loves the characters - even if he did drastically change some of them. He's having a good time, and it shows. Still, it can be a bit frustrating that they never let the emotions sit for a moment. Nothing is more perfect exemplifying of that than the ending into the mid-credit scenes. The film ends almost perfectly, with a slow zoom and then hold on Rocket, looking at the Ravager funeral and looking super sad. When I saw it, I thought, "Oh man, this is the perfect shot to end on. Please don't continue the movie after this..." And then cut to credits! Perfect! They got it! For all the problems I had with too many jokes, they ended it at exactly the right...oh...oh wait. They give us all of about ten seconds and then the first of literally five mid-credits scenes - all of which are just jokes that should have been cut - plays. Even at the end, they can't just let the audience feel something for more than a few seconds before - surprise! - more jokes! Who wants to feel sadness when you can laugh instead?
None of that means the film isn't fun or entertaining. It is! It's just to say that when someone tries to convince you that the film is super great because of the way that it embraces emotions, they're maybe digging way, way too deep, and are maybe misrepresenting the film a little bit.
On a final note, I do have to say that it was nice to finally get a piece of original score that was actually memorable and stood out! I'm not sure why after fifteen films, we have a complete lack of recognizable character themes within the scores - and indeed, the scores themselves all sound pretty similar - but the credits of Vol. 2 provides a sort of 1980s pseudo-funk cover featuring David Hasselhoff that is surprisingly great. Guardians of the Galaxy has utilized a unique soundtrack full of licensed music that is hard to emulate (as Warner Brothers proved with Suicide Squad), but it's nice to get even just one track that legitimately sounds different than everything else.
Overall, if you liked the first one, there's no reason why you wouldn't like the second. It's probably a better sequel than The Winter Soldier, to be honest, but isn't without flaws. It's safe to say that one does not go into Marvel movies for much depth, but there might actually be a tad more here than usual. It's just not all that deep, is all.
REDUCTIVE RATING: It's fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment