(Minorest of Minor Spoilers in this.)
I don’t know if it could ever be asserted, like, scientifically, with science, which of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s films is the indisputable ‘best’ one. They all have their strong points (some more than others) and their weak points (some more than others).
But, gun to my head/Drax the Destroyer’s finger to my throat, if you asked me which of the Marvel movies was my favorite to watch, front to back, it would have to be 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman and directed by Gunn.
The vibrant colors, the soundtrack, the sincerity, the cosmic imagery, the banter, and the scrappy, punk attitude all make Guardians of the Galaxy an absolute joy. Watching Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and, of course, Groot (Vin Diesel) come together as a team and surrogate family to save the galaxy from evil, it’s a giddy blast.
And now there’s a sequel and it might be better. Or not quite as good. Or as good. Or is it better?
I have a feeling this one’s not getting settled anytime soon. But here at least are five ways in which Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is superior to the original.
- The Villains
If there was one singular, shared criticism lobbed against the first Guardians, it was that the villain(s) resolutely failed to live up to the quality and complexity of the heroes. Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser was a drippy bore, and while you could argue that this made thematic sense (how better to define a team of rogues, rebels, and outcasts then by placing them in opposition to a religious fundamentalist?) it didn’t really make for great drama. In recent interviews, even Gunn has admitted that the first film essentially follows two parallel tracts, with the Guardians occupying one half of the movie and Ronan and his crew existing in an almost entirely separate story.
That gets fixed right quick in Vol. 2. And this time, Gunn gets to have his cake and eat it too. Gunn still gets to juxtapose the rowdy and anarchic Guardians with a stiff and pompous opponent, this time embodied by Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) and her race, The Sovereign, but this crew of, uh, gold-plated space preppies are secondary to the main action and serve primarily as comic relief and a back-up source of tension. Debicki leans hard into her rather extraordinary make-up and plays things right on the edge of camp, making Ayesha the rare Marvel Cinematic Universe villain that I’d like to see come back.
But the real masterstroke is Kurt Russell as Ego, the living planet.
Introduced as Peter’s long lost father, the ancient Celestial entity bounces between a regal, ethereal presence that belies his cosmic nature and coming across as just plain cool as shit. He is Kurt Russell, after all. Russell projects a warmth that we, the audience, fall for just as Peter Quill does, and when that warmth curdles and the true agenda emerges, it breaks our hearts just as it does Peter’s.
Ego also serves as maybe the best-yet encapsulation of the peculiar humanity that has defined the various gods and entities that permeate the Marvel universe. Artists like Jack Kirby were notorious for designing bizarre, twisted, truly alien monsters, creatures, and, uh, aliens which were defined by strange streaks of humanity. Russell’s Ego has powers almost beyond imagining, but he’s motivated not by megalomania, but by loneliness, a loneliness that has warped him into something toxic and destructive. Russell gives these beats all the pathos he can muster, and the end result is alternatively terrifying and deeply pathetic (which is kinda becoming a Russell special, between this and Stuntman Mike), a peculiar brew unlike anything else in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far.
Oh, and there’s also Taserface (Chris Sullivan). Taserface isn’t much of a character, but he’s fucking hilarious.
2. The Women
Marvel movies suck when it comes to female characters. The fact that it will have taken them over a decade to finally premiere a movie with a headlining female character and performance is nothing short of shameful, and it should serve to ding this studio whenever we discuss its relative positives and negatives.
The original Guardians of the Galaxy is not immune to this. Zoe Saldana was terrific as Gamora (she also got off maybe the two funniest lines in the entire [very funny] movie) but there was something vaguely disappointing about the one female Guardian being almost immediately consigned to the role of “Disapproving Mom/Love Interest,” there to roll her eyes at the wacky hijinks the boys got into. Really, the major problem with Gamora’s arc in the first film is that it happens off camera. Gamora’s already made the decision to betray Ronan and her ‘father’ Thanos before the story begins, so she’s left explaining her emotional growth to us, not exhibiting it in a dynamic and dramatic way.
As Gamora’s adopted sister/mortal enemy, Nebula, Karen Gillan (“COME ALONG, POND!”) was more impressive feat of design and make-up than full-fledged character, despite Gillan’s ferocious commitment and a handful of gestures towards a more nuanced character.
Vol. 2 does right by both these characters and their terrific actresses. The way their relationship ebbs and flows throughout the film, the way their sisterly dynamic keeps revealing itself even when they are in the midst of trying to kill each other, it adds up to an embarrassment of riches that Saldana and Gillan tear into.
Most importantly, neither these characters nor their relationships to each other are defined by a man. Yes, Thanos looms large in both their minds, but the fury that drives Nebula throughout the film is motivated purely by Gamora and the ways in which she failed her ‘little sister’. Theirs is ultimately a story about two women who love each other, who have hurt each other, and who are struggling to make peace with one another so they can move forward. It’s terrific material that doesn’t feel like anything else in the Marvel films or superhero films in general, where women’s roles tend to boil down to being either the villain or the love interest with varying degrees of action capability.
(Sidenote: I’ve already made mention of Debicki, who’s a hoot, and it would be remiss of me not to also make note of Pom Klementieff’s Mantis, who may be the sheer weirdest character in the MCU yet. Mantis is somewhat defined by her relationships to male characters in a way that Gamora and Nebula no longer are, but there are some really lovely grace notes to the character and Klementieff’s performance that make Mantis more than the archetype she seems to be inhabiting early on.)
3. The Climax
I’m not going to delve too-too deeply into this, only because the movie has only been out for a couple days, but Vol. 2 very neatly sidesteps the usual Marvel formula of having the third acts throw out much of the character work and nuance in favor of big CGI punch-up demolition derbies in major metropolitans.
(Sidenote: Marvel appears to be aware that this trope has been driven into the ground [or launched into fucking space, as the case may be with something like Ultron] and recent films have sought to either downscale the destruction [Ant-Man], subvert your expectations completely [Civil War], or both [Dr. Strange].)
With the original Guardians, the final climax was great fun, but it felt like some part of the movie’s scrappy fun was lost once the film gave itself over to the Guardians cutting their way through an endless horde of anonymous spaceships and henchmen (it didn’t help that Gunn did not seem especially comfortable shooting/cutting physical action, while the space battles had an anonymous, Pre-Viz’d feel to them).
Vol. 2 gets to indulge in major spectacle in its big blowout finale, but this time it never loses sight of the idiosyncratic voice or sense of anarchy that has made these movies stand out. More, this time out Gunn seems comfortable indulging in his love of throwing major tonal shifts at the audience. With a movie like Super, that meant you could go from lo-fi slapstick to stark melodrama to I’m-going-to-puke brutality and back again in the space of one scene. While Vol. 2 maybe doesn’t feature anything to that extreme, the climax toggles between balls-out cosmic fun to raw, human anguish in a way that’s feels legitimately startling.
4. Yondu
I think, in the long run, this is going to be the element that defines which of the Guardians of the Galaxy films you hold in higher esteem. Michael Rooker’s Yondu was a hoot in the first film, a blue-skinned space redneck and walking punchline who proved to be shockingly capable and had intimations of a deeper character a la Nebula. He was fun, and when word came out that Rooker as back for Vol. 2 with an expanded role, I assumed he’d do more or less the same thing and be fun in more or less the same way.
But Jesus Tapdancing Christ did they go someplace else with it.
In all their prior collaborations, Gunn has always seemed fascinated by the glimmers of vulnerability to be found beneath Rooker’s machismo, even when Rooker was consigned to a much smaller role like in Super.
Vol. 2 jumps right into it, first with the wordless, melancholy re-introduction to Yondu and with the scene immediately following it, when Yondu runs into a former friend. Right away, Gunn is priming you for the reveal that what you thought you knew about certain characters and certain choices in the first film wasn’t the whole story, and his script does an excellent job of slowly but surely earning its biggest reveals.
A lot of that falls to Rooker, who has to not only find and play the proper emotional reality, but has to do it while covered in make-up, wearing a giant fucking fin, and spending most of the movie interacting with a CGI racoon and baby tree alien. If you had told me going into the film that Michael Fucking Rooker as Yondu would deliver a performance that left me desperately fighting back tears, no way would I have believed you.
The original Guardians of the Galaxy had no shortage of ace performances, big laughs, and beautiful emotional catharsis, but Rooker’s Yondu takes all those elements and synthesizes them into the single best character and performance that has yet to feature in the Marvel films. He’s that fucking good.
5. The First Film Didn’t Have the Toe Scene
I’m not going to describe it. I’m not going to explain it. If you haven’t seen Vol. 2, this moment is yours to discover.
But there is a joke in this film involving someone’s toe that made me laugh so hard I stopped breathing.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made me laugh so hard I might have been legally dead for two seconds.
That’s some uncut good shit right there.