You know what it’s like. Marvel Comics hands you one of the their B-teams and tells you to go make a movie. It’s a surprise smash, and now they want a sequel…
This is often where the trouble starts, and that’s why I can count on one hand the number of sequels that are better than the original. Fortunately, the director of Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t get a god complex and jet off on a wild tangent to find his artistic centre; nope, he looked carefully at what made his first outing such a huge success and then delivered exactly the same … only more so.
And that’s what makes it a better sequel: more laughs, more outrageous flying sequences, more Groot, a better 80s soundtrack, better fight scenes, more Groot, bizarre cameos, great special effects … and a whole lot of Groot.
The story was actually pretty good; I liked it much more than the first one. It didn’t hold any real surprises, but this is pure entertainment, so no one is expected to work too hard. Still, they managed to work in one or two touching moments about friendship and family that could have been easily overdone. They weren’t, so kudos to the director for having such a light touch.
The acting was … surprisingly good actually. Well, thinking about it, I’m not sure it was the acting as much as the chemistry between the players. Everyone just seemed to mesh together, and that made the whole film look pretty effortless.
Guardians of the Galaxy is right up my street, which is probably why I’m find it really hard to find something to complain about. Some elements of the plot didn’t quite gel for me, and I can’t really go into it because you might not have seen it yet. Let’s just say there were one or two things that should have been better explained … or left out altogether.
But on the whole, it’s comedy gold. Go see it. Hell, treat yourself: see it twice. And if you’re a fan of Marvel movies then I don’t have to tell you to stay in your seat until the lights come up.
Ten out of ten because it made me laugh a lot.