Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Is this the button I push for a Coke?

Grade: B –

Director: James Gunn

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hr. 16 min.

Whereas Guardians of the Galaxy carries the spirit of a Saturday afternoon serial, Vol. 2 is Greek mythology set to celluloid. Gods mate with mortals, celestial tribes wage war, daddy issues envelope demigods, and family squabbles tilt the balance of power. All of it’s set to the strained strains of 1980s pop nostalgia and 1970s minor rock, the latter part dubbed onto an audiocassette labeled “Awesome Mix Vol. 2.” The film, like any second mixtape, is a hit-and-miss compilation lacking the choice cuts and cohesion of its forerunner.

Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and her cyborg sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) remain locked in a pitched sibling rivalry. Drax (Dave Bautista) manically clings to his new surrogate family. Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), the genetically altered racoon, finds a kindred spirit in fellow tortured soul Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker), all while playing dad to Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), this film’s answer to the worry that the only thing missing from the first Guardians of the Galaxy was a Minion.

Then there’s Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), whose swashbuckling for hire as part of the Guardians quintet—plus Rocket’s coincident thievery—run afoul of a perfected, prickly, gold-plated race called the Sovereign and their lithe leader, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki). The Guardians’ escape intersects Ego (Kurt Russell), an ancient god-like being who travels the universe masquerading as a human but subsists in planetary form. He also claims to be Quill’s father, a role Russell channels like the celestial embodiment of Stuntman Mike from Death Proof.

And on its goes, as everything is at stake even as nothing really seems to be.  No matter how dire the situation, there’s always a Cheers, Mary Poppins, or one of a half-dozen David Hasselhoff references ready to lighten the mood. There’s no problem that a slo-mo montage and needle drop of Electric Light Orchestra, Cat Stevens, or George Harrison can’t solve. A deity smitten by the lyrics to “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” also wants to destroy the universe? Uh OK.

A lost sense of discovery was always going to hamstring Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 when compared to its predecessor. The main characters aren’t new, and the new characters—like Ego’s empathic girl Friday, Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Sylvester Stallone’s blink-and-miss appearance as Ravager leader Stakar Ogord—aren’t well-developed. Moreover, the sweet silliness of the original is replaced by pliable angst and an orgy of CGI. Director James Gunn says he drew inspiration from The Empire Strikes Back. The actual product is more in line with such saggy Marvel sequels as Avenger: Age of Ultron, Thor: The Dark World and Iron Man 2. The first Guardians of the Galaxy was a breezy, easy ride. This time, the journey feels familiar but the flop sweat is flowing.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Ranger Rick Five

Grade: B +

Director: James Gunn

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel (voice) and Bradley Cooper (voice)

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hr. 1 min.

Fashioned more in the spirit of a Saturday afternoon serial than a modern superhero film, Guardians of the Galaxy appears at first flush as the most thorny Marvel Studios movie to make. An offbeat flick about a band of misfits, including a green girl, anthropomorphic tree, humorless hulk and garrulous racoon, set in the not-so-distant future in a galaxy far, far away.

In fact, this sci-fi comedy benefits from a connection to the Marvel universe that isn’t as ubiquitous as the mythology surrounding the likes of Iron Man, Captain America and The Hulk. It affords filmmakers the creative latitude to fashion a freewheeling fantasy flick that combines the construct of Star Wars with the idiosyncratic conceit of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Although Guardians of the Galaxy has been around since 1969, the characters for this film version are drawn more from the 2008 comic book revival. Their accidental leader is Peter Quill, who as a child in the mid ‘80s flees the hospital room of his dying mother only to be abducted by aliens, clinging all the while to his personal totem, a Walkman loaded with an Awesome Music Vol. 1 mix tape.

Raised by a band of thieves and smugglers called Ravagers, Quill grows into a resourceful scalawag and scavenger who also fancies himself an space adventurer he labels Star-Lord. We first see the adult Quill (played by Chris Pratt) foraging for a valuable orb, with Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” blasting through his Walkman’s headphones. Indeed, Quill’s ‘70s styled dubs, compiled by his mother, serve dual purposes. They remind Quill of a simpler time while also blocking out the otherworldliness of his extraterrestrial life.

The orb, which houses one of the six Infinity Stones, soon puts Quill in the sites of Gamora (Zoe Saldana, trading her blue skin from “Avatar” for cold-blooded green), the adopted daughter and personal assassin of Thanos who harbors a secret desire for retribution against daddy not-so-dearest.

Meanwhile, a bounty placed on Quill’s head by the Ravagers attracts a couple of mercenaries. Rocket (voiced with gusto by Bradley Cooper) is a genetically engineered, hyper-intelligent racoon. His sidekick is Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel, not that you’d recognize him), a tree-like humanoid only able to garble, “I am Groot,” with Rocket the lone creature who can interpret his varying intonations.

A jail break introduces Drax (Dave Bautista) into the mix. Drax, a muscle-bound warrior, wants revenge on Ronan the Accuser (Will Pace), a Kree radical also hunting the orb, for killing Drax’s family.

Guardians of the Galaxy has its villain, but the most daunting adversary is the struggle for this flawed quintet to set aside their distrust, selfishness and personal woes to function as a team. Moreover, it’s about the assembly of a surrogate family comprising members wrested from their real families. This journey occasionally takes some dark detours, including a drunken Rocket confessing the physical and emotional pain of his unnatural existence. And at one point, a character commits a sacrificial act to save the others. Quill wants to find his life’s purpose, Gamora secretly wants to feel emotional warmth and absolution for her crimes, Groot longs to find his proverbial voice, and Drax aches to avenge his family.

Punctuated by the requisite firefights and action sequences, the whip smart script from writer-director James Gunn and screenwriter Nicole Perlman—the first woman to pen a Marvel movie—is full of charm and swagger. More subversive is the fact that it slyly deconstructs the very sci-fi action tropes it uplifts, from the generic motive of avenging the Death of Family to using an almost-MacGuffin to propel the plot. In one scene, as the ragtag guardians join in a clichéd slow motion group walk (think “The Right Stuff,’ and more than one Quentin Tarantino film), Gamora cuts loose a conspicuous yawn.

It’s a malaise the audience won’t share. Guardians of the Galaxy is high-flying fun, but its cheeky, sentimental core is what really sets sail.