‘Blu-ray or Bust’ - GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2

‘Blu-ray or Bust’

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 (2017, PG-13, 136 minutes, MARVEL STUDIOS/WALT DISNEY PICTURES)

Don’t get me wrong here—I am a huge fan of what James Gunn and Company did with the first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.  It served as a much-needed change in adrenaline in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and was a breath of fresh air.

But when I first saw the second installment in its theatrical release, it felt like too much.  Too much CGI, too much action, and way too much spiteful banter between Quill (Chris Pratt) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper).  It took viewing this on a smaller screen to appreciate the film more.  It isn’t that I’m too old to appreciate film in its natural format—I love the movies, and will always adore seeing them on the “big screen”.  But it helped to compartmentalize everything I was seeing, and even feeling, by watching on my computer.

The follow-up to the 2014 classic centers around Quill finding his daddy, played with the usual charm and swagger of one legendary Kurt Russell.  His dad is an actual planet, which you would think garner more jokes from the crew, but despite Drax (Dave Bautista, who owns every scene he is in) pondering how Peter was conceived, the subject is pretty much left alone.  Not something that would have been done the first time around.

Director Gunn has said that the first film was about this ragtag bunch off criminals becoming a family, and this sequel is about them being a family.  While Peter and his daddy issue is the predominant storyline, you get more on the Gamora/Nebula history, (Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillian, respectively) and a few nuggets pertaining to the other characters.  But those nuggets just aren’t enough.  Instead of more backstory on Rocket and/or Groot (Vin Diesel, who not only does his “I am Groot” bit, but also gets to growl this time around), we get more CGI.

Like, WAY MORE CGI.

One other thing I absolutely must gripe about: music from THE AVENGERS.  It happens a few times during the film, and it irritated the Baby Groot outta me.  I understand that the studio is looking to cross all their films over during The Infinity War storyline, but really, I don’t need any not-so-subtle hints while I’m watching the Guardians in action.  Stick with the same type of soundtrack you did the first time around—it helped set this style of storytelling apart from what has become almost typical of other Marvel films.  Also, the music selection; there are more hits than there are misses when it comes to the “Awesome Mix Tape” this time around, but some of the selections just plain don’t work.  That being said, the ones that do work do so on a level even higher that the first film.  The scene aboard Yondu’s (Michael Rooker) ship, as he dispatches his mutinous crew to “Come a Little Bit Closer” by Jay and the Americans is sheer genius in its execution.

Of course, this is a must on Blu-ray, if not for the excessive CGI, then for the soundtrack, and the score by Tyler Bates. There are a few unnecessary deleted scenes, a decent gag reel, and four behind-the-scenes docs which shed more light on Gunn’s filmmaking process—including how they used music on set.

I sincerely hope that the next GUARDIANS film gets back to its roots.  Splitting up the team makes for less of a good time, and you should never have to trade excessive CGI action sequences for time with a family that is fun to watch being dysfunctional.  But this is still a worthy chapter in the MCU, and not least of which because: KURT FREAKING RUSSELL.

Grade: B

Special Features: B+

Blu-ray Necessary: Absolutely

-- T.S. Kummelman