Hooked on a feelin'

Rating: 10/10 (29 April 2019)

Following my viewing of the first Guardians of the Galaxy film back in early 2015, I eagerly awaited the return of the galaxy's coolest band of misfits so once I heard that James Gunn was going to be bringing us a sequel to the 2014 space fantasy, I got pretty gritty as I adored the first film and once the first trailer dropped, I was over the moon. I couldn't wait to see it so in May of 2017, I went to my local movie theater with a friend and after 2 hours, I came out of the movie overjoyed and even a bit sad at what I had seen. From it's themes and action to its fantastic soundtrack and performances, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is not only a non-stop cosmic thrill ride but also one of the most personal films in the MCU that I've seen yet.
The film begins on Earth in the year 1980 where a young woman named Meredith Quill driving with her boyfriend. He then takes her to a place in the woods where he shows her an alien seedling he planted. We then jump forward 38 years later to The Guardians of the Galaxy protecting a batch of precious batteries for an alien race called The Sovereign in return for Gamora's sister Nebula but after Rocket Raccoon steals some of the batteries, The Sovereign attack the Guardians with a fleet of drones but are destroyed by an unknown force and the team crash-lands on a planet where the mysterious force reviles itself to be Peter Quill's father, Ego the Living Planet. The Guardians then travel with Ego and his assistant Mantis to his home planet while The Sovereign hires Yondu Udanta to track down The Guardians. Now, Peter Quill must choose between his real father and unleash his true power or remain with the team all while other forces conspire to bring down them down.
Part of what made the first Guardians of the Galaxy film work so well was its regression from what a typical sci-fi film is usually seen as. Director James Gunn and writer Nicole Perlman gave us a masterfully crafted homage to 80s nostalgia by rooting it in a lead hero in form of Peter Quill who found himself taken away from everything he ever knew on Earth after watching his mother die. Some superhero movies work wonders when they are homages or as a tool to deliver a more human experience to the viewer such as Spiderman 2 or Iron Man 3. Guardians of the Galaxy is the story of a young boy who is taken from a life on Earth to being a tool for a band of pirates and though that, the character of Star-Lord is forged and in the first film, he starts out as a thief only out for monetary gain but upon meeting Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket, he learns what it means to be a team leader and in this movie, Peter learns what it means to be apart of a family and what family truly means.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 works not only as a sequel to the first movie but also as a further exploration of the cosmic side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If the first Guardians of the Galaxy explored Peter dealing with the death of his mother, this film deals with his relationship with his distant father. As with the first film, this one is slathered from top to bottom with 80s nostalgic callbacks as there's even a point in the film where Quill and Gamora mention David Hasselhoff. It's impossible to tell wither Star-Lord is dealing with Ego or someone else entirely. In terms of story, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is as direct as a superhero movie can be with various character and thematic arches but the film remains focused on its core story relating to the relationship between Peter, Ego, and Yondu and while the film may not be delicate about its message, at the very least, it isn't beating you over the head every 5 minutes with its moral unlike Avatar did with its moral and while this formula has been explored numerous times in other movies from Mary Poppins and Terminator 2 to Hook and The Incredibles, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is notable for how it approaches this subject. The themes of family and fatherhood dominate the film and dive its story. For example, the film compares the themes of family and desire by asking us what makes a family and what price must be paid for the sake of family unity. It's about maintaining a balance between work and family and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 even makes a subtle conclusion that when we are pursuing monetary gain, we are also pursuing family as well.
Throughout the course of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, each character goes through their own family conflicts thus allowing them to grow as characters. Peter Quill's ach in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is him coming to terms with his actual father and the Guardians themselves. At the start of the film, Peter is asked by the Sovereign what his heritage is, we see him being uncertain as he never knew his father which is a contrast to The Sovereign who have hereditarily engineered their children to be flawless in every single way. Though this scene, the viewer can see how Star-Lord is different as he never knew the love of a father and this makes him unsure of who he really is and where he fits in. The scene is also a fine example of how to state the theme of your movie but without beating it into the viewer's brain. As for Gamora, her sister is literality her enemy and she claims that she doesn't care about Nebula or Peter Quill when in reality she does. Given how Gamora's on father is a murderous super villain, she's happy with things the way they are as opposed to Peter who is looking to make a family with her as she doesn't want to get hurt or feeling vulnerable. That's how Gamora gets by in these movies. As a matter of fact, she sees the Guardians as her new family and wants it to stay that way hence why she's angry when Ego first shows up in Peter's life. Again, this is spoken when she says to Quill that he already has a family. Gamora's echoing is exceptionally upsetting as she comes from a broken family herself given how Thanos killed her family and took her in as his own and she doesn't understand how to connect with anyone else because of what Thanos did to her and Nebula. Her whole character arc is about keeping her new adopted family in the form of the Guardians of the Galaxy together while also opening up to Peter Quill's advances and making her own family with him as well as facing her own kin in the form of Nebula. As for Rocket Raccoon, his arc in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is that much like the first film, he acts like nobody cares about him and keep pushing the other Guardians away at every opportunity because he's horrified of being apart of a family and given his origin of being a genetically altered raccoon still haunts him so he's made it his goal to prove that he is the best out of the team. This is the first taste the viewer gets of the theme of desire over family as Rocket tries to one-up everyone else on the team but in doing so, he further damages his relationship with the other Guardians. He also uses zeal erratically such as stealing the batteries from The Sovereign just to spite the rest of the Guardians and to fend off any notion of family as that worries him.
Nebula says that she's out to kill Gamora as well as Thanos for the pain he put her through by making Nebula fight Gamora and replacing parts of Nebula's body with parts of machinery whenever Gamora beat her in battle, but Nebula can't kill Thanos so killing Gamora will do nicely. She feels second-rate, so she's out to show that she is better than Gamora in every possible way, but this has nothing to do with ambition but rather revenge. It's primeval and shows Nebula's desperate need for a family even more so than Rocket's need for the same thing. As for Yondu Udanta, Peter Quill's adopted father, his fantastic character introduction of him visiting a robotic call girl and all the while the experience leaves him feeling empty and then having a confrontation with his Ravager clan who declare that Yondu broke the code by keeping Peter Quill alive and child trafficking. Much like the other characters in the film, Yondu has his own issues with his Ravager family as they have a moral code and due to Udanta breaking it, they shun him. It's a wonderful depiction of a character torn between two awful choices, losing Peter or losing his clan. It's a fine example of how we all have different groups of family and sometimes we are forced to choose between one or the other and for Yondu, he doesn't have a choice here as he doesn't have a family to speak of and he saw a chance to have a family with Quill and he chooses that over his clan and while Yondu may say to the Ravagers that he doesn't care what they say, it still hunts him nonetheless. So when The Sovereign hire him to capture the Guardians of the Galaxy, he agrees and goes after his adopted son. As for Drax, he may have the least developed family arc in the film but he still acts improperly with everyone else in the movie which the other characters just accept it. He's not trying to drive the rest of the Guardians away unlike Rocket is but receives them. As clumsy and inept as he is, Drax is absolute that a family is a unit. His desire for a more personal family isn't really shown to us as Drax is straightforward about everything but he does remain hidden when it comes to his emotions which do come out later on in the film. With Baby Groot, he's everyone's kid. No matter what the Guardians are doing, wither fighting some high monster or repairing their ship, he is always there with one of the team looking after him and protecting him. He's the genuine glue that keeps the Guardians of the Galaxy together and he is what makes them a family. While Baby Groot may only have a small character arc in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, he nonetheless is the emotional heart of the story and the team. He is what makes the Guardians of the Galaxy the team that it is so he does give them a reason to work together, accept each other and get along with one another all for the sake of Baby Groot. There's a te