Now that the Guardians have left their criminal past behind them they continue to protect the galaxy from evil. They get themselves into trouble with the Sovereign after Rocket steals some of these very valuable batteries from them. Peter Quill meets his father for the first time in his life after he destroys all the Sovereign ships that were chasing after and shooting at the Guardians.
Blaine: People at work would ask me when the next “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie would come out because they knew I had the answer. I told them the second “Guardians of the Galaxy” film will be out in 2017 and they didn't want to wait that long. I found the second one to be a bit weird compared to the first one. The thing I found weird was Peter's father is a planet and that he wants to spread himself across the Galaxy destroying millions of lives because he only loves himself. But I got use to it. I mean it is different. Plus James Gunn’s “Slither” has weirder stuff. When James Gunn made the first “Guardians” movie he was worried that he might be making a weird movie because no one knew who the Guardians of the Galaxy were. The first time I heard of “Guardians” was from Comic-Con 2012 and it got my full interest because it was something completely new. Plus it had this great group of actors. James Gunn and everyone else was amazed of how successful the first “Guardians” became and so it made him want to proceed with a second movie. James knew right away what he wanted to see out of the second one. James is a comic book expert, he knows the Guardians of the Galaxy very well and he used his expertise to develop a script for a second movie. James Gunn has fun with his job of being a director. He wanted to get really great performances out of the actors as he possibly could for “Vol 2” and to do that he had to be a bit hard on the actors. James Gunn also wanted to see more color for “Vol 2” as well.
For each “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie James Gunn makes, he wants there to be something new. He wants the Guardians to find themselves in new missions that are completely different from the last, explore new worlds and meet new characters. Sequels always help you get to know the characters more compared to the first movie. For “Guardians Vol. 2” it shows more of the relationship between Yondu and Peter and how Yondu has been more of a father to Peter than his real dad has. Yondu abducted Peter when he was a kid and was given orders to bring him to his father, Ego. But Yondu kept Peter all to himself because he found a great use for someone small as he was at the time. Yondu taught him how to fly ships that can travel through space and how to shoot a blaster.
And then there’s the relationship between Gamora and Nebula. Nebula was forced to battle her sister through her entire life as a young child and Gamora always won. Every time Nebula lost, Thanos would replace a piece of her with bionics so that she could be less of whatever species she is and be more of a machine that can’t feel emotions. She has anger issues with Gamora for always beating her in battle, but she hates Thanos more for ripping out pieces of her. Nebula reveals that she does care for Gamora because she is the closest thing to a sister she has ever had. Karen Gillan didn’t have that big of a role in the first “Guardians” film as Nebula, but James Gunn already had plans for Nebula becoming a Guardian of the Galaxy for the second one. Karen had to shave all of her hair off for the first “Guardians” film, but lucky thing for her she didn’t have to do for “Vol 2”. The makeup department found a way to have Nebula bald again so that Karen Gillan wouldn’t have to shave her head for the second time. They put a bald cap on her.
I like the new member of the team, Mantis, played by Pom Klementieff. The first time I saw Pom in a movie she had no dialog and showed a series look on her face through the whole movie. When I see her in “Guardians Vol. 2” she smiles more, is shy at times and says a lot. Mantis learns how to love from the Guardians because they love each other like they are family. Drax makes fun of Mantis, but then spares her feelings and it wasn’t till they were sitting down looking at the view of Ego's planet that I started to think they would hook up. Drax is trying not to admit he has feelings for Mantis because he feels there is no other woman who could take his deceased wife’s place. But Drax shows he really cares for Mantis. Drax tries to make it to the ship, but he is sinking and holds Mantis above him so she won’t go down with him. Pom didn’t know how big this character was going to be when she auditioned for the movie.
James Gunn was thinking about Groot being full grown again in “Vol. 2”, but then he felt it would be better for him to be a baby because James knew that Groot was very popular in stick form at the end of the first movie and he thought of him being a baby would be fun. I was hoping Groot would be back to his full grown self when they announced there was going to be a second movie, but Baby Groot I got use to after seeing how adorable he looks. For Groot’s new look, James Gunn wanted something cute, but also alien. It was a challenge because it would have to look like Groot, but have a cuteness to it. Legacy Effects created a little 10 inched tall sculpture of Baby Groot that they would use as a puppet on the set and it was a good example for the visual effects department of how Groot should look when they’re working on a digital version on a computer. Vin Diesel had to inhale a lot of helium while his voice was being recorded…..no just kidding.
Rocket has been pushing people away from him, but really he’s a caring guy. He showed how much he cared for Groot after Groot sacrificed himself to save the rest of the gang in the first “Guardians”. In “Vol. 2” you see more of the heart of Rocket and Yondu brings out the best of him.
Normally the music score comes after you shoot a movie and edit together a scene, but the music score for “Guardians Vol. 2” was already done and they would play it with the scene it went with while shooting a scene. James gave composer Tyler Bates the script so that he could come up with sounds for the music score. Yondu sacrifices his life to save Peter’s in the end. James Gunn didn’t know how Peter Quill’s speech at Yondu’s funeral was gonna go until he woke up during the middle of the night and he had this David Hasselhoff speech in his head. He wrote it down on his phone and it became the speech that is in the movie.
I love the end credits to “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”. It is better than the end credits to any other Marvel movie because it shows more of a visual look as the credits go up. It shows these images of the characters as the credits go up and then towards the end it shows them dancing to the song “Inferno”, which is fun to watch. James Gunn said that what’s great about the Marvel movies is that people stay through the entire film more than any other movie. For “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” he wanted to give an audience something worth staying for by showing five post credit scenes instead of two and showing a visual look for the end credits. Jeff Goldblum makes a cameo appearance as Grandmaster during the end credits when it shows all the characters dancing. Grandmaster is a character fans will see in “Thor: Ragnarok”. “Guardians Vol. 2” is the first one of the Marvel movies to show five post credit scenes. One of the post credit scenes shows Ayesha, the leader of the Sovereign, exhausted on the outside, but has rage on the inside for the Guardians of the Galaxy after stealing from her and taking down her ships twice. She wants revenge and so she creates a new member of the Sovereign race. I assumed it was something in the comics and James Gunn said it’s the cocoon of a very popular Marvel character, Adam Warlock. James didn’t put Adam Warlock in this film because there was already too many characters, so he’s saving Adam for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”.
Good news is fans don’t have to wait a few years to see the Guardians again for a third film because they’ll be coming back very soon in “Avengers: Infinity War”. I was expecting there to be an post credit scene to lead to “Avengers: Infinity War" sense that’s next for the Guardians, but I guess not.
My rating on “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2” is five out of five stars.
Song: Inferno
Written by James Gunn and Tyler Bates
With the cast of “Guardians Vol 2”, Christ Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Pom Klementieff, and “Guardians” director, James Gunn.
Featuring David Hasselhoff
With Stan ‘the man’ Lee
Blaine: One of the best songs of 2017
The “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2” gang at Comic-Con 2016
