Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a 2017 superhero movie about the continuing adventures of the Guardians who must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage.
Back in 2014, two years before Deadpool (in the movies) showed us that Superhero movies could go in all new directions, Guardians of the Galaxy were trailblazing that path, clinging to the tropes of the genre while at the same time subverting expectations with in-jokes, pop culture references and a general sense of mayhem that altered the formula by which Marvel was pretty much sticking to in its rollout.
So it was that those subverted expectations ran even higher for its sequel, Vol. 2 in 2017, with fans craving more of the offbeat sarcastic humor of it leads along with a fun action adventure that took them to all new and more curious corners of this twisted universe. What we got was definitely that … and then some, a film that somehow got bigger than the first, and delivered plenty of fun and a few emotional surprises (darn you, Yondu). And while that’s probably not all that unexpected given the talent behind it, what truly set things off was its remarkable opening, an astonishing sequence that blew the doors off those expectations and sent them careening in all directions. Madness, I tell you. Let’s jump in.
It begins in 1980, in a neon blue Ford Mustang II King Cobra, a car itself that if you know anything about it, is a hint to who’s driving it, a kind of what-you-see-on-the-outside-is-not-what-it’s-cracked-up-to-be-on-the-inside thing as the classic Mustang’s return was a stripped down pony car that didn’t quite perform as presented or meet driver expectations. Either way, we duck behind a Dairy Queen with a young couple, featuring some incredible CGI that de-aged Kurt Russell by thirty some years. Stuff happens briefly that’s meant to be confusing and soon we jump ahead in time and space to a place called The Sovereign, home to the Sovereign race who have hired The Guardians, Peter ‘Starlord’ Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), and Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) to protect something valuable from an interdimensional creature looking to steal it. It starts.
On a circular platform overlooking a part of one city, the Guardians await the coming of the beast. We get a glimpse of Starlord scanning the area using a Mattel Electronic Football handheld game – a 2000 re-release dressed up to look like its 1977 original – and right away the throwbacks begin and you get a warm feeling that we’re in good hands. From there, the banter starts as Gamora cocks a rather large and impressively dangerous looking gun, to which Quill quips somewhat sarcastically that he thought her thing were swords, not knowing that guns were now both their thing. Her reply is functional and sharp. And thus, the funny begins as well.
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While a fight with a devastating monster is soon to start, the troupe is bickering over Rocket’s choice to spend that time setting up tunes to play and his failure to secretly wink correctly, even with his left eye. Oh, and Drax’s sensitive nipples. It’s genuinely funny and we realize who much we missed these characters and quickly remembering why. When the beast does arrive, a horrific looking tentacled toothy monstrosity jettisoned through a gaseous portal in space, it lands at their feet and the epic battle erupts in balls-to-the-wall superhero fashion … um, except …. it’s happening in the background. Huh? What we see instead is Baby Groot, casually unaware of it all, who has plugged in the music box (Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra) and started dancing while the film’s opening credits play on screen. This goes on for more than two minutes, the camera tracking the little guy as he pivots about and squabbles with bugs and such while the team seemingly are getting their arses trounced by the snivling, salvia spewing slug beast … and stopping once in a while to say hi to Groot. As one should. It’s absolute genius.
READ MORE: Full Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Naturally, the music speakers are eventually squashed in the action, allowing it all to shift to the main battle where now the adults take center stage, the team coordinating (sort of) an attack that exploits a gaping wound on its neck. Much green goo ensues and presto, one dead giant interdimensional tentacled thief monster.
So, why is this great? Well it’s ridiculously fun to watch for one thing. Duh. But more seriously, it’s all about tone and both the writing by director James Gunn and the performances of this great cast quickly establish that while we’re in for more of the same sardonic exchanges between these friends, the adventures they’re about to have are soon to escalate. The fight with the monster is key to this, a ginormous beast that would in any other movie (or video game) be the final boss per se, a creature of great strength and savagery that should be the hero’s greatest challenge. Should be.
But not so. Gunn starts his movie with this fight to throw in our face that what’s happening on screen is not the kind of thing the Guardians rarely do but rather something they do as routine. It’s mundane. So much so, he puts it in the background and focuses on Baby Groot instead, who seems so accustomed to such things, he hardly he even notices. Gunn is basically saying, “Oh this giant interdimensional tentacled thief monster thing that’s currently blowing your mind? Phffffft. Look, here’s Groot.”
What this does is essentially reset our expectations, again. If this is what starts the movie … geesh, what’s next? Now sure, this sort of trick isn’t new. Heck, think of Steven Spielberg‘s incredibly influential 1981 adventure classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film that starts with the hero escaping death in a moment that could easily have been put at the end of the story as the big action set piece, but instead serves as the appetizer for what follows. Gunn follows this theme and goes bigger – as is common – punching it up with great humor and startling visual effects.
The opening volley in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a masterstroke in audience manipulation. One can’t watch this and not wonder how on Earth (or otherwise) could it be topped? That’s the wonder of moviemaking in the right hands. What Gunn does is certainly follow this up with some astonishing adventures and fun storytelling, however, more importantly, he creates a welcome invitation back into this chaotic and very funny universe. When this moment ends and we realize that the movie is just starting, we settle in to the groove and feel not only comfortable back with our friends from this story, but that we’re in for something great. That’s a hell of a start.