This Week's Review: Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2

Thanks to a massive dose of Azithromycin, I was finally able to stagger into a theater and start catching up on movies. My choice for the weekend of May 13 was Guardians of the Galaxy, volume 2. I was thoroughly dazzled and enjoyed myself immensely. If you see it, I strongly recommend seeing it in 3-D; the special effects are dazzling enough to justify the extra expense.

I should have watched my DVD of the first installment just to brush up on the tangled relationships that drive the plot. Our picaresque hero Quill is still searching for his long-lost father; whether his quest is a success or a failure drives much of the plot. It seems that Dear Old Dad is a Celestial, a planet that gained sentience and then decided he (or it) should become a god. Thanks to the Greek tragedians, we all know what happens when hubris enters the picture.

Our sentient planet, better known as Ego, first appeared in the 1960s in the pages of Thor, so this is a rather massive change of venue; however, it does work. Kurt Russell makes Ego fairly credible, at least in comic book terms. (There are countless dissertations on comic book theology just waiting to be written.)

The battle scenes are well done, but at least once I thought they resembled various video games; I was more than a trifle prescient about that scene.

Much of the humor involves Baby Groot and his inability to follow directions about setting bomb timers and other minor matters; one of the teasers in the end credits implies that Groot’s adolescence will be very, very trying.

Almost every scene is jammed full of action, so much so that I will have to force myself, ever so slightly, to go see the film at least once more while it is still in the theaters. I also have to cram King Arthur and Alien: Covenant into my schedule. It’s going to be a very busy summer.

(Adding to my enjoyment were the trailers for Star Wars VIII: the Last Jedi; Thor: Ragnorak; and Spider-May: Homecoming. I have also learned that the Guardians will appear in the 2018 Avengers film.)