Filmland - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

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It’s good, but then again you probably already knew that.  This is a Marvel movie, after all, they’ve ALL been good even the ones that aren’t very good like Iron Man 2 and Incredible Hulk.  Thankfully, the evolving experiment that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the auteur career of director James Gunn give me plenty more to dig into with this sequel than just “is it an enjoyable film.”  The whole cast fits naturally and easily back into their roles, and the script manages to find a lot more stuff to do with them beyond the anarchic, rapid-fire comedy of the first film.  

The new/elevated characters like Yondu, Nebula, and Mantis all do a great job and are honestly some of the best parts of the movie, even outshining old favorites like Starlord and Groot at times.  Kurt Russell absolutely steals the show as Peter’s dad and is one of the best new additions to the MCU.  Finally, the more deliberate pacing and smaller, more intimate story-telling may eschew the high octane comedy and novelty of the original but never lose site of the cheeky and subversive spirit the first film had.  All that being said, let’s really get into this beast- spoilers to follow. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Update

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Despite the vastness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the concept of sequels is a strangely sparse and foreign one.  Where this becomes the clearest is that even though the common working knowledge is that Marvel sequels are mostly poor, the actual breakdown is exactly even.  Iron Man 2 was a rush job that did little more than jog in place and remind people of upcoming films, Thor: The Dark World was about on par with its predecessor only with slightly sloppier editing and a more derivative climax, and Age of Ultron had plenty of ambition but lost a good chunk of it in the editing. 

Meanwhile, Iron Man 3 is a thoughtful and well-made revisit of the series core themes in a new context, Winter Soldier complete shake-ups the genre and style of the franchise in an adventurous way, and Civil War stands as one of the best entries in the series.  Now it’s coming time for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and amid the slew of trailers, posters, TV spots, and advertising tie-ins I can’t shake the feeling the brown, drippy lightning that is the lackluster Marvel sequel is gearing up to strike for a fourth time. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Trailer Breakdown

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Somewhere around 3 years ago, Marvel Studios introduced the world to the Guardians of the Galaxy, a plucky band of space rogues who wormed their way into everyone’s hearts with their winning combination of humorous banter and space weirdness.  

Now, Marvel prepares for the Guardians next out, coming spring 2017, with a brand new trailer.  However, a lot can change in 3 years, and the world of 2017 is going to be very different for the Guardians. 

The original film was such a cultural shame it’s shaped a lot of the competition to come out since, both concerning renewed interest in space operas, also shepherded along by the return of Star Wars, and a greater attempt to co-opt the Guardians’ eclectic style, as evidenced by Suicide Squad.  

Given that and Marvel’s less unassailable standing in the current landscape, does the Guardians trailer promise the triumphant return of the kings of the MCU, or were our heroes never quite as fun as we initially thought?

1st Concept Art of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

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Edited by Robert Beach 

We’re currently in a bizarre dead zone for Marvel movie news.  After dominating the spring of 2016 through the double barrel punch of Daredevil season 2 and Captain America: Civil War, Marvel has more or less ceded the summer to its competition and aren’t even beginning to push Dr. Strange despite its fall release date.  Instead, Marvel’s spent the last couple months heavily emphasizing 2017’s slate of Marvel features, where they aim to dominate the entire calendar with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 in the spring, Spider-Man: Homecoming in the summer and Thor: Ragnarok in the fall. 

We’ve learned a lot about Thor’s casting breakdown, and Spider-Man can’t stop announcing new cast members. So far, we haven’t heard much about Guardians of the Galaxy. That changed this past week when we got our first look at the concept art for the new film, which revealed a trio of unexpected characters that seemed to be set for the movie. 

Panel Vision - Top 10 Tales to Astonish Covers

Edited by Robert Beach 

I love comic book covers. That shouldn’t come as a major surprise to people, I review comic books on 2 different geek websites and manage my own geek blog with a specific subset of blog post dedicated to comic books; however, I’ve concluded that’s not quite enough comic book worship to fully express my love, so I’ve decided that every other Saturday I'm going to post a listicle of great comic book covers. 

Partly this is because, as I mentioned, I love comic book covers, so this is a pretty easy way to produce content quickly.  Starting out with top 10 Tales to Astonish covers, specifically because I reviewed an issue of Groot earlier this week, and this is the comic in which he first appeared.  With that said, let’s begin.  

Groot #3 Review

I take a look at the 3rd issue of Marvel's outstanding Groot comic, which features a Silver Surfer team-up, check it out over on Front Towards Gamer:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/08/07/groot-3-review-comics/

Thors #2 Review

I take a look at Thors #2 Secret Wars: Battleworld tie-in from Jason Aaron as part of my double dose of Aaron's work this week:

http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/2015/07/31/thors-2-review-comics/

Panel Vision - Moon Knight #16

In case you aren’t familiar with him Moon Knight is a Marvel vigilante character created in the ‘70s to fight werewolves.  Since then he’s stayed around thanks to the popularity of his unique visual scheme while his actual character has ended up filtered through a variety of different lenses.  This latest incarnation of Moon Knight takes things somewhat back to the characters roots with an emphasis on supernatural fantasy, though it’s blended nicely with Moon Knight’s role as a gritty urban crime fighter.  The result is a comic that ends up thoroughly informed by ‘90s sensibilities but executed in an infinitely better manner. 

Panel Vision: Groot #1 Review

The success of Groot as both a character and now as a national phenomenon is an astonishing tale.  I mean that literally by the way, Groot’s first appearance was in Tales to Astonish #13 as the monster from Planet X.  Most folks nowadays know him from his appearance in last summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy but in case you’re unaware here’s the skinny on the character.  Groot is a prince of Planet X who initially left his home in an attempt to protect from the villains then ongoing Marvel event series Annihilation.  During the battle he was destroyed, but because Groot is essentially an Ent he was able to re-grow himself from a single twig.