‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’
Rating: PG-13 for “intense sequences of sci-fi violence, and brief suggestive content.”Running time: 136 minutes.
In James Gunn’s sequel to his swashbuckling space Western, the Guardians of the Galaxy do their version of “The Empire Strikes Back,” complete with daddy issues but with a considerably more anarchic spirit and enough acerbic interplay among its interstellar gang to make Obi-Wan blush.
The wild whiz-bang of the first “Guardians” and its gleeful upending of superhero conventions was, I thought, not the second-coming others felt it was. Having sat through a meteor shower of imposingly well-made Marvel products, the too-pleased-with-itself “Guardians” felt to me like an intensely scripted politician trying to smugly crack wise.
When the motley crew of scavengers reunites in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” many of its tricks – the anachronistic ’70s hits, the exotically foul-mouthed creatures – are not the sneak attack they were in 2014. But that turns out to be a good thing. No longer so busy advertising his movie’s genre transgressions, Gunn, who wrote and directed the sequel, is free to swim backstrokes through his cosmic, CGI-spiced gumbo.
It’s a soupy, silly spectacle that recalls, if nothing else, the weird, kaleidoscopic design of a Parliament-Funkadelic album cover. Gunn’s film also shares George Clinton’s goofy extravagance (and includes his song “Flashlight”), and a neon-colored cast with its own Mothership.