MCU #15: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the fifteenth installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

One of the best parts of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol .2 is the reunion of Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone in another film.  Not sure why Kurt Russell was never cast in the Expendables, although one site said it was because he didn't like the idea of ensemble casts in films. (Sort of like, I guess, "I'm OK with another star sharing screen time, but 6 or 7?  No,  thanks.") Anyway, after Tango and Cash, which was a success at the box office, you would think the pairing might have happened again, but it didn't.

Now, admittedly, this is not the same, since they never appear in the same scene in this one, but to have both in one film again was pretty cool. And, by the way, if you have a quick eye, you might also spot Ving Rhames in Stallone's character's crew of associates. 

 

 

The opening scenes involve a young couple driving down the road, singing along to the looking Glass song "Brandy". as it turns out, the couple is Peter Quill's (Star-Lord) parents, Meredith (Laura Haddock). an Earthling, and Ego (Kurt Russell/Aaron Schwartz), an alien. 

(Author question: Obviously Ego has told Meredith he is an alien, but did she accept it on face value or did he have to show his anatomically enhanced prowess first?)

Ego has taken her to a forest to show here something he has planted, which he says will grow and soon be all over the universe.  (That's some serious reproductive capabilities).

Flash forward to present day.  Our heroes, the Guardians, have been hired to protect some fancy batteries from a inter-dimensional creature called an Abelisk. 

 

Having succeeded in defeating the giant alien squid, the Guardians return the batteries to their employer and collect their reward, which turns out to be Gamora's (Zoe Saldana) sister, Nebula (Karen Gillian).  The plan from there is to turn over Nebula to the Xandars in exchange for a bounty on her.

But Rocket (Bradley Cooper) has stolen some of the batteries for his own purposes.  And, of course, the employers, the Sovereign are not exactly sympathetic and seen forces out to take the batteries back, They need to escape and are helped by a mysterious figure who destroys the entire fleet of remotely controlled Sovereign ships and crash land on the planet of Berhert.

So who is this mysterious figure who helped them?  We don't have to wait long to find out, as he has followed through the portal to Berhert.  It is Ego, who informs Peter that he is Ego, Peter's long lost father.

 

It turns out that Ego is a Celestial, (possibly the only one his kind),  and he created life in order to find purpose in life. (or at least, that's what I gathered,) He met Peter's mother during his quest and fathered him.  After his mother died, Ego hired Yondu (Michael Rooker) and the Ravager's to bring Peter to him.

But Yondu, being less scrupulous, betrayed his mission and kept him. So Ego has spent his life trying to track his son down.  And after hearing that Peter had held an Infinity Stone in his hands without suffering immediate death, he knew that Peter must be his long lost son (because, apparently  only a Celestial, or his progeny, can do that.)

Back on Berhent, Yondu attempts to recapture the Guardians.  But only Rocket, Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) and the hostage, Nebula, are on the planet.  Nebula convinces Baby Groot that she must be freed from her bondage so she can help.  But her purposes are not exactly altruistic (of course).

When Yondu proves to be too sympathetic to Peter, a mutiny occurs and Taserface (Chis Sullivan) takes command, capturing Yondu as his prisoner and executing all of those who side with Yondu.  Nebula agrees to help them, but she wants Gamora for her own, because she wants to kill her sister. And also, she wants to collect the bounty on the Guardians by the Sovereign. Using the Ravagers sense of mercenary tactics, she convinces them to join with her, taking only as her part, her sister and 10% of the bounty.  The money she plans to use to buy a warship to take and fight her father, Thanos, whom she hates almost, but not quite, as much as Gamora.

Oh, and something I forgot.  Apparently Yondu had too much of a tendency to go out on his own, disregarding the edicts of his Ravager race, so he has been an outcast from his own society.  And Stakar (Sylvester Stallone) has been holding on to a grudge against him ever since. 

 

Yondu and Rocket break out of prison and go looking for Peter, while Nebula is also looking for Gamora.  They use a kind of warp drive to get to where he his, passing through 100s of other worlds, which includes one populated by a race called The Watchers (See the Marvel comic book or the TV series What If for more on these guys.)

Where is Stan Lee? 

Stan is on the Watchers world giving a background on himself as says "Well, at that time I was a Federal Express man" (referring to his cameo on Captain America: Civil War, which some people postulate means that he is basically playing the same character throughout the series, only in different guises...) 

 Nebula finds Gamora and attempts to kill her, but wrecks her ship and Gamora saves her.  The two end up reconciling after a heart to heart talk, although Nebula still holds on to her grudge against her father for pitting the two of them together in the first place (and his sadistic dismantling of her physical being to be replaced by mechanical things...)

Ego and Peter have a talk and Ego reveals to Peter his true nature as the son of a Celestial.  But Ego has some ulterior motives that are not revealed to Peter at the time.  Yet Ego's "ally", Mantis (Pom Kiementieff), has a line on what Ego really intends, which she eventually reveals to Drax (Dave Bautista).  Yet Ego does reveal that he has impregnated thousands of women on thousands of worlds, but when the offspring failed to show signs of Celestial power, he had them killed.  He also reveals that he was the one who caused this death of Peter's mother (which of course does not set well with Peter). 

So Peter, it turns out, is not on board with his father's plans to remake the universe in his own image.  And thus the real villain of the film is revealed.  And the guardians now have a goal to prevent Ego from following through with his nefarious plans.  But can a cadre of mortals really defeat a god?

And the Credits Roll:

 In one scene, Kraglin (Sean Gunn, brother of the director James) tries to learn how to use Yondu's mind arrow. In a second scene Stakar addresses some allies reuniting the Ravagers. In a third(!) scene, the leader of the Sovereign has created a new A.I. which she hopes will be capable of destroying the Guardians.  And it yet even another (fourth!) post credit scene, Peter admonishes a now teenager Groot for having such a messy room.

 

The final solution may (or may not) be satisfying. Personally I think it was too easy, considering that he is indeed one of the most powerful villains to appear in the franchise. Of course, if they didn't defeat him it would still be an ongoing battle even now.  As much as I liked the interaction here, though, I have to say that Vol 2 is not in the top 10 of my favorites (even now with only 15 movies reviewed.) It remains to be seen how long it stays as far at the bottom it is, however, since I am only ranking these upon this cycle of viewings.

Time to fire up the old Plymouth and head home.  I sure am glad I don't have to pass through 700 dimensions before I get there.  Drive safely, folks. 

Quiggy