Three years ago I was very excited for the release of Guardians of the Galaxy. I hadn’t read many of the comics, but I was excited by the choice of James Gunn as director and Chris Pratt as Peter Quill. That excitement did not return void as Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s best offerings.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn’t going to take anybody by surprise this time. Everyone knows who Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot are. The original caught people by surprise, but its sequel has lost that element.
Even though Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 isn’t going to sneak up on anybody, it still had its surprising moments. The original had a lot of heart, mostly in the form of Groot. I was surprised by the amount of heart and emotion in Vol. 2, especially because they come from unexpected sources. The characters were great and still felt fresh with the expansion of the team. I enjoy these characters and I can’t wait to see them interact with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers: Infinity War; I don’t see Cap meshing well with any of the Guardians.
Here are some other thoughts I had while watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Father Figure
I have been blessed with a great father. I have many wonderful memories of time spent with my father. I remember him teaching me how to drive stick shift and how to tie a tie. He instilled in me a love for Las Vegas that continues unquenched to this day. More than anything else, though, he passed down his faith to me; for that I am eternally grateful. Vol. 2 focuses a lot on Peter’s relationship with his dad, in fact it forms the backbone for the entire story. As the movie unpacked their relationship, it made me appreciate the fact that my dad was always in my life. It also made me appreciate my Heavenly Father, who cares for me more than I could possibly know. Not everyone can have a great earthly father, but we can all run into our Heavenly Father’s arms.
Family
Beyond the father/son relationship in Vol. 2, we also saw some familial relationships. There were actual familial relationships present like that between Gamora and Nebula, but we also got to see the Guardians interacting as a family. In the first movie we saw a disparate group of loaners come together for a common good. In this movie we get to see that even when people come together, it isn’t always going to be easy or pretty. That’s a great image for the body of Christ, all of us believers as sons and daughters of God. We may not see eye-to-eye on everything; my church does some topical sermon series and your church may go verse-by-verse through the entire Bible. Beyond those surface differences, though, if we can all cling to the Apostles’ Creed then we’re family. And even though it won’t always be easy and it won’t always be pretty, we can still work together to accomplish the good of God’s kingdom in this word.
Vulnerability
Looking back on the movie, there were a lot of vulnerable moments. There were a lot more moments that could have been vulnerable if they weren’t ruined by someone saying something sarcastic. However, Gunn found a good balance in his script between the funny moments and the vulnerable ones. I don’t want to spoil a particularly vulnerable moment for you, but suffice it to say we all need to let our walls down. Even when we let people into our lives, we can still be tempted to keep them at an arm’s distance. If we act in such a manner to drive people away, then when those people go away we’ll feel justified; we become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we can maintain some level of vulnerability, though, we will find people who know us and understand us. And, when they really do know us and still stick around, we’ll find the kind of relationships for which we were created.
I really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The characters were great and still feel like they had room to grow after their first adventure. I love Baby Groot and I never want him to grow up. I’m very excited that James Gunn is coming back for Vol. 3 and that a new character to the MCU was teased at the end.
All that being said, Vol. 2 did feel a lot like a one-shot. In comics a one-shot is a book mostly unrelated to any larger storylines. This movie made reference to Thanos and Infinity Stones, but sort of felt disconnected from what we know is coming in a year. Still, I enjoy one-shot comics and thoroughly enjoyed this cinematic version.
What did you think of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
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