Review #1,194: 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' (2017)

After Marvel had struck gold with The Avengers in 2012, raking in over a billion dollars at the box-office, it seemed that the studio could do no wrong with their roster of superheroes, with Iron Man 3 going on to also break the billion mark in 2013, despite being one of the weakest in the franchise. When it was announced that they would be bringing the Guardians of the Galaxy, a relatively obscure, space-dwelling gang of misfits to the big screen, to some this seemed like their biggest risk yet, and one that could stop the Marvel Cinematic Universe in its tracks. James Gunn's spunky, colourful and idiosyncratic blend of B-movie quirkiness and big-budget thrills struck a chord with the audience, and this group of minor league superheroes only really known to comic book fans suddenly became a household name.

For fans of the first movie, there is plenty to enjoy in the sequel, which takes its 'Vol. 2' from the new playlist of '70s and '80s favourites on the soundtrack, usually pumping out of the retro walkman belonging to the group's leader, Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). Taking place almost immediately after the climax of the previous instalment, the gang are all present and ready to take on an intergalactic monster hoping to steal some valuable batteries from a golden, near-perfect race called the Sovereign. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is stern-faced and struggling with her feelings for Quill; Drax (Dave Bautista) once again gets all the funniest lines and is the best thing in the movie; snarky weapons engineer Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) seems eager to push everybody away as he tests his newly-forged bond with the other Guardians; and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) is a big-eyed baby, clumsily fumbling from one scene to the next and inspiring the most "aaahs" from the audience in the process.

When they inadvertently piss off the Sovereign's leader Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), the Guardians find themselves marooned on an island. They have their arses saved by a mysterious figure who introduces himself as Ego (Kurt Russell), a character glimpsed in the opening flashback scene via some immaculate de-ageing CGI enjoying a courtship with Quill's mother. Ego is a Celestial, an ancient being who has manage to build an entire planet around him. To give him his full name, he is Ego the Living Planet, and he is also Quill's father. Themes of family run throughout the film, with Gamora constantly fighting with her returning sister Nebula (Karen Gillan), Drax forming a sibling-like bond with Ego's assistant Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot playing the role of the baby everybody is responsible for, and of course Quill's daddy issues. Also returning is blue-skinned Ravager Yondu (Michael Rooker), the guy who kidnapped Quill from Earth and raised him like a son.

Marvel directors have been vocal in their support for the hands-off approach taken by Kevin Feige, the man overlooking the entire Cinematic Universe, which goes some way to explain how they can attract such enormous talents as Taika Waititi and Ryan Coogler. Gunn has been given the key to the kingdom here, and he throws all of his Troma-taught wackiness at the screen. Space battles and gun-fights fill the screen, and while there's a bright, almost psychedelic visual pizzazz to it all, there's a real lack of dramatic weight. Somebody at Marvel should have reeled Gunn in. With the constant quipping and '80s references going on, including an appearance from Pac-Man, it never really feels like the characters are in any danger, and even less so the galaxy. There's also an insistence on trying to squeeze humour out of every single scene. I don't remember one joke failing to land back in 2014, but there are plenty of moments in Vol. 2 that had me frustratingly straight-faced. In particular, one running joke involving a character named Taserface (Chris Sullivan) long outstays its welcome.

The film is as its most effective when exploring the quieter interactions between the wide roster of characters, and the Freudian issues brought along with Ego and his uncertain intentions. While the Fast & Furious franchise insists its mythos is built around 'family' by having Vin Diesel inform us so every 10 minutes, the Guardians genuinely feel like a tight unit brought together by their own troubled pasts. Rooker brings a lot of heart into his role of surrogate father facing a major turning point in his life, after he is exiled from the Ravagers by higher-up Stakar (Sylvester Stallone) and faces a mutiny led by Taserface. Gunn ultimately tries to bring too much to the table, piling on the jokes and special effects-laden set-pieces, as well attempting to introduce new characters who will surely play a larger role in future instalments. I left the cinema back in 2014 overjoyed and eager to see it again. Three years later, I left with a headache and a sore backside, but still with a fondness for the characters.


Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,034: 'Mississippi Burning' (1988)

The main question looming over the head of Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning is whether or not the film has a moral responsibility to tell its true-life tale of racial hatred and murder in Civil Rights Act-era Mississippi exactly how it happened, or if artistic license grants the creators of the film the right to tell an entertaining story that maintains a powerful message of social injustice and equal rights. I am of the opinion that any film can change events for the sake of a digestible narrative, as long as the facts aren't muddied for the sake of fitting a films own agenda. Like countless old World War II movies that softened the horrors of war or fabricated tales of heroism, a film isn't required to be a moving Wikipedia page as long as its heart is in the right place.

Mississippi Burning opens with the brutal slaying of three Civil Rights activists - two white men and one black  - by members of the Ku Klux Klan, in an event that would capture the attention of the entire nation back in 1964. Two federal agents are sent in to investigate, Agent Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman), a former Mississippi sheriff well accustomed to the attitudes of the small-town police forces in the state, and determined liberal Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe). Upon arrival, it doesn't take long for the agents to suspect widespread corruption within the police ranks and a possible cover-up. Anderson takes a hands-on approach of mingling with the locals and delivering thinly-veiled threats, while Ward respects rules and rank, bringing in over a hundred new agents to tackle the ever-increasing conspiracy.

The idea to tell this story, which is one of the key events that led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act, through the eyes of two white men would be instantly scoffed at nowadays throughout social media, and perhaps rightly so. It is most importantly a story of the suffering of African-Americans, and of their bravery and spirit in taking a stand against it. Yet while Mississippi Burning takes a procedural, buddy-cop movie approach, it highlights how ultimately powerless the agents investigating the case are. Anyone familiar with the story will know that the men responsible for the murders were eventually brought to justice, but this is only one case in a country brimming with racial tension as social integration is introduced. It would take people such as the activists murdered in the film and the many Civil Rights demonstrations carried out in defiance that would ultimately lead to changes.

At its best, the film is successful in making you feel extremely angry. As various African-Americans are lynched or attacked leaving a church by gangs carrying weapons, you, along with the bemused Agent Ward, question how such hate for another race can manifest itself within such a large portion of a community. With the FBI becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of co-operation from the residents of the town, the film somewhat indulgently gives us a scene of Anderson having an off-the-record word with suspected Klan members, particularly Deputy Pell (Brad Dourif) and hot-head redneck Frank (Michael Rooker). It's a punch-the-air moment of badassery, and one of many such scenes that allow the film to be entertaining as well as thought-provoking. It's far from perfect of course, with a shoe-horned romance between Anderson and Pell's suffering wife (Frances McDormand) in particular feeling wholly unnecessary, but this is a powerful and beautifully-made piece featuring one of Hackman's best performances.


Directed by: Alan Parker
Starring: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif, R. Lee Ermey, Gailard Sartain, Stephen Tobolowsky, Michael Rooker
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #778: 'Guardians of the Galaxy' (2014)

With the rights to Marvel's other vast array of T-shirt adorned superheroes, such as Spider-Man and the X-Men, firmly in the clutches of other studios (who are reaping in the gazillions), Marvel - now combined with the surprisingly un-meddling might of the House of Mouse - are finding themselves having to turn to some of their more left-field, obscure creations. They don't come as unfamiliar as the Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of rag-tag criminals and rogues who operate millions of miles away from Earth and the Avengers, a gang no doubt familiar to hardcore comic-book fans, but little more than a collection of strange looking aliens and one human to the rest of us.

It's a massive surprise, then, that Guardians of the Galaxy may be Marvel's best movie to date, eclipsing the unexpected charm of Iron Man (2008), the easy-going chemistry of The Avengers (2012) and the formula-flipping breath of fresh air that was Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Director James Gunn, the man responsible for the fun Slither (2006) and the twisted Super (2010), knows that you probably don't know these people, but he makes sure you'll remember them. A combination of risky, but spot-on casting, a well-structured, incredibly witty script by Gunn and Nicole Perlman, and feast-for-your-eyes cinematography by Ben Davis, makes this the most fun to be had all year, perhaps even the decade.

After being abducted as a child shortly after watching his mother die, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) now operates as a space bounty hunter, working for space-hillbilly Yondu (Michael Rooker) and trying to go by the name of Star-Lord. When he steals a mysterious orb and almost getting killed in the process, he betrays Yondu and tries to rake in the bounty for himself. This draws the attention of Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the green-skinned adopted daughter of space tyrant Thanos (glimpsed in the credits of The Avengers, and here played by Josh Brolin), who attempts to steal the orb for herself.

Also in the vicinity and hoping to capture Quill for the reward money, are Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a foul-mouthed, gun-wielding raccoon, and his companion Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a self regenerating tree. The four get into a scuffle and find themselves imprisoned by Nova Corps, where they come across tattooed man-mountain Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), a man with a serious grudge against Gamora's boss Ronan (Lee Pace), who killed his wife and children. Though the group clash due to ego-fuelled personalities, grudges and personal demons, they may be the only thing standing between Ronan and the orb, the latter of which holds almost infinite power which Ronan plans to use to fuel his own genocidal tendencies.

The orb just may be the most obvious MacGuffin in cinema history (Quill even references The Maltese Falcon (1941), one of the most famous examples), and the plot sometimes whizzes by without giving you time to reflect or allow it all to sink in, but it's really hard to care when all you really want is to see these five characters in a room together, and if they happen to blow a lot of shit up at the same time, then all the better for it. The real success is the casting. Han Solo comparisons are obvious, but to lump Chris Pratt's star-making performance into the same bubble as Harrison Ford's iconic space cowboy is lazy and unfair. Quill is a loveable idiot, tough enough to face up to a fight, intelligent enough to always carry tricks up his sleeve, and flawed enough to make us care.

Racoon and Groot, one of the most adorable and effortlessly hilarious couplings in recent memory, will no doubt be the ones that the kids take away from the film, but it's Bautista, a WWE wrestler in his first major role, who truly stands out. He serves as the real emotional core in the film, initially fuelled by hatred and rage, but gradually learning the importance of friendship and camaraderie. Drax's failure to grasp sarcasm and metaphors also shows a deft comic timing, made even funnier by the man's imposing stature and gift of the scowl.

The film trips up on Marvel's usual struggle to deliver a climatic action scene that truly thrills or even offer anything original, but it's the first time I found myself genuinely concerned about a superhero's fate, all five of them in fact. It's a thrilling, beautiful, hilarious, and just plain weird movie, all scored to some great funky tunes from the 1970's (usually blasted through Quill's 'Awesome Mix Tape #1', which he listens to on his retro walkman, one of the few things he has left from Earth). The two hour running-time will feel like barely half the film has gone by by the time the credits begin to roll, and the inevitable sequel (the film is now the highest-grossing of a summer that involved the fourth entry into Michael Bay's CGI-ejaculation Transformers franchise) can't come soon enough.


Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close
Country: USA/UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #394: 'Super' (2010)

"Don't molest little boys!" shouts Super's mentally unstable protagonist Frank (Rainn Wilson) after splitting a paedophile's head open with a wrench. After recent 'superhero' films Watchmen (2009) and Kick-Ass (2010) explored the mentality behind the superhero/vigilante idea to various degress of seriousness, Super arrived in 2010 with yet another take on it, again with a different tone. While Watchmen held a mirror to the audience and created a vast and complex alternative world that portrayed its 'superheros' as as pornographic as they are borderline psychopathic, and Kick-Ass revelled in it's bloodshed and questioned audiences' enjoyement of the slaughter, Super does both but is more interested in its emotionally damaged and extremely lonely main character who thoroughly believes that his actions are justified.

Frank is a short-order cook whose recovering drug-addict wife Sarah (Liv Tyler) disappears from their apartment taking all her belongings with her. She seems to have disappeared with her sleazy club owner boss Jacques (Kevin Bacon), who is on the verge of a large heroin deal. After seeing a crappy low-budget Christian message television programme where superhero the Holy Avenger (Nathan Fillion) teaches Christian values to tempted high-school kids, Frank makes himself a costume and dubs himself the Crimson Bolt, taking out bad guys with a pipe wrench. He becomes a cult vigilante, and the object of comic book store owner's Libby's (Ellen Page) curiosity. The two form a partnership, but Libby's hyperactivie personality and eagnerness for bloodshed becomes a problem.

The film's main problem is the uneveness of its tone, which switches from dark indie drama to cartoonish comedy violence to disturbing character study. Like Kick-Ass, the film is extemely violent, yet Super is set in a murky, grainy reality as opposed to Kick-Ass's very colourful, comic-book world. This, for me, made the film more of an entertaining curiosity rather than the film it perhaps could have been. I cannot deny that the film is entertaining though. Opening with a nicely animated credit sequence, the film moves quickly and is anchored by an impressive performance by Wilson, who juggles comedy with a dark intensity. Page almost steals the show as his sidekick who is as sexy as she is bat-shit crazy. After all the carnage, the film is wrapped up nicely with a sweet and really quite moving ending. Whatever you think of the film, it will no doubt make you want to shout "shut up, crime!" whenever someone next pisses you off.


Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie