No other director working today pours as much love and subversive glee into his or her craft, and it’s easy to see why Marvel Studios hitched its wagon to Gunn’s singular brand of outside-the-box brilliance.
There’s barely a minute of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 where you don’t have a smile on your face, a pain in your side from laughing, and an extra palpitation in your heart. Gunn is a maestro at milking raw, honest emotion from the Guardians, a colorful cast of would-be heroes seeking purpose and a family to call their own.
He understands why people gravitate to such socially-awkward and dysfunctional characters thrust into decidedly dangerous situations that test their true mettle. It’s because we see reflections of ourselves in them, whether it’s a man-child struggling to find his place in the universe, a genetically-engineered raccoon whose gruff demeanor protects his fragile need for acceptance or a blue-hued scavenger whose tribal loyalty takes a backseat whenever the son he wished he’d had is in peril.
But Gunn’s true genius is how he manages to wring so much relatable family drama while consistently goosing the audience with a rapid-fire succession of insanely cool sight gags and razor-sharp one-liners that keep you doubled over in uncontrollable laughter.
And don’t even get me started on Baby Groot.
It only takes the opening credits — an inspired title sequence to rival the deliriously awesome introduction to Deadpool — to firmly cement this fact.
Just for the record, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is totally on par with its predecessor, a film that evoked the same sense of exuberance and awe in movie-going fans of a certain age as the first time they saw Star Wars, long before it was called Episode IV: A New Hope.
There’s plenty of nostalgia in Vol. 2; Gunn, who penned both films, revels in the mythos of the 1980s and the soft rock heyday of the ‘70s, evoking everything from Pac-Man to the Hoff, while punctuating each new big-bang set piece with an obscure musical track by Electric Light Orchestra or Looking Glass.
Gunn wisely doesn’t go too dark, a common pitfall for sophomore outings. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), aka Star-Lord, doesn’t get encased in carbonite and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) doesn’t get neutered.
Much of what does happen plot-wise has yet to be spoiled by the Disney/Marvel marketing machine, and that’s a good thing. Just know there are Easter eggs aplenty sprinkled throughout the film, and not one, but five (!) mid-and-post-credits scenes to feast upon.
Following a fateful encounter with The Sovereign, a race of gold-skinned, genetically-enhanced elitists, Quill finally learns the identity of his birth father. Not really a spoiler alert: His dad is none other than Ego the Living Planet, played perfectly by Kurt Russell.
Before long, the Guardians are split apart with Rocket, Groot and Yondu (Michael Rooker) having one adventure while Quill, Gamora and Drax visit Ego’s planet, a living extension of his being that he created from his celestial essence.
Gunn’s incredible eye for detail fills every frame with an array of visual wonders. Seriously, you'll want to freeze-frame moments just to soak them in. Nothing feels borrowed or pilfered from past space operas. Every world and each individual alien has its own unique vibe and distinct style, which is as refreshing as it is intoxicating.
While relationships are tested and friendships splintered and repaired, the core theme of family returns again and again, providing a timely and significant social context to what’s essentially a story of five disparate immigrants banding together to fight an oppressive ruler (or two) whose sole intent is to homogenize the universe.
This is not Captain America: Civil War or next year’s hotly-anticipated Avengers: Infinity War, meaning only that the superhero stakes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are not so serious and intense. Gunn gets his Joss Whedon moment (yes, a major character does die), but that death and the central conflict in Vol. 2 only serve to further unify the characters and reinforce their group dynamic.
His unadulterated joy as a filmmaker is infectious, and that’s exactly what our comic book heroes, our country and yes, our galaxy, needs most right now.
This article appears in May 4-11, 2017.