MOVIE REVIEW
OUR film reviewer James Burgess is a 27-year-old performance, drama and theatre graduate.
The former Fallibroome High School pupil has attended the BAFTA Film Awards in London every year since 2009, meeting stars including Dame Helen Mirren, Christian Bale, Joseph GordonLevitt and Emma Thompson. James lives on St Ives Close in Macclesfield. You can visit his website at www. jabfilmreviews.blogspot. com. pop-art aesthetic and zany cultural selfreferentiality made a previously widely obscure entry into Marvel’s leviathan of a canon a dizzying, left-field delight.
Now the rag-tag bunch of misfits are back, in all their neon-lit, wisecracking – though not quite as subversive – blockbusting glory.
Director James Gunn, the writer of the fantastic big-screen adaptations of Scooby-Doo (criminally underrated, personal favourites of mine), returns to amp up the fluorescent, psychedelic phantasmagoria.
Peter Quill aka StarLord (Chris Pratt) teams up again with the lime green-skinned, shorttempered warrior Gamora (Zoe Saldana), gigantic teal muscle-bound convict Drax (Dave Bautista), and Baby ‘I am’ Groot (voiced once again, although unrecognisably, by Vin Diesel). Best of all though, is the deliberately facetious raccoon (don’t call him that – ‘triangularfaced monkey’ or ‘trash-panda’ are apparently better!) Yes, Bradley Cooper, (also entirely unrecognisably, channelling Bruce Willis again), lends his grouchily self-deprecating, sarcastic barbs to Rocket, the miniature mercenary.
Rocket may have all the best jokes (his and Drax’s sarcasm, as well as total lack of irony, make for some uproariously crowd-pleasing moments), but, as was the case last time, it’s the terrific Pratt who steals the exuberant show. His Star-Lord is a magnificent creation – one of the best and identifiably grounded superhero figures of recent years. Wonderfully knowing and retro, his character personifies the entirely unique tone of the series; energetic, smart (subtle when needed) and surprisingly heartfelt. This time, Peter discovers more about the ambiguity of his quasi-heritage, leading him to the aptly-named Ego (another resurgence for Kurt Russell)…
As with all franchisefilms, to say any more would mean spoilers, but what ensues is an excellently entertaining romp with plenty of exciting set-pieces, hugely ambitious visual-effects, and a galaxy of tunes and cameos. The dialogue is filled with 80s pastiche (Pac-Man, Cheers, and Hasselhoff are all unapologetically usurped!).
But it lacks the novelty, surprise, edge and twists of the original. Glenn Close, rumoured to be reprising her pivotal role as the marvellous, ice-cream-cone haired Nova Prime, is also mysteriously absent.
Here’s hoping she’s back for number three!