Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Score:  ** out of ***** (D+)

Directed by James Gunn
Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, et. al.
Running time: 136 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 swoops into the prime opening weekend of the summer, following the first hit film's opening in the garbage heap of summer.  Just as the openings are reversed, however, so is the quality of the two films.  A horrifically bad script is largely to blame for its myriad problems - bloated, dumb plot; loss of interest in its quirky main cast; and mostly poor attempts at humor.  Skip it.


After saving the universe from the evil schemes of Thanos, the so-called "Guardians of the Galaxy" - Star-Lord (Pratt), Gamora (Saldana), Drax (Bautista), Rocket (Cooper), and Groot (Diesel) - have become interstellar superstars.  Their services are in high demand, and one such mission finds the Guardians protecting highly valuable... batteries from various would-be thieves.  In payment, the batteries' owners, known as the Sovereign, release Gamora's sister, Nebula (Gillan) to them.  Unfortunately, Rocket's old habits have yet to wear off and he pockets several of the batteries.  The Sovereign quickly discover the treachery, and soon the Guardians are forced to flee to a distant planet for shelter.  Even there, the Guardians find themselves sought by other forces - one a mysterious being from Star-Lord's past, who takes him and part of the team to another world.  Another, led by pirate Yondu (Rooker), confronts the remaining Guardians.  Although allegiances seem apparent - those who want to help the Guardians, and those who hunt them - the team must rely on each other more than ever before in a quickly-changing galaxy.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 features most of the cast from the first film, and significant roles for several newcomers.  The main quintet remains, of course, but in almost every way is not as interesting or as fun as in the previous adventure.  Chris Pratt as Star-Lord is the de facto leader of the group, but is largely prevented from unleashing his new age Han Solo act again.  There are just too many other active parts given screen time, and most of his time is stuck in serious, plot-based stuff rather than the silly or casual scenes at which he excels.  Zoe Saldana's Gamora is even worse off, mostly dealing with a boring sibling rivalry/war.  She is a generic side part here, rather than the intriguing tough-as-nails assassin from the first.  Dave Bautista's Drax is about as annoying as last time, although he benefits from his relationship with one of the new characters.  Groot, now a tiny version of himself, is basically the cute pet of the film, to hit-and-miss effect.  But among the group, Rocket is by far the worst off; Cooper is forced to spit out some pretty terrible lines.  Among the many newcomers, Kurt Russell has the biggest part as Star-Lord's long lost father.  He's a welcome presence, fitting in with his zany colleagues, although a brief digital youth transformation is a little disturbing.  And Elizabeth Debicki, leader of the Sovereigns, is by far the most interesting character in the film; unfortunately, it's a pretty small role.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 retains many of the explicit elements of the first film, but has been blockbuster-ized, spoiling a lot of what made the first so much fun.  Things start promisingly and cleverly, focusing on a dancing, oblivious baby Groot with a battle raging around him as a great 70s pop song plays.  After that, though, much of the premise is not very interesting and has way too many threads, both major and minor.  Added to this is a horrendous script, likely the worst I've seen from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  This weakness is immediately apparent after the introduction, and dooms at least a few scenes that could otherwise have been interesting.  The script is most glaring in much of the attempted humor - it is far more infantile, seemingly designed to please five-year-olds rather than adults.  Sure, there are some funny bits (particularly the Sovereigns, which pilot their ships from afar in essentially a massive arcade game, and their absurd self-seriousness), but it lacks almost any of the first film's mischief.  Despite being "cleaner", this film has some rather shocking amounts of cold-blooded violence.  This is coming from a reviewer not bothered by John Wick, but I found an entire ship's crew being stabbed, one at a time, by a guided arrow to be a bit much.  To cap it off, the film is too long with a final act that sees the chaos of the past two hours collapse into one final jumble before limping on for another fifteen minutes.

***

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the first big belly flop of the otherwise-impressive Marvel film universe.  The first film was a gamble that paid off spectacularly, following a group of not-so-super (or willing) heroes - without a single superstar character or actor - in space.  It's not so much that Marvel made it into a Serious Franchise (although its convoluted plot did it not favors) with this one, but rather that it became generic, overcrowded, and despite all the money spent on effects, the pitiful quality of the script put it in a league with films like *gulp* the Fast and Furious franchise.  There are a lot of promising elements in this franchise still, from its characters to the irreverent tone (at least the first film's).  But there needs to be a major, major rethink at Marvel headquarters for the next one.  Are they going to boldly continue into new, interesting territory as they've proved they can do successfully - or will they simply use these now-familiar faces as a front for a boring franchise with eyes only for box office rather than artistic success?  For this installment, give it a try at home if you are curious, but please avoid it in theaters.




By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52041243

The Circle

Score:  ***1/2 out of ***** (B-)

Directed by James Ponsoldt
Starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Karen Gillan, et. al.
Running time: 110 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  The Circle, based on the novel by Dave Eggers, tells the tale of a young woman who joins a huge social media tech company and quickly becomes the public face placed in front of its private ambitions.  Emma Watson and Tom Hanks provide watchable, intriguing characters but the plot is obvious and its message and direction inconsistent.  Still, there are plenty of good moments throughout, making it worth viewing at some point, if not an essential theater experience.


Mae Holland (Watson) is a young woman struggling to get by day to day, let alone launch a fulfilling, exciting career.  One day she gets her lucky break, though, when a college friend, Annie (Gillan) sets her up with an interview at the world's largest tech company, the Circle.  Mae gets in, and is dazzled as Annie takes her on a whirlwind tour of the Circle's massive, utopian campus.  Although she is thrilled with her new job, Mae returns home regularly to spend time with her parents and others, including childhood friend Mercer (Coltrane).  She is taken aback when the Circle shows a desire to be more than just her place of employment, but also like a second family.  Mae finds herself drawn closer and closer, to everything from the cheerful atmosphere to Circle leader Eamon Bailey's (Hanks) vision.  As Mae's own family grows worried about this closer connection, Mae herself is becoming an essential part of the Circle's mysterious mission - as millions around the world follow her every day life.

The Circle has an impressive cast, one not fully utilized but which still gives the film some of its strongest elements.  Emma Watson is the lead as Mae, a young woman drawn quickly from obscurity into a prominent position at a powerful tech company.  Watson does a good job and was a wise choice for the role.  She is particularly convincing as the unprecedentedly visible symbol of the Circle; as one of the (real) world's most famous actresses, she knows all too well both the adoration of a crowd but also the personal consequences of that attention.  Watson struggles a bit more with her early start as a "nobody", and her development is inconsistent, but this has at least as much to do with the script as her performance.  Tom Hanks is very impressive in the Steve Jobs-like role of Circle leader Eamon Bailey.  As always, he is quite charismatic, and easily makes Eamon seem a comforting presence even as the words he speaks become more and more disturbing.  Unfortunately, John Boyega is wasted in a small role that serves only as an unnecessary plot device.  And Karen Gillan and Ellar Coltrane, both fine actors, seem thrown off by the poor script and respond with equally poor, overacted performances.

The Circle is a thriller that, while largely failing as a drama, has its fair share of interesting moments and observations on the modern world.  The overall structure of the plot is familiar: a naive young person joins a massive, apparently benevolent yet mysterious organization, which uses her until she realizes its true intentions.  Unfortunately, this structure is rapidly apparent, removing much of the mystery.  On a related note, the film is too often both unsubtle and exaggerated in showing the motives or background for various developments; yet at other times, decisions (particularly from Mae) are jarringly inexplicable.  Boyega's character, a former Circle leader disillusioned by the company's direction (yet still always hanging out on campus for some reason), meets Mae at random times throughout to bluntly point out the obvious dangers to her.  Yet Mae continues on her path, if for no other reason than to keep the film going, right up until a very sudden and unconvincing ending.

Still, there are good elements in this film, too.  Hanks's very performance helps show how the Circle's omnipresent surveillance - while obviously extreme - could in fact appeal to both those in power as well as the masses in a variety of ways.  As for the Circle's culture, it is a clever exaggeration of the Google or Facebook utopian stereotype.  One particularly good scene has Mae confronted with two smiling Circle employees forcing her to get with the program - in the most passive aggressive way possible.  Later, when Mae becomes the face of the company, scenes depicting her comings and goings are made fascinating by a constant stream of social media posts that float around her on screen.  And the film's most emotional scene, involving Mae's childhood friend, may strike some as unrealistic, but was both effective and all too plausible to me.

***

The Circle had a lot of promising elements going for it, and while its failures make it an overall disappointment, it's still an intriguing film.  Social media is with us constantly, and news reports about the dangers of this are regular, yet seeing it put on film is still valuable.  The Circle proves the danger of it as well, falling prey to certain cliches and not presenting the most subtle, effective warnings about - and possibilities of - the technology.  With some impressive performances, particularly Tom Hanks's, and some well done parts here and there, it's not difficult to accept the failings yet focus instead on both the entertaining and enlightening features.  Certainly not an essential theater viewing option, The Circle will make for a nice change of pace choice at home.



By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52503603