GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

It's back to superheroes in space!  Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 continues the adventures of Marvel's baddest good guys, adding family issues, a universe-wide menace, and lots of comedy.

The movie opens with Star-Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), and the tiny Baby Groot (voice of Vin Diesel) protecting some valuable and powerful batteries that belong to the Sovereign, a gold-skinned and easily offended race.  The Guardians also have Nebula (Karen Gillan), Gamora's vengeful sister, as their prisoner.  The mission is a success, but when Rocket steals a bunch of the Sovereign's batteries, their leader Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) wants them dead.

The Guardians are almost killed by Sovereign ships, but the heroes are saved by the sudden appearance of Ego (Kurt Russell) -- who's Star-Lord's long-lost father.  Accompanied by the empathic and innocent Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Ego wants to reconnect with his son -- and to show him the powers they both possess -- on his planet.  While Peter, Gamora, and Drax travel with Ego, Rocket and Groot remain behind to repair the ship.  Meanwhile, Ayesha has hired Yondu (Michael Rooker) to kill the Guardians, Nebula escapes, and things are hardly what they seem...

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 is pretty entertaining, albeit slightly flawed.  The cast once again does a great job as the heroes who are still out for a profit, and the characters of Ego and Mantis are nice additions to this outer-space part of the Marvel Universe.  There's plenty of humor here, plus plenty of action from speedy space battles to hand-to-hand combat.  The movie is a little long -- one story line could have been shortened or cut out -- and the use of music from the '70s and '80s feels a little more heavy-handed than in its predecessor.  Still, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 delivers plenty of laughs, thrills, and general fun.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

PASSENGERS

Science fiction often uses futuristic trappings to address current or universal issues.  In the case of Passengers, it comes down to a simple message: It sucks to be alone.

This movie starts with the starship Avalon as the main character.  The ship is taking 5000 passengers and 200-some crew -- all in suspended animation -- on a 120-year mission to colonize the planet Homestead II.   The ship maintains its course, adjusts its systems to changes, and keeps the sleeping people stable.

After the Avalon passes through a heavy meteor storm, passenger Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is awakened from his sleep -- with 90 years to go on the trip, and with everyone else still asleep.  With his only companionship the android bartender Arthur (Michael Sheen), Jim goes through the expected phases: trying to return to sleep, attempting to find out what's going on (though his engineering skills can't get him to the crew), indulging in on-ship hedonism, and even contemplating suicide.

As Jim looks over the information on his fellow passengers, he becomes interested in Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence).  Jim struggled with the decision whether or not to wake her: He could really use companionship, but waking her would leave her stuck in the same situation as him.  After bouncing back and forth, he wakes her up, helps her with their situation, and begins a relationship with her.  But what will happen if she finds out he woke her up?  Will anyone else awake early?  And what's behind the occasional glitches on the Avalon -- which are becoming more frequent and serious?

Passengers is an okay movie that never tries to do much beyond its basic premise.  While Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are fine actors, they don't have much romantic chemistry or stretching in their roles.  The best part of the movie is the opening, when we get to see a possible future where automation handles everything.  But two people stranded on a ship that seems to supply everything but what they really want -- to sleep until they arrive at their destination -- turns out to be less interesting or compelling that one would think.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel's latest superhero movie, is both predictable and fun.  It takes a bunch of hardened adversaries who turn out to have hearts of gold, a failure of the past made up for in the present, and lots of former enemies rallying together.

At the start of the movie (1988), young Peter Quill runs out of the hospital after his mother dies (and he was too scared to take her hand before the passed away) and he is promptly abducted by aliens.  Jump to the present, and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is a criminal, heartbreaker, and scam artist in outer space.  He calls himself "Star Lord" (though he's the only one who does), hoping to build a reputation; and his most prized possession is the Walkman and tape he had when he was abducted.  And his latest job -- getting and delivering a mysterious orb -- had everyone after him.

This is where the plot gets complicated.  Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), a Kree fanatic, has promised to give the orb to Thanos (Josh Brolin) and in exchange Thanos will destroy the planet Xandar, home of the Nova Corps.  Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is Thanos' adopted daughter who wants to get the orb -- but to keep it away from Thanos; her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) suspects betrayal , and will engage in some of that herself.  Since Peter didn't deliver the orb like his boss Yondu (Michael Rooker) wanted, Yondu puts a bounty out on Quill.  This leads to his running into two unique bounty hunters: Rocket (Bradley Cooper), a cybernetic raccoon who's gun-crazy, inventive with electronics, and acerbic; and Groot (Vin Diesel), a large humanoid tree who only says "I am Groot."  And soon enough Quill, Gamora, Rocket and Groot meet up with Drax the Destroyer (former wrestler Dave Bautista), whose family was killed by Ronan and who only wants to kill him in return.  Oh. and the Nova Corps wants to arrest Peter.  And the orb turns out to contain an extraordinary power.

As I stated earlier, the movie is predictable -- the stars go from bickering and fighting to bonding and friendship; the bad guys get more and more evil -- but the borderline silliness makes the film enjoyable.  Chris Pratt is pretty funny as the action hero who knows he's not trustworthy, Bradley Cooper practically steals the movie with Rocket's one-liners and bad behavior, and Vin Diesel manages to put a lot of emotion into his character's only three words.  Dave Bautista gets a lot of mileage of both Drax's action and his taking everything literally.  Zoe Saldana is given less comic material, but she kicks a lot of ass as the martial arts expert.  There's also plenty of action -- from a high-tech jailbreak to shoot-outs to an epic battle to save a planet -- and the special effects are terrific, from making Rocket and Groot almost believable to the alien worlds and weaponry.  Guardians of the Galaxy may be goofy, but it's also very funny and often pretty exciting.

I'm not sure how Guardians of the Galaxy will fit into the new Marvel movie universe (though Thanos was part of The Avengers, and there are hints the Guardians sequel could have them on Earth) but it works pretty well as a summer blockbuster.  It's dopey and effects-heavy, but it's helped tremendously by a nice mix of comedy and action, plus a terrific cast.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

THE LEGO MOVIE

Who's have guessed that a movie with the most blatant merchandising tie-ins ever would still manage to be so entertaining?  The Lego Movie has plenty of toy tie-ins, but it also has some terrific action, a sly sense of humor, and plenty of pop culture references -- plus some metafictional moments tossed in as well.

Emmet (Chris Pratt) is the ultimate regular guy and conformist in a world entirely made out of Lego.  Emmet always follows instruction manuals (from buildings to life), loves everything that's popular, and agrees with everyone in the hopes that they'll like him.  After a run-in with the free-spirited Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), Emmet gets the Piece of Resistance attached to him.  This convinces the blind old prophet Vitrivius (Morgan Freeman) that Emmet is "the Special," a MasterBuilder destined to save the Lego universes -- with some help from other MasterBuilders, from Batman (Will Arnett) to the cute-and-repressing-rage Uni-Kitty (Alison Brie), to the 1980s spaceman Benny (Charlie Day) to Lego characters ranging from Shakespeare to Michelangelo (sculptor) and Michaelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle), and Lincoln.   Too bad Emmet doesn't seem to have any original ideas besides a double-decker couch.

It turns out that President Business (Will Ferrell) is also the evil Lord Business, a control freak who hates anyone showing any creativity.  Business' plan is to use a non-Lego artifact called Kragle to freeze all Legos in place on Taco Tuesday -- and send in his Micromanagers to pose them as he wants.  Business' enforcer is a split-personality police officer called Good Cop/Bad Cop (Lian Neeson), whose personality changes as his head spins around.  And there are plenty of robot cops and skeletons, not to mention vehicles, to chase the good guys,

The Lego Movie manages to be as entertaining in its own way as the original Toy Story.  The voice talent in The Lego Movie is impressive (especially Will Arnett as the self-important Batman and Liam Neeson alternating between menacing and silly), and the visual effects make almost the entire movie feel like it was built out of Lego sets.  There's lots of humor, some surprisingly touching moments, and plenty of excitement.  The Lego Movie is another terrific animated feature that has as much appeal for adults as for kids.

Overall grade: A-
Reivewed by James Lynch