10 Most Anticipated Summer Blockbusters Of 2017
1. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
Release date: 5th May
Guardians of the Galaxy’s standing as one of the most ‘out there’ and idiosyncratic films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon is probably best attributed to James Gunn. While most of the MCU’s film-makers bring unique voices and styles to their specific films, James Gunn feels like ‘the one that got away with it’, a rascal who managed to spin a modern space-opera classic out of some D-list characters very few people had heard of. Guardians might have done gangbusters at the box office, but it nonetheless feels like a James Gunn movie, a grungy sci-fi B-movie that just so happened to have been funded by Disney.
With that in mind, anticipation of his sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, couldn’t be higher. Even the film’s name implies Gunn’s voice is still very much intact, though, as the ‘Vol. 2’ sub header (a reference to Star Lord’s Earth mixtapes from the first film) marks a radical departure from the MCU’s fairly standard naming conventions.
The original Guardians return in full force, with Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper reprising their roles as Star Lord, Drax, Gamora, Groot and Rocket Raccoon. The sequel’s biggest ‘get’ is undoubtedly Kurt Russell, whose career resurgence seems set to continue with his role as Ego the Living Planet.