On September 2nd, Vin Diesel posted a live video to his Facebook page containing his initial reaction to a screening of footage from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. An conversation between Vin Diesel and writer-director James Gunn follows the initial reaction.
Diesel raves over what he saw, often returning to the refrain of, “Guys, give me a second here.” Afterwards, Gunn explains that the clip contains footage of what was shown at San Diego Comic-Con — but with additional goodies.
The laudatory tone of the video is reminiscent of a tweet made by Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels about the then-upcoming Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. In the tweet, posted November 2nd, 2014, Daniels states:
“No movie sequel is better than The Empire Strikes Back.” You might eat those words for Xmas dinner in 2015. Joy & Indigestion to the world!
— Anthony Daniels (@ADaniels3PO) November 3, 2014
Whether Daniels was expressing his genuine opinion or just trying to juice people up remains uncertain. His teasing use of the word “might” suggests the latter. Alternatively, it could have been a smidgen of both. If he was serious, he definitely wandered into hyperbole. The Force Awakens was a great experience, but, in my opinion, it did not match its predecessor.
What the Daniels episode reminds us is that social media is another tool for filmmakers to promote their projects. Regardless of how genuine they are in their promotions, we may end up disagreeing with them.
Gunn’s approach provides a more cautious counterpoint to Diesel, describing the first film as “quite inspired” and the second as “even more so in certain ways.” This approach implies that the second film may not top the first in every category but that it is praiseworthy on its own terms.
Instead of vague positivity, Gunn illustrates with concrete examples about what those more inspired aspects are. He addresses Nebula as a “much deeper character than we got in the first movie.” Deepening the Nebula character is a welcome development, as she was one of the few weak links in an otherwise excellent screenplay.
Better to undersell with reasonable expectations than to oversell and be disappointed. As if Marvel’s reputation alone wasn’t enough to land all of our butts in a theater seat anyways.
The movie arrives May 5th, 2017.
You can watch Vin Diesel’s Facebook Live video here:
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