REVIEW #221 Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special (2022)

This holiday special explores the beloved Guardians of the Galaxy in their new home over the Christmas period, as Drax and Mantis plan a wonderful surprise gift for Peter Quill. 

James Gunn leaves his trademark humour all over this holiday special and although some of the dialogue was a little cheesy and almost pantomime esque at times, there is still plenty of guaranteed laughs to enjoy. The overarching plot doesn’t necessarily contribute anything to the MCU timeline but it does provide some context to the Guardians current whereabouts, whilst also giving fans an update on the characters. The special is heavily centred around Drax and Mantis which isn’t what I was expecting, but nonetheless, when those two share the screen I always find myself enjoying the chemistry between them. In regards to the cinematography, it follows the usual Guardians of the Galaxy style, although with the much shorter run time, we see far less of it. It does still include a pretty amazing soundtrack which is another mainstay in any of Gunn’s productions. I particularly enjoyed the final moments where they had decorated their new home with Christmas decorations, it looked great and it certainly puts you in the festive spirit. But unfortunately the humour, the guardians themselves and the added joy of throwing Kevin Bacon in the mix, couldn’t quite convince me that this holiday special was necessary. I understand that Gunn may want to jump straight into things with the third film so he could have wanted to get some of the minor details laid out in this first but I don’t think it provided too much to be honest. A Christmas special is always nice but with the abundance of Marvel content we are getting already, I just feel like perhaps this could have been left alone. But don’t get me wrong it’s still enjoyable for sure, however, for those fans who are left feeling exhausted by the packed marvel schedule, you can give this a miss and not really miss anything. For the fans who love the extra content, I’m sure you’ll enjoy a nice Christmassy film from some of your favourite characters.

Overall (7/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan