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The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Review

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is a 2022 television special directed by James Gunn and starring Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff. It is a charming special.

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“We’re looking for the legendary Kevin Bacon!“

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It has been five years since the last Guardians movie and as a big fan of this series I was happy to see that they made a special out of it. It succeeds due to its characters, but it is very weak in plot and soundtrack. I am not a fan of Christmas or any other holiday for that matter, so this special focusing extensively on it did not thrill me. The holiday lights made for gorgeous visuals, but other than that the tone is overly cheesy throughout.

The soundtrack is the worst part of this special. It features modern rock that I am not a fan of at all. None of the songs were pleasant or memorable in any way and I grew tired of every single one of them very quickly. They were just there to buy them time and nothing more than that.

But the special wildly succeeds in characterization. Yes, most of the characters got the short end of the stick in terms of screen time with Groot and Rocket faring the worst, but Star-Lord got a couple of moments to shine. Chris Pratt’s performance was bland, but at least the character got a moving arc.

The standouts of course are Drax and Mantis, both being the stars this time around. The choice to pair these oddballs off was a terrific one and it led to such a fun dynamic. He destroys everything while she is more on the manipulative side of things. Both acted as children in a candy store throughout and their goofy personalities were so endearing. Bautista and Klementieff both did such a good job here.

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I also liked what they did with Kevin Bacon. He was a lot of fun and the highlight was that prolonged sequence in his house and yard. It is the only action sequence in the movie and the best moment by far. Another highlight was the emotional scene between Mantis and Peter that was more sweet than cheesy actually.