Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) by Dana F — 09 Jul 2017

All hail James Gunn for accomplishing the ostensibly impossible: making a 2nd installment of a surprise break-out hit almost as great as the first. I say 'almost' because, inherently, Volume 2 loses traction because you can't duplicate the surprise factor.

That's what made the first one so awesome - no one was expecting it. But now, we are totally expecting it, and even so, writer/director Gunn et al have definitely succeeded in delivering a sequel that is worthy of the first.

It offers the same lightness and fun that the first one had in spades, and continues developing the characters that were introduced in the first. Though there are some new characters, the film spends most of its time expanding on the ones we already know, to mostly positive effect.

My biggest disappointment with this movie is that you never get to see the Guardians in action as a unit; for the most part, everybody does their own thing, and the movie is focused on developing the characters individually rather than as a group.

Volume 1 was spent establishing their origin story of how they came together to become more than the sum of their parts, and this film was primed to actually show us how awesome that could be. But alas, the group is immediately split up again, chasing their individual storylines.

The story gets a little bogged down in the middle, as the two central storylines are mired in "family themes" and are a little too heavy. Luckily, there are Drax and Rocket and Groot to lighten things up.

Strangely, Chris Pratt's inherent charm is rarely used for comedic effect. Instead, the film opts to land most of the humor on the shoulders of Rocket and Drax, who both rise to the occasion and deliver solid laughs.

.. and who can possibly resist Baby Groot, who may be the most adorable and lovable character ever put to film? The film also further develops the former villains Yondu and Nebula, whose character arcs are welcome additions to the plot.

This movie has a well written story, solid character development, lively action, and incredible visuals, which is really all you can hope for in a summer action flick. By the opening credits, I was grinning from ear to ear.

True, it's not quite as fresh or funny as the first one was, but it is definitely as fun, and that's all that matters for a movie like this.