Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) by Goo4You — 05 May 2017

The movie is just one running gag to another, but the charm from the 1st movie carries it to it's wonderful frantic conclusion. Make no mistake about this; GotG2 is fanservice for fans of GotG1. Beyond that, it serves nearly nothing to the overarching story arc of the Marvel movies to this point. Other than the mention of Adam Warlock during the end credits, this was the explanation of just who Peter Quill's dad is and brings us no closer to Infinity wars. In truth vol 2 is here because there was a first movie that had lose threads. If the first one had more conclusive information...vol 2 would not have existed.

It was great though, nearly as good as the first one, but lacked the warmth of that movie. I mean this via character development and the physical world on screen. Nearly everything about the 1st one popped, two was a bit darker in tone and visuals. Acting for some here were great (Yondu, Rocket and to a minor degree Drax) while some not so much (Nebula, Gamora, and the depiction of Groot). Karen Gillan can do well with whatever she's given, but all the direction they gave her in this movie was "vomit anger with every word." There is no depth beyond ME ANGRY AT WORLD!! Gamora is the same, but change anger with simmering apathy and underdeveloped affection. Groot had few funny moments and I know these movies are quasi-aware of themselves, but really did we need a car window decal moment for him? Did we need a moment where Tazerface states that they can't kill him because he's too "adorable?" I would recommend to people going to see this not to view the movie as the next movie in the marvel movie series leading to the infinity war; you'll be disappointed. Go into this move instead as the second part of the Guardians of the Galaxy mini story arc within the Marvel Cinematic universe. In jokes are aplenty as well as resolutions for the prior movie.