Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) by Psycros — 07 May 2017

Starts off almost exactly like you would expect but quickly goes south. The intro sequence is cringe-worthy and makes you wonder how you ever thought Baby Groot was adorable. Things quickly get worse as the film tries WAY too hard to be (for some unfathomable reason) overly serious and dramatic.

All of this sudden gravitas and focus on character development is crammed into the nearly humorless middle of the film which makes it drag terribly. A couple of the jokes are downright painful - the writers should have been put out an airlock.

At least one major plot point falls apart if you think too long about it. Stan Lee's "cameos" feel clumsy and way too meta. Even the soundtrack is disappointing - the one decent song is ruined when its agonizingly employed as a story element.

SOOO many better tunes from that era were available, too. Frankly, the credits are more interesting than the actual film..lots of hints at major developments in the Marvel movie universes (plural is intended, hint hint).

The whole thing ends up feeling like little more than a springboard for things to come in which the Guardians will probably be glorified window dressing. A must-see for the Marvel completionists but for anyone else its a complete "meh", and probably not required viewing in the overall scheme of things.