Review- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Most people agree, the first Guardians of the Galaxy was a surprise delight that enchanted critics and audiences and so a sequel was as inevitable as it was exciting. It doesn't quite measure up to the thrills of the first but lets break down why gradually and with as little pain as possible to die-hard Marvel fans. The plot seems like a good place to start, although it isn't particularly important to the film. The plot is essentially family. Like, everything is about family, in a way that shames Fast and Furious 8. Star Lord meets his long lost father and they play catch for a bit on his planet that is also him (it's a comic book movie, suspend your disbelief). Meanwhile, Gamora and Nebula are having a sisterly spat and Rocket and Groot team up with Yondu. The various strands come together towards the end for a great finale, although it feels odd to spend two thirds of the film splitting up the ensemble of the ensemble comedy.

As I mentioned though, it is an ensemble comedy and as such, you want the cast to have great chemistry, which they do, carried over in spades from the first film. At the front is Chris Pratt as Star Lord and he is still wonderful. Guys want to be him, ladies want to be with him and guys want to be with him also. He still has some of the flirtatious stuff with Zoe Saldana's Gamora, a back and forth that he appropriately relates to Sam and Diana from Cheers, which confuses all the aliens. Dave Bautista steals the show yet again as Drax and lights up the screen with his humour in nearly every scene. Two other specific actors are great who I want to talk about but I will just say that not a single person does a bad job. Hollywood legend Kurt Russel plays Star Lord's dad, the aforementioned living planet and he is clearly having a great time, walking around a planet that is him and getting to spout sci-fi nonsense. The odd standout for me though was Michael Rooker as Yondu. He had a decent but relatively minor role in the first film but gets much more screen time here and much more to do, giving some amazing jokes, including a Mary Poppins one that everyone adored.

But the film isn't perfect. Most people realised that this film couldn't live up to the first one, mainly due to the surprise factor of it and that is what essentially happened. The film is more of the same that you loved from the first film, but it also succumbs to some of the trends of superhero films of past years that we thought we had left behind. Without spoiling much, the final fight is highly reminiscent of the last one from Man of Steel. There is also plenty of destruction on a mass scale which Civil War proved isn't actually as impacting as smaller scale conflicts with deep personal meanings. It's unrelated but the film also starts slow. I personally found myself trying to motivate myself along by a desire to like the film and while I was eventually rewarded, it wasn't a perfect ride. Still, even at its worst, this film was better than the best films of DC's cinematic universe.

Try not to get your hopes up too high for this. I love the original and it still remains my favourite Marvel film so I knew this couldn't be quite as good and it certainly isn't. There is certainly joy to be had but there is also frustration. Marvel shouldn't take this lying down though as while they still have a great film here, they need to learn from their few mistakes to try and retain their footing before Guardians of the Galaxy turns into a parody of itself. Still, fans of the original will absolutely want to check this out and I give the film a