Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Review

    I want to start off this review stating that I saw the first Guardians' movie 10 times in the theater, which is more than any other I have ever seen. With that said, this sequel does what is apparently extremely hard for movie series to do, which is live up to the hype coming off of the greatness of the first. While I can not say (after just one viewing) that this movie exceeds the first, I am very happy to say that I had just about as much fun this time around as I remember having opening night of the original.

    Vol 2 brings back writer/director James Gunn, the main stars (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Batista, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel), as well as some new additions to the main credits (Michael Rooker, Karen Gillian, and Kurt Russell). The story centers on Peter Quill (Pratt) and the other Guardians as they are hired by an alien race, the Sovereign, to protect their precious batteries from invaders. When it is discovered that Rocket (Cooper) has stolen the items they were sent to guard, the Sovereign dispatch their armada to search for vengeance. As the Guardians try to escape, the mystery of Peter's parentage is revealed.

    Right off the bat this film comes out swinging with the humor and great soundtrack that was a staple of what made the first movie so great and of course adds in the adorableness of Baby Groot, which I'm glad was not overused throughout the entirety of the film. While the first movie introduced the team and showed them coming together, the sequel shows what a family is like after spending a few months together in a ship and begins to reach a more emotional level with the aspect of family between a lot of the main characters and even some surprise characters. Drax (Batista) and Yondu (Rooker) were easily, to me, the two main standouts of the movie, as well as a surprisingly good performance by Sean Gunn (James' brother) as Yondu's first mate. This movie also brought something most Marvel movies have trouble with in having a good villain (which I won't spoil as to who the character is).

    While the soundtrack of this movie wasn't as great as the first, it still had some memorable moments and again serves as almost another character in the film. Some of the negatives to me were the Sovereign race seemed to be way over the top characters and pretty much every scene they were in didn't really work for me. Also, Karen Gillian's performance as Nebula, again was overly dramatic in everything she did and said which almost ruined what was a good storyline throughout the film that carried over from the first. Other than those small micro-issues I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and will definitely be seeing it a few more times while it is in the theater, especially in IMAX. Make sure you also stay n your seat after the movie as there are 5 during/after credits scenes.

8.5/10