GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 - NON-SPOILER REVIEW

PLEASE NOTE - THE FOLLOWING IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW. I WILL NOT REVEAL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS FROM THE MOVIE.

With the massive success of Deadpool last year and Logan this year, it may seem as though studios would fall into the same trap they always do when a movie or pair of movies does something different in a genre and are successful, and that is copy, rinse and repeat. Fortunately, while our Lord and Saviour Kevin Feige is helming the MCU fans of the franchise do not have to fear about an R rated movie happening purely for the sake of it.

When James Gunn originally came onboard the great ship Marvel many people (including me) scratched their head as to why Marvel chose to greenlight such a leftfield property with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1. As we all now know, it was a stroke of genius that opened up the cosmic side of the MCU in a very different way to Thor, gave us great characters, fun and humour and could be it's own thing without having to worry too much about fitting in with the ongoing over-arching story as the other MCU movies tend to do.

Due to it's massive box office success (as well as hugely popular and well sold soundtrack) James Gunn has been tasked with trying to follow up, what is for most people, one of the best MCU movies to date (Vol 1 is personally in my top 5 right now). Early critic reviews have been fairly consistent with their comments on the movie, but is that justified or is the movie just as amazing as the first?

The story/plot
Star Lord (Peter Quill) meets the mysterious and ancient being who is father. While he and the team try to avoid the murderous attentions of a race of superior beings, is Star Lord's father the benevolent being he seems or is there more to him than meets the eye?

Overall opinion
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that movie. It was, for many part of it, just a s good, if not better, than Vol 1. All the returning characters are just as funny as before, the action is great and the visual aspects and CGI continue to impress. With that being said though, I think I only enjoyed it as much because my expectations were a little lower than they had been originally due to some of the critic reviews I had read/watched on YouTube.

Obviously, this is just my opinion, but as a standalone movie and sequel this movie is tons of fun. It is much funnier than Vol 1, however I think in some places they could have done with one or two less jokes in order to keep the tension or emotion of the scene. But that is a minor quibble. One thing one YouTube reviewer said that I do agree with is that you do get a sense of the rhythm of the dialogue and almost know when a joke is coming. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in one or two instances the joke didn't hit as hard as it could have done because I was expecting it. Still, when compared with some of the humourless comic book movies that other studios have made, having lots of jokes cannot really be seen as a bad thing.

I was (pleasantly) surprised at some of the emotional beats and how there was an overwhelming sense of "family" motif throughout the film, much more so than Fast 8 (maybe when Vin had finished voiceover duties on this he tried to inject that same sense into that franchise, but without the Marvel backing and having a car vs submarine scene, it got lost in the shuffle! lol).

And then, there is Kurt Russell. The man, the myth, the legend. I'm a huge fan, having seen many of his movies. Having him as Star Lord's dad was a stroke of genius. He brings all his Kurt Russell-ness to the screen in a big way and is a joy to watch. You fully buy into him as the character and will be totally engaged every time he is on screen.

Overall, there were no major surprises in the film, a lot of surprising emotional beats/touching scenes towards the end of the film and lots of laughs to be had. At 136mins, it may seem long, but the time flew by, which is always proof that a movie has good pacing and engaging characters.

The Performances
Chris Pratt - Star Lord
Still effortlessly funny and charismatic. Definitely beefed a little more this time round too.

Zoe Saldana - Gamora
Not given as much to do in this film as the last, but still looks stunning in green, is as badass as they come and has great chemistry with Pratt and the rest of the team.

Dave Bastista - Drax
They definitely play up the comedic elements of his character a lot more in this film and he is masses of fun to watch. He has some great one liners but also some surprisingly emotional scenes too that i never knew we would ever get from Dave .

Bradley Cooper - Rocket
Even though he's the voice of the character you can tell he is having masses amounts of fun. The character has a couple of really badass moments too, which were great to watch.

Vin Diesel - Baby Groot
So cute you want to die. But even in that cuteness he has some really "aww" moments that were touching or you ended feeling really sorry for him. I know that's more the CGI animation than the voice as he only says three words, but together with Vin's inflection and the CGI the character is not at all one note.

Karen Gillan - Nebula
Given a lot more to do in this movie than the last, although she did seem to stick out a little from others, purely due to being almost too serious. That may be due to editing or the direction she was given, but the character didn't seem to have developed much beyond the rage she showed in Vol 1. Not a criticism, but it felt a bit at odds from the other characters. That being said, the actual performance from the former Amy Pond was still enjoyable to watch.

Michael Rooker - Yondu
As with so many others in the film, a good performance, with some really touching and emotional beats. But he still has some cool badass moments too.

Pom Klementieff - Mantis
The newcomer to the group who is very naive in a humorous way. The scenes between her and Drax and a joy to behold. A great addition to the team that has room to grow as a character in Vol 3.

OTHER STUFF
The effects
As visually stunning a spectacle to behold as any movie that has come out recently. Some of the CGI scenes are truly a thing of beauty, beyond the imagination of anything I have seen either in movies or even comic books.

The action
Some really good action scenes, although a couple of times they strayed dangerously close to the Transformers "lots of action happening on screen but I can't tell exactly what's happening" territory.

Other stuff
Cameos - This movies has one of the best surprise cameos EVER. In any movie. Not just a comic book movie. And speaking of cameos, the Stan Lee cameo is HUGELY interesting, especially if you know your comic book lore. There was also two further surprise cameos that I thought were awesome too, because I love these two actors and it was great seeing them.

Music - Not quite as great (ie catchy/hum-worthy) as Vol 1, but still fits with the film extremely well.

Some people online complained recently that the Thor Ragnarok trailer looked too much like GOTG. Well, see some things in this movie and some other alien species that I'm sure will fit into that movie perfectly, so it's a two way street.

Post Credit scenes - There are FIVE. Yes, you read that correctly. There are five dotted throughout the credits, so stay, watch, enjoy the music and enjoy the actual credits themselves as there are little things that happen that make the credits an actual joy to read. One of these scenes (again if you know your comic book lore) does potentially set up something interesting for future movies, particularly the Avengers Infinity War films.

Final verdict
In this day and age where some people online deal only in absolutes comes Vol 2. I will say that overall it is not as good as the first one, but that doesn't make it a bad movie (Back to the Future 2 isn't as great as the first movie, but that doesn't make it bad). Do you need to see this movie to further your understanding of the MCU and the infinity stones arc? No. But that's a a good thing. Not every movie has to be hugely connected. If you enjoyed Vol 1 and like these characters then you will thoroughly enjoy this movie.

Score - 7.8/10

My Movie rating system
10- Citizen "F*%king" Kane (A+)
9- Bloody Great (A)
8- Really rather good (A-)
7- Pretty decent (B+)
6- Definitely above average (B)
5- Middle of the road average (C)
4- Mediocre (D)
3- Meh (E)
2- Crap (F)
1- Why the hell did I waste my my time and money of this abomination (unrated)