Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It sees the return of our favourite a-holes from outer space.

I was looking forward to Vol. 2 as Guardians of the Galaxy is my second favourite Marvel Cinematic Universe movie so far, the first being Captain America: The Winter Soldier so I went in with high expectations–did Vol. 2 meet them?

Yes it did. It met my very high expectations for this film. The film is set only a few months after the original guardians and the guardians have been a fully fledged team for a few months now.

We have some new members joining the team. We have Nebula (played by Karen Gillan) who hasn’t turned fully to the good side. Nebula is still a villain in this movie but we do get more backstory on why she is the way she is, which acts as an emotional catalyst to some of events in this movie.

We have Yondu (played by Michael Rooker) who, surprisingly, is one of the best characters in this movie. I didn’t really think that much of Yondu in the first film but he shows a more emotional side here, which is well done.

We also get Mantis (played by Pom Klementieff) as an addition. She’s good but she is just there. She sort of takes a backseat to the other characters.

Of course, we have the original Guardians, Star-Lord (played by Chris Pratt), Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana), Drax (played by Dave Bautista), Rocket (played by Bradley Cooper) and now Baby Groot (played by Vin Diesel). They are all on form. Baby Groot does add a new dynamic to the team as he’s not as smart as adult Groot was, which leads the guardians into some situations. Drax is actually the comic relief character of this film which works surprisingly well. Gamora has some sibling rivalry with Nebula and we get a good look at how different they are, which works well. Rocket is great and is sort of the antagonist of the team this time. And of course, we have Star-Lord who has some real character development when meeting his father ego, who is a living planet. Ego lures Peter into staying with him and then unleashes his evil plan. Ego is one of the few Marvel Cinematic Universe villains who is actually good. Ego’s a great villain. What makes a great villain is when the villain thinks he’s doing the right thing and the hero is the villain is the villain's eyes. That is what Ego is.

The humour in this film can feel a little bit forced at times but most of the time it works.

Overall, it’s another great film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but it does play it a little bit safe as it sticks to the formula of the first film, which still works but doesn’t really take it in a new direction. The fun is there but it feels less fun than last time. It doesn’t feel as fresh as the first one. Ego is one of the better villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Kurt Russell’s performance is fantastic. It’s a great movie and one which I will definitely watch again.

I give Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 a 4 out of 5.