'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is directed by James Gunn, and it stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and Kurt Russel. It is the sequel to the major surprise hit of 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy. The first Guardians film is regarded by many to be one of, if not the best film produced by Marvel Studios to date. I would certainly agree with that statement. The first Guardians of the Galaxy was such a fun and original film, and I love every second of it. But we’re not here to talk about that one, this is the sequel. So is it a good follow-up?

   Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was a lot of fun, and most people will absolutely love it. I didn't love it as much as I would've liked, but I still think it was pretty good. While as a whole, it's not as good as the first film, that may be in part because we know what we’re getting this time around. Nobody expected the first film to be as good as it was, so expectations for this one were much higher than then they were the first time around.
   The big thing that this film carries over into Vol. 2 from the first is the fun. In fact, I would go as far to say that at several points, this film surpasses the first in terms of the amount of fun being had. Right from the get-go, you can’t help but smile and tap your feet to the songs on Awesome Mix Vol. 2. One big concern I had going into this film (and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who had it) was Baby Groot. I was afraid that this would become Baby Groot: The Movie, more than a Guardians of the Galaxy film. I’m so glad that I was wrong. Baby Groot is in this film a lot, and he has some truly hilarious scenes, but he was never the focus. He was completely a supporting character, and I believe that is the extent to which he works best.
   As with all good sequels, this film introduces several new characters into the fold. The most notable additions were Kurt Russel as Ego, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord. They all gave really good performances, and they each fit into the overall Guardians vibe really well. I was curious to see how they would handle Kurt Russel’s character because for those of you who don’t know, he’s playing a character called Ego the Living Planet, and yes, he is literally a planet. However, they explained it very well in the film. Not once did I find myself questioning it or thinking it was too silly. His character fit the narrative very well, and Russel gave a great performance in the role.
   This film is far from perfect though. There are two major flaws I have with it. The first is a more common flaw. That’s the pacing. The pacing of this film felt pretty uneven throughout. I counted three times that I found myself spacing off (no pun intended) because the film slowed down so much and there wasn’t anything vital happening. The second complaint I have is a little different. Oddly enough, I think they tried to develop their characters too much. Every member of the Guardians in this film, at one point or another, has some big emotional character building scene. That may sound great, but there are six or seven of them at this point, so those scenes are very frequent. Since those scenes happen so often, it makes them all lose their effect a little bit. If there had been only a couple really powerful moments, they would’ve worked wonderfully. However, since those scenes were used way too often, they lost their emotional weight.
   After just criticizing the character development in the film, I’m now going to turn around and complement it, specifically with Michael Rooker’s Yondu. I wasn’t a big fan of Yondu in the first film. His whistle-spear-thing was pretty cool, but other than that, I could’ve cared less. However, they handled the character of Yondu in Vol. 2 perfectly. In fact, the emotional scenes with him were the ones that worked the best. He became an extremely interesting character. He had motivations and different sides to him that I didn't expect. By the end of the film I was completely blown away; that’s because Yondu became arguably my favorite character in the film, which is a testament to both James Gunn and Michael Rooker.
   Overall, I thought Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was a pretty good follow-up to the original film. It may not be quite the same quality, but it’s still a lot of fun. The new additions to the cast all worked really well, and Michael Rooker’s Yondu was fantastic. The pacing was off at times, and they tried a little too hard to develop their characters, but those are the only major flaws I had with it. I’m excited to see where they take these characters in the future, and how exactly they’ll fit into Avengers: Infinity War next summer.
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7.5/10

   So what did you think of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? How does it compare to the original for you? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter. It really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!

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