It has its moments where it may crack a joke at the wrong time- but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is easily one of the best sequels i've ever seen- and without a doubt- an absolute blast. I knew from the minute I saw the trailer for the first film that Guardians of the Galaxy was going to be something special, and the same thing applies to this film. We get the iconic characters back in all their glory, as well as some new ones. The entire cast is great, there is no doubting any of the main 5's performances, as they are simply as great as before. What I do enjoy about this film is how they decided to make Nebula less of a 2D character and really provide the depth they didn't have time for her character in the first film. We also get an excellent performance from Kurt Russell as the God Ego- as well as newcomer Pom Klementieff's hilarious portrayal of Mantis, and of course the brilliant Michael Rooker as Yondu. The soundtrack is great, obviously, and Gunn's direction is so excellently crafted and visually sound that you can't help but feel every aspect of emotion he is going for while making it. It's an incredibly funny film, with some great action scenes, and a deeply emotional turmoil that honestly made me cry once...or twice. The visuals are also fantastic, as well as the makeup, and the look of the film is incredibly well developed- as well as its style and atmosphere. In the end, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is everything you would hope the sequel would be and more. It may not be quite as good as the original, but it certainly is more than a worthy successor.

My Rating: 9.9/10.

Quill finds his real father.

This is an enjoyable adventure with great humour and character moments.

The story is pretty threadbare outside of the development of characters like Quill, Yondu, Ego, and Nebula but this provides enough entertainment on its own. Written into most scenes are strong themes about family and friendship. What it means to be a parent. Surrogate parents and families. Estranged children searching for parental figures and family.

Of course it's all done with a great sense of humour, as characters like Drax, Mantis, Rocket, and Groot light up the screen with strong verbal and visual comedy.

Quill doesn't massively develop as a character, but we do learn more about his origins and powers. Alongside this the Guardians are portrayed as developing a family dynamic. This is great idea given they are all depicted as coming from traumatic beginnings.

Ego is an interesting character and fantastic visualisation of an outlandish graphic-novel concept. It is not particularly subtle, but the character epitomises an extreme version of the in-built selfish drives present in everyone. Kurt Russell is on great form.

The contrasting father figure of Yondu is written particularly well. He has been portrayed as having egotistical characteristics too, but here is given a huge redemption arc with with moments of great altruism. It is great to see Michael Rooker playing this type of character. He is as stereotypically violent and generally aggressive as in his previous roles, but for once he gets to show some heart.

Nebula and Gamora have solid moments of relationship development. These scenes all tie in well to the movie's main themes and are important to the overarching narrative of the MCU, particularly when watching The Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Karen Gillan and Zoe Zaldana both give strong performances, especially Gillan who is a consistently strong performer in the MCU.

Visually it is a colourful feast for the eyes and full of exciting spectacle as you would expect from a space adventure. For me the CGI action is a little too much on occasions and distracts from the story, but doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the movie. It generally tells the story through its cinematography and editing. Being a Guardians movie it has a great soundtrack of course with many a well placed song.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 plays it safe by repeating what made 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy a wonderful film, yet fails to amuse as much as its predecesor did. It's more colourful, more vibrant, more nonchalant and personal, but gives the sensation of relying too much on the popularity of the first film, with the same goofy characters doing goofy things and only a couple of them showing a real grow. Still a great experience, but not greater than the last one.