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Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 Review

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(This is written assuming you've seen the movie, if not, go away because spoilers and a lot of it won't make any sense)

Marvel's sequel to their hit action/comedy based on the a team largely unknown to non-comic fans. Its sequel delivers more of the same comedy, action and dynamic among the cast that everyone loved in the original. Is it as the original? Well I can say at the very least it isn't a bad sequel that just does more of the same thing with none of the original's heart.

On the comedy level this movie made me laugh just as hard as the original. Not anybody was doubting Marvel's ability to deliver on comedy, and if you are, where the hell have you been? My favorite dynamic was with Drax and Mantis. Drax is still good for a laugh with his social awkwardness and it's genius to put him with somebody who knows even less about social interaction than he does, and yet Mantis is so unaware of that that she goes to him for advice.

Story wise I feel the writers have stepped up their game. The original Guardians had an entertaining if predictable plot. This sequel managed to include more unexpected moments. The twist with Ego being a villain was given a nice bit of subtle foreshadowing in the last film when Yondu briefly mentioned Star Lord's father was a jerk, and for a pirate to think that, you have to have done something. But the twist is still surprising before Mantis hints at it because of how good an act Ego puts up at first. He feels like an older version of Star Lord with his general ego and apparent soft side underneath, which also makes him a lot of fun to watch. I did expect him to be a villain when I first saw him, but that was just because I read some about him in the comics. But before Mantis dropped the hint about his real goal I actually was going a different route with his character.

Well in truth the movie did some things and made Ego more sympathetic, by showing how he was alone for millions of years. He's undeniably evil in his actions, but he sees the lives of the beings his plan wipes out as so brief that he can't see any value in them. He can barely even comprehend mortal beings concepts of right and wrong. I do not share the view that MCU has a weak string of villains, but giving Ego as much screen time as this film did definitely helped flesh him out, explain his motives, and still making him somebody you can love to hate for the things he's done.

Nebula was an interesting part of this film. She didn't have enough screen time to do much besides by a henchman for Ronan in the last film. Beyond the comedy she got from playing off the protagonists, she is actually made in a sympathetic character despite what she did in the last movie. She said she hated Thanos for what he did to her and we finally see her explain why, and why she hates Gamora. And give the film credit for actually giving her a legitimate grievance against her sister even after Gamera saved her life last film, it was hard to Nebula to even think of forgiving her after she played a part in her suffering the first place.

Yondu's extra screen time was interesting after the first film painted him as mostly being a greedy pirate. I was surprised the film actually built on the mentions of how he was always "soft" on Quill. Yeah he did make threats on his life in the last film, but given the situation he was in, his crew would likely have turned on him and gone after Quill anyways. Kinda like in this film, when they finally realize that Yondu won't kill Quill as long he can keep finding a way out. I loved seeing him play off Rocket and how he saw how alike the two of them were. The makers definitely knew what they were doing when they made the decision to have Yondu survive last film with the arc they did with him here.

There isn't much I can say about our core cast that hasn't been said from the last film. The movie has a family theme going to it, so it was good to see Gamora and Quill do what family members inevitably do, have a fight, and then learn to move on from it. But in my opinion Gamora's best moments are when she's facing Nebula and actually reconciles with her.

Drax quirk has managed to avoid getting old thanks to him trying to move on to actually using humor, which along with his general straight delivery of wacky dialogue, means that most everything that comes out of his mouth is gold since he's still as socially awkward as ever. And I don't have much to say about Rocket beyond his general snark. Baby Groot thankfully didn't have all his good moments shown off in the trailer and still had his share cute and hilarious bits.

Is this movie as good as the original? I can't say right now, but I feel it was at least a worthy successor.
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haleigh426's avatar
What was your favorite parts?

1) sad part?

2) funny part?

3) scary part?

4) heartwarming part?

5) unbelievable part?