Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

My god, I did not expect this movie to be this good. I am a big fan of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and while I do think it is one of the better MCU movies, this one is just better in practically every way. The plot is well structured, and the pacing is great. The movie also explores its characters way more thoroughly than the previous one. The struggle of finding a place where you belong is a central theme, and every important character has their own struggles related to this. The performances are great as usual, every actor really brings their own flavor to their character. The movie also has great visuals, with all the wacky and fun ideas you might expect from a space movie. The action scenes are great, and the cgi is pretty flawless. The movie is also way funnier than any other MCU movie, with every character being a great source of humor. It's so much comedy being presented it's actually a little too much for me sometimes. Some of the characters feel like they exist only to be comic relief, even though they also have serious struggles that deserve a more serious treatment than they get. That is my only complaint though, as this is a movie with great plot, characters and visuals, as well as a fantastic climax, even though they pulled the whole "saving the world"-plot point again. This is one of my favorite MCU movies and space movies in general, it's a great time and I highly recommend it.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a great movie, and I would say better than the recent superhero movies. I'm afraid thought that the first movie set the expectations so high that is not crazy to doubt if this one was able to keep up.

Visually is as good as the first one, the acting is on point and the soundtrack is dope. The plot is fine, although it falls under the "knowing better the characters and realizing their sad and deep feelings" cliché. It leaves me with the feeling that the first one was innovative and fresh, wherever this one just reused the formula.

Apart from that, this is an entertaining and fun movie, and I would recommend it to anyone who is into superhero or science fiction movies. It doesn't disappoint.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are hired by the leader of the well-planned Sovereign race Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) to destroy a monster to protect their valuable batteries. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket and Baby Groot defeat the monster and receive the notorious Nebula (Karen Gillan), who is Gamora estranged sister, as previously agreed to receive the bounty offered for her. However Rocket steals a couple of batteries and their spacecraft is attacked by the Ayesha and Sovereign. Out of the blue, the Sovereign fleet is destroyed by a mysterious ship and the Guardians crash on a planet. Soon they learn that the ship that helped them is owned by Ego (Kurt Russell), who claims to be Quill's father and invites Quill to visit his planet. He goes with Gamora and Drax while Rocket fix their space craft with Baby Groot and Nebula cuffed to debris.They head to the planet and Gamora and Drax Befriend the empathetic Mantis (Pom Klementieff) while Quill learns from the celestial Ego that he has powerful abilities. Meanwhile Ayesha hires the outcast Ravager Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker), who raised Quill, to hunt down the Guardians for them.

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is a magnificent sequel, with a full of action story and top-notch CGI. The witty humor associated to charismatic characters and cameo of famous actors make "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" a wonderful entertaining film. There are several scenes in the credit; therefore the viewer musts wait until the very end. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Guardiões da Galáxia Vol. 2" ("Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2")

I was lucky enough to see this on 20/4 at an industry screening which allowed me to sit on the film for a few days before I gave a review. I can safely say GotG Volume 2 absolutely wowed me. I can't believe these bunch of lovable misfit a-holes made one of the most MATURE themed films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is visually gorgeous. The use of colour, design and the straight up imagination of the source material outstand any MCU film prior. The action is glorious and astonishing. One scene in particular, I was jaw-dropped in its entirety as direction, action-choreography and music all came together so harmoniously. And THE MUSIC! What an eargasmic soundtrack. The songs are more poetic this time around and fit the subtext of the film perfectly. The trailers gave me the feel of the first movie; a straight-up Sci-fi action-comedy with a simple point A to B plot. GotGV2 is so much MORE than this! This film is patient with its characters and there is an emphasis on growth and family. It manages to balance 7-8 characters and gives almost all of them a satisfactory emotional arc. There is so much to chew on here with the issues and motifs felt by certain characters and I applaud that! This film is vastly different and I'm glad because I just love these characters so much! They are still so fun and energetic. It's great to see the team again and how their dynamic transforms. Also I forget to mention, the film is laugh-out-loud funny! All thanks to Drax who is by far the most comedic character and put me stitches.

Overall, this was both (I can't believe I'm saying this about the Guardians of the Galaxy) an emotionally dense and exciting blast. If Guardians 1 is the fast-paced Sci-Fi adventure like Star Wars was in 1977, then Vol. 2 is the deeper & richer film that takes its time to expand our beloved characters; just like Empire Strikes Back.

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.