Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Spoiler-Free Review

Wow, I don’t even know where to begin with this review. There were so many things about this movie that I loved and I have to start somewhere, so I’ll start with this: nothing will ever top Stan Lee’s cameo in this movie. This was hands down his best cameo yet and I can’t stop thinking about it!

Vol. 2 picks up a couple months after the first Guardians of the Galaxy ends. This means the team is still relatively new and getting used to working together efficiently. The opening credits were the most fun I have had in the theater since the airport fight in Civil War. It was action packed and had the audience laughing the entire time. It allowed every character to shine and uniquely display their fighting styles, skills, and characteristics. It also served as a nice reintroduction to each character. Right from the start, you can tell what kind of movie it is and how much more explosive it will be in comparison to the first.

This movie felt much more personal and contained than the first one. The movie mainly focused on Peter Quill and the relationships in his life, but every single character had interesting development and moments that allowed them to shine. There is no weak link and James Gunn makes the audience care about all of the characters and the situations they are in. Even when the characters are just sitting around talking to each other, it is still so much fun. Vol. 2 introduced Ayesha, who is played by Elizabeth Debicki Ayesha is the leader of the Sovereigns, a group of superiors that hired the Guardians to protect their batteries from a space monster. Although she didn’t get much screen time, she definitely had a nice role in the movie. Kurt Russell was introduced as Ego the Living Planet. Ego was a great addition to the cast and was handled extremely well throughout the film. 

The special effects throughout the movie shined and seeing it in 3D was well worth the money. The unique landscapes and creatures were all stunning visuals to look at. The soundtrack was a blast and had the audience bobbing their head along to the music the entire time without taking anything away from the film.

It was obvious throughout the movie that James Gunn was given a lot of creative control, and he deserved it after the success of the first movie. Gunn isn’t afraid to be weird or take chances. The movie takes its time to develop and never seems rushed. The pacing is done extremely well and the structure could use some work, but the twist was a great payoff. Vol. 2 had real stakes, unlike other Marvel movies. I felt the emotional hardship the characters went through and it was great to see writing with true conflict, which is a problem many superhero movies and TV shows have. 

Although I loved this movie, I had a few issues with it. One of which was the jumbled plot. It took more than half of the movie to get into a solid conflict of interest. Although this conflict was well worth the wait, it was definitely noticeable. If the characters weren’t so well written, this could have been a major problem. Luckily, just watching all of these characters interact was a treat within itself so this flaw can be easily overlooked. 

The biggest weakness of this film was surprisingly also one of its biggest strengths, and this goes for the first Guardians of the Galaxy as well. There is no denying both movies are hilarious and have great comedic moments and jokes throughout. However, comedy often takes priority over emotional and heavy scenes. This happened several times in the first film, including moments like “There’s a little pee coming out of me right now” and the famous dance-off distraction. It also happened in Vol 2. There is a heavy scene in the movie where we get to learn more about Nebula’s past and all of the pain she has gone through. Karen Gillan delivers her dialogue perfectly and it is a very dramatic and emotional scene, but then all of that goes away as the result of a witty one-liner. The humor often takes away from great scenes instead of being contained in scenes where the humor can fully shine. I don’t want a serious, dark, and gritty version of Guardians of the Galaxy, I just want the characters to be taken seriously every once in a while. The worst culprit of this was Drax. Drax went from being a noble warrior to a childish comic relief. Drax deserves so much better than making sex, poop, and body jokes throughout the entire film.

Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a character-driven film about family that takes everything great about the first film and amplifies it. It works great as a sequel and a stand-alone film, even if it has some resemblance to the first movie. It has a great villain, unlike other Marvel movies. Even if the humor overtakes the film, it is still an incredibly fun time at the movies. 

3/5 stars