Review – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2

The first of the MCU movies that will be released this year has finally arrived and it is one of my most anticipated movies of the year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2. The first Guardians of the Galaxy was an incredible movie that surprised us all with its humour and heart. It was a great space opera and still stands in my opinion as one of the best films in the MCU. Thus this new entry into the story of Star-Lord and company had a big shoes to fill and a hard challenge ahead. As I give a short review of this film I will attempt to give the minimum amount of spoilers.

So did it manage to maintain the excellent level of the first one? Well in my humble opinion, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 was as good as the first one, although different in many ways. First of all the music was great, but that was to be expected. Whilst perhaps not as famous as the ones we got to see in the first film the song choice was perfect and they were a great reflection of the tone of the film as well as what the characters were facing. I for one loved the more subdued song choice in this film and thought it really reflected tone of the film.

The humour was great. The film was fun and had great dialogue with, Drax the Destroyer, played by Dave Bautista, (yay wrestling!) stealing the show with the humour, as he was impeccable in his delivery. The film was fun and had great action scenes, although it was a bit slower than the other one. The start of the film is great and it already sets you up for a great fun film that will entertain you and make time fly.

However what makes this film so good is the characters and its heart. In this film we are already familiar with the characters so we can immediately delve into them and their emotional state. This film despite the action, the humor, superheroes…is really about family and how family is defined, almost all the Guardians in this movie face that question and this provides a lot of heart and emotion to this movie. This is something that they are able to do great in the movie, they combine humour with emotion perfectly, showing us that a fun movie can be also emotional. This is what I am seeking in comic book films (except in Batman). Comic books are a fun media, a media that is entertaining and colourful with occasional emotional moments and high stakes that add to the story. I feel like Marvel comics could really learn from the MCU in adapting this tone that has been sorely lacking in comics over the past couple of years.

In conclusion I loved Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2. It was a fun movie that had me laughing but also crying at some points. Most importantly it had me hooked and invested in it. The new additions are great, Kurt Russell did a phenomenal job, the cameos throughout the film are fun, the easter eggs for us comic book fans were awesome (The Watchers exist in the MCU!) and the story was great, allowing you to learn more about the characters. This movie does have its flaws but in my opinion it did everything it was supposed to do, entertain me and make me fall in love with the characters even more (Baby Groot is incredible, and I loved Gamora in this film). I recommend you all go and watch this movie as soon as you can!