In true Marvel fashion, things get more and more elaborate in the latest installment of Marvel’s quirky franchise, Guardians of the Galaxy.
Space battles, planet-warping and narrowly escaping death follow as the Guardians make their way to a remote planet.
Starlord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket Racoon and Groot (in baby form) all return.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 picks off months after the conclusion of Vol. 1 and immediately sets the tone for the rest of the movie with an action-packed opening title-scene.
Each character trait and personality is on display in this scene as the “Guardians” attempt to retrieve a set of items from a horrid space-monster for a narcissistic, golden-skinned race named the “Sovereign.”
After retrieving the items, things take a complicated turn for our heroes when Rocket– being the mischievous creature that he is– takes a portion of the items for personal monetary gain.
This, unsurprisingly, upsets the Sovereign who now wants the Guardians dead.
And now things start getting interesting.
The search for a safe haven leads the guardians to an important setting because we meet our eventual main antagonist here.
The main antagonist of the movie is crucial to the overall narrative of the franchise and to the development of Peter Quill (“Starlord”) as a whole.
He’s not a one-and-done forgotten character.
Quill’s very existence will be questioned and whether or not he should continue pursuing bad guys with the Guardians of the Galaxy because of the main antagonist.
Yondu — an important character from the first movie — also makes an appearance and, aside from Quill, has arguably the best character development in the movie.
He goes from side character to focal point in a matter of scenes.
As the movie reaches its final act, we see the Guardians attempt to stop the main antagonist who eventually becomes this powerful, super entity who wants to take over the whole universe.
A lot of the questions asked in the movie are finally answered as the end draws nearer.
The ending is action-packed, but never overwhelming.
Devastating, but satisfying.
The ending does the movie justice and and saves it from being anti-climatic.
Per usual with Marvel movies, stick around for the end credits for various little surprises.
With music being such an important element to the franchise, It is worthy to note that the soundtrack of this movie is a thing of beauty with a hall-of-fame caliber track list.
Tunes from Fleetwood Mac, Sam Cooke, George Harrison, Parliament and Cat Stevens highlight the diversity of the soundtrack that plays throughout the movie.
It’s as good as the first soundtrack which was highly praised.
In the end, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a worthy successor to the first movie installment of the franchise.
If you loved the first one — and Marvel favorites like the Avengers and the latest Captain America movie — then you’ll thoroughly enjoy this one.
There’s everything that made the first one so infectious with an even grander plot and deeper character development.
It may not be the next “Citizen Kane,” or have the cultural impact of the first one, but you have to take it for what it is: a summer blockbuster capable of satisfying all of your action needs with lots of comedic relief.
This is a sequel done right.
Four out of five stars.
