Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2! You don't need to read reviews for this. Seriously. Just head out and go catch it! 

Still here? Well if you must...  

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sees our favourite A*holes return. Peter Quill (Star Lord) played by Chris Pratt, Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Baustista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Disel) are all back, along with a number of familiar faces. The team have now become something akin to heroes for hire, tracking down wanted individuals and taking out a giant space creature or two. Things rarely go smoothly with this bunch though and they soon find themselves in trouble and having to be bailed out by a mysterious, bearded man named Ego (Kurt Russell), who claims to be Peter Quill's father.  

The movie starts out well and reminds us just who the Guardians are. Something good. Something bad. And a little bit of both. The plot moves along fairly quickly and they soon encounter Peter Quill's father whose identity we've known for some time now thanks to Writer and Director James Gunn constant updates. Comic fans will know who Ego is. Things of course are different in the movies and so he has a human form. Kurt Russell does enough in the role. Ego and Peter play off each other quite well and I like how they bond. It's actually quite touching.  

Gamora too has to deal with family. Her sister, Nebula still has a bone to pick with her. The best part about their feud is we get to know more about Nebula's tortured past with Thanos. Rocket is still Rocket while Baby Groot certainly ups the cuteness and silly fun factor. 

Drax was absolutely hilarious in this one. Even more so when paired up with new comer Mantis (Pom Klementieff), a wide-eyed, socially awkward empath. I wager Mantis will be a new favourite. She is so sweet! 

The standout character for me surprisingly was Yondu. Quite a bit of his past is revealed, and of the Ravagers. He's someone who struggles with his inner demons and you'll feel for him by the end of the movie. He also gets to show off the full capability of his arrow. 

I have yet to mention the Sovereign, a pretty stuck up gold skinned race led by the cold High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki). It is they who help move the story along and are set to become a greater threat in the next instalment. They are still a threat in this movie. Certainly formidable with their huge fleet of ships. I love the way they pilot them! The space battles they get involved with the Guardians are spectacular! 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is just as fun as the first one. There's lots of laughs and action aplenty. Not forgetting the awesome music of the Awesome Mixtape #2 which the movie is set to. There's heavy usage of CGI but it does not feel out of place aside from a scene or two where it is very obvious. In fact the visuals are stunning, especially on Ego's planet. I could just marvel at the colour and beauty of it. There are a lot of 80s references. Certain dialogue may be lost or boring to some if you are unfamiliar with TV series of the time. Do stay till the end of the credits as there are five end credit scenes. That's right five! 

*All images courtesy of Disney SEA

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Singapore release date: 27 April 2017

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Tommy Flanagan, Laura Haddock, with Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell

Director: James Gunn

Producer: Kevin Feige 

Executive Producers: Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Jonathan Schwartz, Nikolas Korda, Stan Lee 

Written by: James Gunn