Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The anticlimactic gags that made Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 so great were so forced, so unfunny and downright cringy in Guardians Vol. 2, that I could barely sit through the entire film. Shallow characters, predictable plot, a movie that may only appeal to very young children and die-hard fanboys/girls. Shame.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 is the sequel to 'Guardians of the Galaxy', released in 2014. This new instalment of films from the Marvel franchise is more important than it may initially seem. The Guardians of the Galaxy films are not stand-alone films produced by Marvel, they tie into the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) alongside The Avengers.Below is the MCU timeline to show where this instalment fits in.Phase 1 Iron Man (2008) The Incredible Hulk (2008) Iron Man 2 (2010) Thor (2011) Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) Marvel's The Avengers (2012)Phase 2 Iron Man 3 (2013) Thor: The Dark World (2013) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Ant-Man (2015)Phase 3 Captain America: Civil War (2016) Doctor Strange (2016) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) We are presented with a backstory to Peter Quill's parents as soon as the film starts. This makes the context flood back into the audience's mind and sets a good tone for what the film will be covering. This immediately engaged me into the story about to be told. I felt immersed into the world that the first film had created for me.When we meet the Guardians of the Galaxy crew again, we're thrown straight into action. The way the characters are casually talking with one another and bickering like a family, feel familiar and comforting.The film's main objective is to help Quill find belonging and seek out the truth about his father, that he has close to no recollection about! The star of the movie, Chris Pratt, did a tremendous job filling the young athletic, yet captivating and comedic role of Peter Quill; codename: Star Lord. The energy he brings to the character is tremendous, so much so that you never think twice about the fact that he's acting. The same goes for Zoe Saldana (Gamora). Despite her immaculate performance, I still believe that her role in Avatar, as Neytiri, tops her list of acting performances.With Groot dying at the end of the first film, a significant character hole was left to fill. To solve this problem, the writers brought back Baby Groot in his place. The fact that Baby Groot is a seedling from the original Groot, makes you feel like the original character remains. His immaturity and lack of spacial awareness is well played with during the film and is certainly not overused. As well as the main story line, we follow this characters journey watching him learn the ropes within the hectic life the toddler has been thrown head-first into.However, one character in particular was not portrayed to the high standard set by the rest of the cast. Elizabeth Debicki, playing Ayesha was overly dramatic and frankly unbelievable. Perhaps this was down to the directions she was given, either way, the character didn't have enough screen-time to negatively impact my overall rating of the film.The film integrates a mixture of genres to cater for audiences of different ages and as well as interests. Its a Sci-Fi Fantasy, action and adventure film with a definite comedic value, which keeps the seriousness of the story at bay; when the action gets too much. In addition, there is an evolving love interest between Star Lord and Gamora, as well as an oddly developing one between Drax and Mantis. This inclusion to the storyline was perfectly executed, leaving viewers wanting to see how it develops in future movies.This dense mixture of genres blends perfectly and guarantees a fun experience for both friends and family attending.The props seen throughout the whole movie were flawless. Many of the weapons had to look flashy and futuristic, to live up to the expectations of the audience. Thankfully this was the case. The detail on the blasters and cannons made them my favourite props by far!The same can't be said for the make up. The Sovereign race had tacky-looking gold makeup smeared across their bodies. Despite the makeup being applied accurately, having these actors covered from head to toe, probably wasn't the best idea to accomplish the gold skin effect. Gamora's green makeup looked slightly more realistic as it wasn't as shiny and it blended in better with her surroundings.The costumes however looked very authentic and the characters looked natural wearing them. Yondu's long coat, is a great example. The bold size makes him stand out from the rest of his crew, yet has a vibrant enough colour, to distinguish him as the captain. The editing for the most part is well timed to give the film a comedic effect. The transitions keep you on your toes between scenes, but sometimes the audio doesn't quite match-up with the visual. For example, at the beginning when Baby Groot hits Drax with a stick, the sound is out of sync with the actual action. This breaks the connection that you have to the story, releasing you from the moment. This is a highly negative attribute as the sole purpose of a film like this, is to captivate and make the audience escape from reality.The visual effects for all of the alien characters, especially for Baby Groot, are unquestionable. The natural movements, along with how the artificial materials react with their environment seem flawless from a viewer's point of view.Most of the scenes in the movie are shot on green-screen, as the majority of the backdrops are in space. The film is shot with multiple camera angles, which allows you to follow the action up close.During the production process, the director (James Gunn) had the soundtrack playing aloud for the actors on set, to help immerse themselves into the scene fully. This method, in my opinion, stepped the atmosphere up a level and made the experience unforgettable.Finally, I would state that the trailer, as well as all promotion for this film is accurate, gives you a good idea of what you're paying to see and is in no way misleading.Overall I would highly recommend this film as great Friday night entertainment, with the family, or as a trip to the cinema with your friends.

Well made and a great sequel in theory, but ruined by an overwhelming amount of unnatural self aware humor and a lack of stakes. The acting is superb and visual effects are great, with expected character development, character growth and world building. But the jokes just didn't do it for me.

I love fantasy and super hero movies but lately these movies have really been getting out of hand. They definitely sacrifice the plots for the special effects. I would be willing to bet that about five minutes of this movie was actually real while the rest of it was done on a green screen.The special effects and Chris Pratt himself are in fact dazzling to watch. The acting is very good and the moments between Peter and Yondu were most endearing to me. It was amazing how much comic relief and senseless humor was crowbarred into the movie and yet the scene where Yondu sacrifices himself for Peter was still able to be so poignant amidst so much wackiness.People seem to really like the soundtrack to the movie but to me much of the movie felt like a drug trip because of it. I personally do not care for the array of characters in the Guardian movies. Like, a talking raccoon and tree? What is going on here? I would have liked to have seen more scenes between Peter and Gamora and less nonsense between all of the others.Kurt Russell's acting was amazing in this movie but the character that he played was very perplexing. I am not sure I fully understood what was actually going on in the end. But I am glad he got what he deserved.Don't get me wrong, I laughed my head off during this movie and I would definitely recommend it. I just think that it is not without flaws.