First Take: Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2- it’s another Marvel-ous effort

Spoiler free as usual. Because Baby Groot will attack me again.

SYPNOSIS:

Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ continues the team’s adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage.

It’s hard to believe that 2014′s surprise hit was considered a risky move by the powers that be at Marvel Studios- but that risk certainly paid off, and now, we have the obligatory sequel. And with James Gunn back at the helm, this is another brilliant entry to the MCU.

Gunn directs this film much in the same way as he did first time round- it’s very well paced, and each character has recieved a lot of development, with more emphasis on backstories as well as the events that happen during what can only be described as a very funny 2 hour 16 minute film. Gunn also wrote the script, which once again has the humour that made the first film so unique, and just the opening titles alone are enough to warrant the 6 laugh test. From a technical level, it is shot very well by Henry Braham, and with the original score from Tyler Bates, this is a worthy successor to the original, and the same can be said for the contents of Awesome Mixtape 2, with more 1980s music than ever.

Performance wise, this is very much an ensemble effort. Chris Pratt once again leads the cast with ease, and with Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel alongside him, the team stand up on their own- but the newcomers including Pom Klementieff, Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki and Sylvester Stallone also get characters with the same level of development, making this film one of the key steps as we get further down the road to Infinity War.

THE VERDICT

Volume 2 is one of those films that breaks the curse of the sequel being bad- and if anything, Marvel have got another solid film thanks to James Gunn and his team. But now, the real question is if they can repeat the success again with the recently confirmed third film.

RATING: 5/5