Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Spoiler-Free) Review

Welcome back a-holes!

Marvel’s favourite gang of misfits are back, and are reluctantly thrown into saving the galaxy for a second time. Along the way, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) unexpectedly meets his absentee father, and discovers his true parentage. This sweet moment does not last long (obviously) as the Guardians continue to rack up numerous foes with their unique ability to essentially infuriate everybody in the universe… (to our pleasure)

This film is silly, and it knows it.

Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, Vin Diesel (Voice) as Baby Groot, Dave Bautista as Drax and Bradley Cooper (Voice) as Rocket. Photo credit to IMDB.

James Gunn’s space opera is in a league of its own, and he plays this to its strength with each of the original famous five: Peter, Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper – voice) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel – voice) getting a moment to shine and prove how fundamental they are to the team. The first half of the film feels like a sitcom you binge watch Netflix as we follow the team as they bicker, insult and play around with each other, whilst proving how badass they are when they briefly become the ‘good guys’ by saving the day.

The opening sequence is brilliant. It echoes back to Deadpool’s (2016) truly wonderful opening credits which went down a storm with audiences, and Gunn uses a similar approach to get his show on the road with a bang. Even when fighting the team still make sarcastic remarks to each other and argue about what is necessary to take down what can only be described as a giant octopus on acid. This foregrounds how the team is basically a family.

Photo credit to IMDB.

This dysfunctional family is at its best when they are arguing, as it heightens how invested the audience is when they land in a spot of trouble. When you are as reckless as Rocket and Drax this is a frequent occurrence, much to the annoyance of Peter and in particular Gamora, who is probably the only mature figure in the family. Gamora has her own battles to fight when her psychopathic sister, Nebula, (Karen Gillan) shows up on scene, revealing more about their backstory.

The whole cast seem to relish being back, ready to cause double the trouble and double the humour. The script lends itself perfectly to the cast, who soak up the comic dialogue, bringing plenty of laughs throughout the film. I do have to say that Drax is the comic genius in this film, Bautista’s comic timing and delivery of lines is spot on! The film is nothing without the chemistry shared between the cast, even if the fight scenes were superb, the film is primarily carried by the cast, and lucky for Gunn and Marvel, they are a great bunch.

With a pretty simple story line, the humour and characters are at the forefront where they belong, making this film a worthy if not an exceeding sequel to the first.

Oh, and Baby Groot is perfectly adorable.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is currently playing in all major UK cinemas.