Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Director: James Gunn

Writer: James Gunn

Composer: Tyler Bates

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klemtieff, Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russel, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Tommy Flanagan, Laura Haddock, Seth Lee, David Hasselhoff, Ving Rhames

More info: IMDb

Tagline: This summer, the galaxy won't save itself.

Plot: The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill's true parentage.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

I saw the first film in the theater and absolutely loved it.  A couple of months ago I watched it for the first time since then and the magic was gone.  I still liked it but it wasn't as fun as it was three years ago.  Anyway, what works in this film (like the first one) is the way the characters interact with each other.  Of the main group, Gamora is the least interesting character but at least she's involved with something more compelling this time with her sister, Nebula, that actually feels emotional.  I liked that.  It gets old having a character just be a tough badass.  It's not a home run for Gamora but it is a great start.  Kurt Russell is fun in everything and he's a blast in this picture.  I really dig the character and that plot line.  All of the secondary plot lines work well, too, and they all blend nicely with each other and conclude in a nice, reasonable manner.  Maybe the holes become visible on repeat viewings but for the first one, I was satisfied.

This has one of the best villains in the MCU so far and we're given enough information to know his motivations and whatnot but I really wanted to spend more time with him much like I'd like to have more time with all of the villains.  In this picture, it's not much more time than necessary to establish who he is and what his goal is.  Then there's the obligatory huge fight that concludes the movie.  Peter barely spends enough time with him to establish but only the beginning to what he shows to be a solid relationship.  He went through all of the different emotional stages over the course of a day (or two?).  That's fast even for movie time.  That's probably my biggest issue.  There are lots of really neat things to enjoy like Stan Lee's cameo, Stallone, Yondu's arc, and so on plus there's an abundance of humor from the GotG gang like there was in the first film.  It's a fun movie with some great ideas that get handled better than most comic book movies.  I liked it a lot and I may find that in time I'll dig it more than the first one.