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Next up in the "Marvel-thon" is the sequel that goes bigger and better in some ways while also playing it safe in other ways, and that is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Not long after the events of the previous film, the Guardians have become heroes. This time, they have been tasked by the Sovereign with protecting batteries. When they succeed, they exchange the batteries for Nebula so her bounty can be collected. After it's discovered that Rocket took a few of them for himself, the Sovereign go after them and cause them to crash onto another planet. While all of this is going on, Peter Quill / Star-Lord is trying to find out who his father really is. The Guardians encounter a being known as Ego who might have the answers.
What Worked: The Guardians themselves continue to have excellent chemistry. They feel even more like a dysfunctional family in this one. Each member gets their own progression in character development, particularly Star-Lord and Gamora. The latter still has a sibling rivalry with Nebula. Rocket also has some development, and Groot does to an extent.
Before I get to the new characters, the best returning character (and the best character in the movie) is Yondu, played by Michael Rooker. He has four standout moments, three of which I can mention: one is basically a Cliffhanger reunion*, one involves his arrow, and one involves the best line in the movie, which references a Disney classic. For the one I can't get into, it stands out not so much because of what happens, but because of how it's done.
Now for the new characters. There are two really good ones. The first one is Mantis, who upon touching someone, can sense what they're feeling. She's very naive, which leads to some good moments, especially with Drax.
The most interesting one is Ego, played by Kurt Russell. He's great in this, and the dynamic he has with Peter feels genuinely touching at times.
It's nice that this had a personal story on the side, with Peter Quill wanting to learn more about himself. The question of who his father is was implied in the first movie, and it does get answered here, but not in the way you think.
The soundtrack is also very good, as are the visuals and a majority of the humor.
Aside from the moments with Yondu, the best parts of the movie are the first 10 minutes and the last 20 minutes, especially the ending. It is bigger and better than the first one in that regard, which results in it being paced better.
What Didn't Work: With the development of the characters, I said Groot had it to an extent. You get to see at least one different version of him here, but that's really it; aside from that, he has pretty much the same arc as he did in the first one.
Two supporting characters stand out (and not in a good way), both of whom are villains. The first one is a character named (and I'm not making this up) Taserface. The majority of his scenes involve his name being exploited for the sake of a joke.
The other one is Ayesha, the High Priestess of the Sovereign. She ends up being a forgettable antagonist because she doesn't have much of a motivation; she really wants to just get the batteries back.
There isn't as tight a balance between drama and humor as the first one. Some of the humor falls flat here, an example being the name jokes with Taserface. Drax also is used more for humor this time rather than fighting other than the opening action scene. The humor in this feels more like they were playing it safe.
My biggest issue is with the soundtrack. While the song choices are really good, a fair amount of them are not as memorable as those in the first one were.
Overall: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a decent sequel, but one of the weaker films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the same time. It does answer some questions posed in the first one, as well as set up interesting new characters. Though not entirely as good as the first one, it still has its moments that feel like this tops it. This manages to have a strong antagonist (as to who that is, it might be a spoiler) and a weak one within the same movie, so there's that. It also has a surprising ending and clever buildup for Vol. 3.
There is a Stan Lee cameo, and this movie does something different in regards to additional scenes. There are scenes throughout the credits. Also, near the end of the credits, look out for a brief appearance of a character that has a significant part in the latest movie (at the time of this writing, anyway).
*It's with an iconic action star. All I'll say is this: it's not Arnold, but close.