A thoroughly delightful sequel, cunningly light on the plot renovation but wigged out in brimful hilarity and brainwaves

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2018)

All psyched up to the forthcoming AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, there is some missing link for this reviewer to catch up on, James Gunn's Vol.2 of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, the most retro-kaleidoscopic, and least geocentric Marvel enterprise, is a tremendously gladsome popcorn escapade amped up its predecessor's winning formula.
The grand design is Peter Quill aka. Star-Lord (Pratt, whose less tested dramatic aptitude catches up with him when the crunch arrives, pales into playacting compared to Robert Downey Jr., with whom he shares a similar rakish flair in the MCU) to discover his demi-god (with a minuscule "g" for the sake of humility) origin and comes to terms with his "daddy issues" heightened by a doughty bereavement, thankfully, the rest of the pack is exuberantly driven by rah-rah and esprit de corps, the plot cunningly divvies up some unfinished/new business for them to resolve: the flickering romance between Peter and Gamora (Saldanna); Nebula (Gillan) and Gamora's sibling conciliation; Drax the Destroyer (Bautista)'s bantering with a new member Mantis (Klementieff), a maladroit alien empath; Rocket (voiced by Cooper) gangs up with an unexpected ally, Yondu Udonta (Rooker), exiled by the Ravagers league, experiencing a foes-to-friends rapport, among others.
The most thankless designation is as always, its antagonist, which falls on the shoulders of Kurt Russell's Ego, the living planet, an idea ingeniously derived from the Boltzmann brain, who is Peter's biological father, but his transcendence cannot mask the egocentric, self-centered, callous timber befitting a lonesome demiurge, imperiled by immortality and a dearth of empathy, and some infelicity (why slipping up the real cause of death of Peter's mother when you try so eager to get him on board?).
A new eclectic compilation mixtape of vintage hits is par for the course, and is set into motion to garnish the action set pieces right from its ingenious opening, which leaves the monster-battling cliché in the periphery and allows a capering Baby Groot (voiced by Diesel) to melt our hearts instead; a mid-point highlight comes with Yondu's dazzling whistle-arrow massacre, which splendidly wields its visual élan to tone down the scene's grimness; and in the end, it is in the company of Cat Stevens' FATHER AND SON, that the film reaches its emotional crescendo of both sadness and elation, Rooker is terrific in Yondo's hard-earned send-off.
A thoroughly delightful sequel, cunningly light on the plot renovation but wigged out in brimful hilarity and brainwaves, consolidates James Dunn's resolution of doing something dissimilar from other more earthbound MCU juggernauts and prior space opera paragons, a franchise finally merits its fanboy's hot-to-trot anticipation.