Excellent movie

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 fascinated me, not just for the swashbuckling adventures, stunning visuals, special effects, goofy, campy humor and wonderful retro 70s soundtrack, but for the story. I don't know if it was intentional, but the writers plumbed the darkest depths of ancient esoteric Christian theology.
Maybe the most controversial doctrine held by the Gnostics, and what Jesus was most likely executed for saying out loud, was that the "God" described in the Old and New testaments was not a "real" god. He was a "fractured" deity, a small fragment of the true omnipotent God who came to believe He was the "one true God."
But the demigod was deluded. He was an anomaly, a mistake, not a full-on deity. But still, this deity didn't know He was a mistake. He sincerely held the belief that He was the only All-Powerful, Omnipotent Deity ("Ego"). He suffered delusions of grandeur, was a bit manic-depressive. He was more ego than deity, supremely flawed. He was cruel, petty, jealous. He required constant adoration, sacrifices, "beliefs", gestures, rituals and obeisance from his helpless subjects in order to continually feed his Ego.
His creation was as fundamentally flawed as he was, rife with pain and suffering, a reflection of Him, a supreme blunder. Gnostics believed that the abject, deep-seated cruelty of Nature itself – where animals kill and eat each other to survive – was proof of that. The out-of-control demigod's ego polluted the Earth (as "Ego's" unholy mass tried to cover Earth in the movie). This was manifested in nature's rampant cruelty and Man's own ignorance, cruelty, greed and power lust – Man who was "made in His image ..."
Gnostics believed the only way to escape this flawed universe, the only way to disembark from the Wheel of Suffering (or Wheel of Life,) was through several reincarnated lifetimes of meditation, right living and selfless service to others ("right living and selfless service" perfectly describe The Guardians).
I don't believe the writers were trying to promote any particular belief system, I just think they are really, really well-read, and they dug deep for inspiration. They are to be commended for that. These are some pretty deep thoughts for a superhero movie, and I was sincerely impressed and delighted with every single aspect of the movie -- writing, casting, acting, special effects, settings, costumes, sound track. A new classic.