A fair follow up

Rating: 7/10 (5 May 2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 - Another larger than life offering from Marvel, but one that doesn't reach the heights of its predecessor.
When the first installment came out in 2014, it was nothing short of a complete experiment by the studio. There was no popular hero or mainstream IP to tout, but rather a collection of no-name characters and an 80's soundtrack. This very well could have been the beginning of the end for Marvel. The result was a resounding success, becoming the 10th highest grossing superhero film of all time. How did they follow this up? With poop jokes.
I'm not saying the last one was an upper-echelon comedy, but this one is pretty much lowest common denominator when it comes to material. Along with the aforementioned topic, they throw in a handful of crotch jokes too so the 10 year olds could chuckle. Too often what could be heartfelt moments quickly get turned into jokes or are made light of right away so as not to pull in any emotion.
There are some fun action scenes, but how they're executed ultimately ends up hurting the movie in the long run. In the first 20 minutes the characters are seemingly unfazed by massive amounts of punishment, removing any sense of tension for what they might encounter in the remaining 2 hours.
There are of course plenty of positives in the movie. It takes the time to flesh out the majority of the characters, which is something that is skipped over all too often in large ensemble pieces. You really come to know and care about these characters. What started out as a disadvantage prior to the release of the first one, has far and away become its strength. And the opening credits with Baby Groot might be worth the price of admission alone.
There have been some great movies this year that were basically undone by poorly executed third acts (looking at you, A Cure For Wellness), but this one is not among them. While a good amount of the film was just OK for me, the summation brought my score up considerably. Underneath the surface level jokes and bright visuals, is a lot of heart and an important message. Not bad for a bunch of no-names.