Solid, but not as good as the first

Rating: 7/10 (6 April 2020)

James Gunn once helms the Guardians of the Galaxy's ship as well as once again writing the screenplay. After the success of the first film one might be forgiven that this was a good move. I would have agreed, except that for a variety of reasons the magic is slightly missing in this sequel which just doesn't quite manage to lift itself up to the lofty heights of it's predecessor or some other Marvel films.
The outline here is a lot more insipid and story-driven that the first offering we got from Gunn and for that I feel it does suffer for it. We once again start in eighties (nineteen-eighty to be precise) where we see a very young Kurt Russell with Meredith (as we know to be Peter's mother). He takes her to look at an unusual flower he has planted in the woods telling her of stories and dreams for the future.
Thirty-four years later (and set six months after the first film) our merry band of misfit hero's are battling an interdimensional 'beast' while baby Groot dances to Mr Blue Sky by the wonderful Jeff Lynne (ELO), completely oblivious to the fight. They are there to collect an important object in order to see justice done (and collect a lot of booty in the process).
Unfortunately the loveable rogue raccoon Rocket just can't help himself or his sticky fingers. This (unfortunately for our guardians) leads to the Golden High Priestess Ayesha of the Sovereign launching a full scale assault against them, forcing them to crash land on another planet. This is where we meet Ego (Russell) as he lands to rescue them having been searching for Peter for years.
Meanwhile the Ravagers are at a stip bar (with Howard the Duck in a ridiculous scene) and yes I did just say that, where Yondu is having issues with another Ravager leader (Stallone). Fortune favours the brave though as they say and the Golden Priestess offeres Yondu some redemption by hiring him and his own equal band of misfits to hunt down the Guardians.
Those are all really just side issues though. Unfortunately the film dwells on nothingness for far too long and takes an age (almost ninety minutes) to get to the actual main plot. Everything leading up to that is filler (very good filler mind at times) but filler nontheless. Onve this main story starts the film really does slow down to a snails pace and I feel that this is where it starts to go wrong. For ninety minutes you have a film very similar to the first. Then it all gets a little sidetracked and wayward.
We get to meet Peter's father who is millions of years old and birthed from the stars and cosmos itself. He also created his own planet and...well...is also a little crazy. I guess loneliness can do that if you're an ego-maniacal space God intent on universal control. Regardless, the visual aspects of the second part of the film are very impressive but the story does drag. Russell is also not at his best and does his best Jeff Bridges impression, funny how similar those two have become in their acting over the last few years. In fact, his character is just not that interesting despite the fact he should be.
Once again everyones acting is excellent here and certainly in the earlier parts of the film the laughs run freely. The entire scene where Groot helps Yondu is just pure comedy gold and Rocket still has an unnerving fascination for wanting other peoples mechanical body parts. As impressive as he was in the first, Drax has definitely grown as a character and is also brilliant, finding humour in many things with his raucous laughter.
We also get to see much more of Gamora's sister Nebula this time too and the film does benefit from having her presence. certainly an excellent and interesting character and I'm glad she got more screen time compared to the first film. Pom Klementieff does a good job asa a naive empath though she is not really around enough to make a lasting impression. Likewise the classy Laura Haddock has a little more to do this time as Meredith, though her talents are wasted for the role.
Just like in the first film, everything looks fantastic and there is some beautiful visual effects to go along with the fantastic soundtrack which has perfect song placement. The highlight of the entire film though has to be baby Groot, he is so adorable and even more fun this time around. With the best credits sequence of any film yet in the universe this is not a bad offering but does fail to meet its expectations. Just be sure to remember your metaphors.

The Sage's Rating: 7/10