A sequel that is as equally good as the first

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2017)

I always expect to be disappointed with sequel movies, but that was definitely not the case here! Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume Two has just as much action and humour as it's predecessor, whilst also taking the time to expand the universe and focus more on the backstory and relationships between some of the characters, (namely between Quill and Yonda, and Nebula and Gamora). Although there is still a lot of humour, there are a few sad twists to the story and it has more emotional depth than the first movie.
As you would expect from any Marvel movie, the visuals and special effects were absolutely stunning.
The two characters who stood out the most for me were Baby Groot (the cute factor was off the scale, yet he still managed to be sassy at the same time), and Drax, whose bluntness and general craziness is hilarious. I also thought the new character of Mantis was a nice addition, although I don't know if she stays with the gang or not. Acting is superb from all the cast. I also really love Nebula and I'm glad we had some nice moments focusing on her and her history with Gamora.
The things that let the movie down were the soundtrack and the Stan Lee cameo. The first soundtrack was just so amazing, and although still good, I don't think the new quite measures up. I'll probably still buy it though. Also, I know they like to have a cameo every movie from Stan Lee, and sometimes it works, but other times it doesn't, and this time it really doesn't. I guess they needed some way to squish him in there but it's clear the only point of the scene with him in is to feature him, there is no other purpose. He's old, let the man take a break, jeez. Although most of the jokes were fantastic, the 'taserface' joke was annoying, as I've seen lots of people agree. Rocket in general was just not as good in this movie as he was in the first, being argumentative for the sake of it. I guess it lacks a little of the charm the first movie had too.
Overall, a great addition to the MCU! It's slowly building the hype towards Infinity War what with the brief mentions of Thanos and infinity stones. Definitely stick around for the end credits, there were several funny extra scenes that are worth watching.