More enjoyable than GoG Vol 1

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2017)

My expectations weren't too high after GoG. The series is a love letter to pop culture with an extra dash of retro thrown in. However, GoG Vol 2 managed to add some heart and made you want to care about the characters.
Zoe Saldana was the dark horse of this movie. She always plays a stereotypical female ninja warrior that people roll their eyes at. However, in GoG2, she finally grew up (despite not being able to stop shouting as she always does) and she finally started acting. Chris Pratt was good, but just can't quite pull off the emotional scenes. Elizabeth Debicki took her role a little too seriously and almost managed to ruin what could have been the first female idiot in the whole Marvel genre (and rest assured, we are getting tired of flawless females - are there that many people with glass egos?). By contrast, Chris Sullivan played an excellent male idiot as Taserface. The biggest letdown for me was Kurt Russell as the stereotypical 1 dimensional villain with no real purpose.
The movie retained its good humour. The characters largely played off one another to great effect and humour. The pacing and special effects were excellent. If it hadn't been for the one sexist line "there are many little girls out there" (echoing similar sexism from Hillary Clinton), the movie may have managed to pull off a little more heart. Adding blatant sexist politics at the crescendo of your emotional scene creates a somewhat underwhelming anti-climax.
Definitely a solid film. Worth seeing. It looks like Marvel are steering characters away from the arrogance and ridiculousness of characters like Black Window, and it's about time. We just need to add a half-decent flawed female character. Maybe next time.