Guardians of the Galaxy: Ego Strikes Back

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2017)

If there's one thing you can always count on with Marvel Studios, it's the humor. That is, that there will always be tons of it, in whichever project, and however serious they are, there will always be plenty of humor. With some films that doesn't work out so well (I'm looking at you Doctor Strange). With other films it fits in nicely, like Guardians of the Galaxy. It's that humor above all else that keeps Volume 2 afloat.
However, even a series as funny as Guardians can have its bumps and bruises, that includes some mistimed jokes. But I think what hurt this sequel was the uneven pacing. Volume 2 took the Empire Strikes Back approach by spacing out the team for most of the film. This approach proved to be both good and bad for the film. On one hand, it gives us fresh dynamics like with Rocket, (Baby) Groot & Yondu. Or Drax & Mantis. Or Gamora & Peter/Gamora & Nebula. It all plays out as nice character depth for all of them as the group dives deeper into the (Fast and Furious style) fact that they are all the only family each other has.
With that said, spreading out the characters really slows down the pacing. In fact, you don't even really know what the films actually leading to until there's only 25 or 30 minutes left in the movie. Basically, we meet Ego the Living Planet, played by Kurt Russel, who is also Peter Quill's father. Surprise surprise, Ego turns out to be hiding a whole lot more than expected and Peter and the Guardians are forced to take him down. But this all doesn't happen until very late in the game. So much so that the third act feels so incredibly unbalanced since the first hour of the movie doesn't seem to be leading towards this at all.
Luckily, there's a lot about Volume 2 that I was thrilled about. First and foremost, this is the best looking Marvel film to date, without a doubt, bar none. It's the first film to be shot with an 8k resolution camera, called the Red Weapon 8k. Every single shot in this film is oozing with gorgeousness, which is one of the reasons I would like to see the film again. Being that it's one of the few Marvel space opera's, it probably has the most difficult time looking as good as it does. Everything in the background and foreground is fake. Heck, even Groot and Rocket are fake. But you wouldn't know it by looking at it. Perhaps they built some sets, but they couldn't possibly build everything, and it all looks so dang real.
Also, as I previously mentioned, the humor is on point 90 percent of the time. This is probably where James Gunn's brilliance comes in the most, his ability to perfectly time the humor in with the action. It's also pleasing that it's not only spoken humor, there's plenty of physical humor as well. Drax particularly stands out in this regard, as does Mantis, Rocket, and of course Baby Groot. I can complain over and over about some of the pacing issues and how the overall dramatic beats of the film didn't necessarily work for me, but the film is a blast from beginning to end, there's no denying that. But I think it needed a little bit more balance between the drama and comedy if it wanted to pull off some of the third act feats that it tried to, and I think this film could have used a little bit more time with the team together rather than separate.
A few last-minute tidbits to comment on: I could care less about Nebula and Gamora's relationship. There's something about it that just doesn't resonate with me. I have to believe Sylvester Stallone's role will expand in Vol.3 because he got absolutely nothing to do. And lastly, the 5 post credit scenes were probably unnecessary, especially if none of them tied into Infinity War.
+The best-looking Marvel film to date
+I love Drax
+They didn't exploit Baby Groot as much as I expected
+Plenty of great humor
-But the dramatic moments don't always hit
-Serious pacing issues
-Spreading the team out hurt the film
7.6/10