Went up a gear from first movie, but a somewhat weak script.

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2017)

The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie was something of a surprise hit, which I was really shocked at how much I liked it and felt worthy as a top 5 movie in my MCU list of movies.
Roll on a few years and I was well hyped for Vol. 2, and while it did not fail to deliver, few things left me not liking it as much as the first movie.
Firstly, the script feels like a very weak attempt to rewrite the plot to Return of the Jedi, done after a weekend of binge watching 1980's cult movies like Flight of the Navigator, Explorers and Flash Gordon.... with series 6 Red Dwarf added in..... also seems to be feel that far to great emphasis was put on the soundtrack (something about it did not seem to fit as perfect this time)
This showed, as the plot did seem to just plod along for long periods, with a wall of sound song hitting you in the face now and again.
It had a feel of one of those Simpson's episode where they try to put 5 or 6 short stories into one episode.... starts off strong with a battle happening in the background while Groot takes center stage to dance along to ELO.... we then get the group falling out with each other after escaping a epic space battle.... then seems to shoot off into 3 or 4 different stories.... Yondu feeling depressed because he lost the respect of his comrades and crew.... Rocket and Groot getting kidnapped and then teaming with Yondu.... Quill and his dad.... and Gamora and Nebula patching things up.... with all these stores rounding off and coming together for the final battle (plus there is a rather stupid Drax and Mantis scene added in now and again.
There also seemed to be a real shift in rank of characters, with Quill (while still the star) majorly relegated from his role in the first movie, and A LOT more emphasis and character development put into Gamora, Nebula, Rocket and Yondu.
Drax, while a lovable oaf in the first movie, is just annoying after 5 minutes, and Groot is effectively shoe horned in to provide the Minion's factor to sell merchandise.
The whole movie seems to be missing a real out and out bad guy..... and with it turning out to be Ego in the final 1/4 of the movie, you have went through a large chunk of the movie up to this point with no real indication of who are the good and bad guys (the gold people come and then go for long periods.... and Yondu crew does appear a tad Pirates of the Caribbean-ish at times as a side gag...)
One good grace is the way they have kept this out of the Avengers story line, yet still hint strongly that they share a universe and paths will collide soon enough.
All in all, still a solid MCU and anyone who grew up in the 1980's will love this movie.