Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2017)

The first film based on the Marvel Comics was a huge cinematic success, so expectations were high for the return of the group of superheroes in the sequel, directed by James Gunn (Slither, Super). Basically the Guardians of the Galaxy: Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoë Saldana), Drax (Spectre's Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot, now Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) successfully defended Xander from Ronan the Accuser. The Guardians next successfully protect valuable batteries from an inter- dimensional monster, for Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), High Priestess and leader of the Sovereign race, in exchange for her prisoner, Gamora's estranged sister Nebula (Doctor Who's Karen Gillan), who attempted to steal the batteries, but was caught. But Rocket steals batteries for himself, a fleet of drones from the Sovereign attack the Guardians' ship, a mysterious figure destroys the remaining drones, but the Guardians crash-land on a nearby planet. Later this mysterious figure reveals himself, ancient Celestial being Ego (Kurt Russell), who also reveals he is Peter's biological father, he invites his son, accompanied by Gamora and Drax, to his home, while Rocket and Groot remain to repair the ship and guard Nebula. Yondu Udonta (Slither's Michael Rooker) and his crew were exiled from the greater Ravager community for child trafficking, Ayesha hires Yondu and his crew to recapture the Guardians, they successfully capture Rocket, but Yondu is reluctant to turn over Quill. Nebula convinces Yondu's lieutenant Taserface (Chris Sullivan) and a mutiny to release her, imprison Rocket and Yondu, execute Yondu's loyalists, and assist her to track down and kill Gamora, who Nebula blames for the torture inflicted on her by their father Thanos. While imprisoned on Yondu's ship, Rocket and Yondu bond, Groot and Yondu loyalist Kraglin (Sean Gunn) free them, destroy the ship and kill the crew as they escape, though not before Taserface tips off the Sovereign fleet. Ego explains that he is one of the god-like Celestials, he exists in the form of the planet on which they are standing, he assumed the form of a human to travel the universe and interact with other species, eventually coming to Earth, meeting and falling in love with Quill's mother Meredith (Laura Haddock). After Meredith's death, Ego paid Yondu to collect the young Peter, but he never delivered his son, he had been searching for him ever since, Ego teaches Peter to manipulate Celestial power. Nebula arrives at Ego's planet and attempts to kill Gamora, she fails, after a fight between them the pair reach an uneasy alliance, discovering skeletal remains filling the caverns of the planet. Ego reveals to Peter that in his travels to thousands of world, he planted seedlings upon many of the planets, capable of terraforming into new extensions of himself, but they can only be activated by the power of a second Celestial. Ego impregnated countless women to give to birth to children who would be able to access the power, all failed, so Ego killed them, until he found Peter. Ego uses his son's power the activate the seedlings, which begin to consume the worlds they inhabit, Peter is hypnotised into helping his father, but fights back after Ego reveals he deliberately created the cancer that killed his mother. Ego's pet empath Mantis (Pom Klementieff), who can feel emotions from touching a person, has grown close to Drax, she warns him, Gamora and Nebula of Ego's plan, then Rocket, Yondu, Groot and Kraglin arrive. The reunited Guardians reach the planet core, where Ego's brain is housed, they also fight off Sovereign drones, Rocket creates a bomb from the stolen bomb and instructs Groot to plant it on Ego's brain, while Quill battle Ego with his newfound Celestial capabilities, allowing the Guardians to escape. The bomb explodes, killing Ego and causing the planet to disintegrate, Yondu sacrifices himself to save Quill, he realises Yondu spared him as a child from the fate of Ego's other offspring, he was Quill's true "daddy". In the end, Gamora and Nebula reconcile, but Nebula still chooses to set out to find and kill Thanos, a funeral is held for Yondu, attended by dozens of Ravager ships, while the Guardians set out to continue their protection of the galaxy; Groot is growing back to normal size, being a bratty teenager; Ayesha has created a new artificial being, named Adam, to destroy the Guardians. Also starring Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord, Tommy Flanagan as Tullk, Farscape's Ben Browder as Sovereign Admiral, Rob Zombie as Unseen Ravager, Gregg Henry as Grandpa Quill, Seth Green as Howard the Duck, Ving Rhames as Charlie-27, Michelle Yeoh as Aleta Ogord, Miley Cyrus as Mainframe, David Hasselhoff and Stan Lee as Astronaut. Pratt is still a wisecracking hero with "Awesome Mix" cassette tapes, but he also gets to be vulnerable, Saldana as the green-skinned warrior is still cool, fuzzy fast-talking sidekick Cooper is still fun, along with Diesel as the now younger walking tree partner who only says "I am Groot", Russell is a good choice as the father with a dark agenda, and there is good support from Gillan and Rooker. The plot is pretty easy to follow, the lead hero finds their origins, only to find out later his father has plans for galactic domination, the high octane chase and fight sequences, and CGI and makeup special effects are most impressive, and the soundtrack of more "awesome" songs is great, including "Mr. Blue Sky" - Electric Light Orchestra, "The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac, "Bring It on Home to Me" - Sam Cooke and "Father and Son" - Cat Stevens, a really enjoyable, fun science-fiction action adventure. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Very good!