Lacking the energy of the original, GotG2 limps over the finish line

Rating: 5/10 (3 June 2017)

It was always going to be a difficult job to make this sequel. "Guardians of the Galaxy" was an unexpected hit in 2014 whereas this time we all knew what was coming. But what made the original such a breath of fresh air in a depressingly stagnant genre is missing this time around.
The first film was brimming with enthusiastic, immature energy. But while the enthusiasm and the immaturity are both back in spades, there is nothing driving the plot forward here. In GotG we had the assembly of an unlikely team of original weirdos. The sequel offers up a couple of plot-lines: fractures in the team due to clashing characters, a will-they-won't-they romance and a central story that revolves around the protagonist's past. To the film's credit, there isn't an excess of story-lines here, a fault of many franchise sequels (I'm looking at you, Pirates). It's just that there's nothing organic about the way the film moves forward. After a fairly decent set-up, which goes some way to expanding the universe, we enter into sluggish 2nd and 3rd acts which draw their impetus from the writers, rather than a natural energy emerging from the characters or story. It never feels like the actions or choices of our characters are drawing them towards anything - plot developments occur purely when it's convenient for them to happen. I was so bored by the last 20 minutes - I could not wait for the film to end.
Every now and then, the film throws us an action sequence to liven things up. Unfortunately, the characters are so unthreatened by these set pieces that there's no chance of any tension developing. Early on, Drax (played to amusing effect once again by Dave Bautista) hangs out of the back of a space ship and is pummelled by debris during a crash landing. He just shrugs it off, and it's indicative of the level of damage the heroes can sustain without any effect. Admittedly I haven't seen the first movie since it came out in the cinema, but I don't remember this being a problem last time around.
There are definitely some positives. The performances are very good, once again, with Bautista and Pratt in particular delivering on their comic moments. We get a little bit of universe expansion, which is gratifying, as it's a colourful world. It's a shame that so much of the film takes place away from the vibrant multi-world cultural mix that we know is in the background, as the film often feels limited in size and sparsely inhabited.
It definitely feels like I am judging GotG2 by a harsher standard than the first film. But this is warranted - sequels need to justify themselves as more than simply another go round for the characters, but this time they have to build on the plot resolutions that we've already had, which makes the job harder. While this is by no means a disastrous attempt, it is a limp and unexciting one.