Joyless and contrived

Rating: 4/10 (28 April 2017)

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is clearly the least of the whole Marvel pack so far. It tries very hard to recreate the joyful nonsense of the first volume, but fails consistently, rather targeting one-off jokes than investing in its characters that jump, fall and evade bombs, bullets and lasers like Tom and Jerry in space, with no sense of tread whatsoever. Star-Lord himself, while still central to the "plot", seems strangely impersonal, dutifully reacting to events around him rather than guiding the action. The movie takes forever to end and offers no surprises on the way.
At the end you realize that it has all been nothing but a setup for the next volume, like a cut from an endless Marvel sausage, served shinier than ever but with not much taste.