We Are Groot

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2017)

This review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is spoiler free
**** (4/5)
THE MAIN WEAPON behind the first Guardians of the Galaxy was surprise. From the time of unveiling to the release it's fair to say Marvel knows how to keep our patience. Of course after release who knew that one of our new favourite groups of superheroes would be a former wrestler, a hyper-engineered Racoon with a will for people to hate him, an anthropomorphic 8-foot tall tree and a homicidal green lady? And the helmsman of the group is the fat guy from Parks and Recreation.
But this, of course, didn't stop Marvel and they had another success on the hands, which became one of the highest grossing films of 2014 and be one of the best films in that same year. Writer-director James Gunn was happy that the film was a success and just to seal the deal and decided to return to ground-breaking form, with his highly anticipated, albeit, well-needed sequel to his space romp.
And so, with this in mind and a little bit of egotistical annoyance, we were ready for the ride, it's here at last, and it's safe to say "We are Groot."
Our minds are kept at ease, and the first hour to Gunn's sequel is a success from the moment of opening the audience are looking with an un-blinking eye. To open, we get our team of misfits all in one go ready for a fight as usual, there's Peter Quill (a.k.a Starlord) the only human of the group amped with his facemask and his trusty Sony Walkman, then there's Gamora (Saldana) with an insight to killing, Rocket Racoon (Cooper) the hyper-engineered rodent the let's say the comedian of the group who's always ready for a one-side banter aimed at his team, finally there's Drax the Destroyer after being bent on revenge in the film's predecessor is ready for another fight.
Of course, it's not all tongue-and-cheek with this team there's a hidden message in them: that is family, what better way to show that they're a family than by shouting at each other? There's another path though behind the film's sass there's still the flare that keeps this team going whether they're tagging a place with Rocket's traps, planning on a fight and, well, in Peter's mind, dancing to some of his favourite tunes. Keen to find out where or who he came from he goes in search for that fatherly figure, thankfully that comes, namely with Kurt Russell's Ego, a multi millennia year old humanoid with one path to get to know his son.
This bodes for the film for some time, until it hits a wall there's a flaw, for almost the entire second act GOTG2 is stagnate in a father-son reunion. It stays on this for quite some time, but thankfully due to some hilarious utterances, gnarly sass and teamwork the film stays together and never gets dull. Also there's a side to Russell that we have never seen before when he unleashes his ego.
It's the third act that's the shiner, well for the most part it's actually the team who shine the brightest, for all their moments of shouting and threatening to break up their brotherly-sisterly friendship they stay together, during their most intense battle (which thanks to the effects team on the outside looks stunning. Even though Vol. 2 isn't perfect there's a shining light that bears down on us all and keeps the big grin from ear-to-ear and no matter how much the film stagnates it's still dare we say marvellous.
VERDICT: Director Gunn returns to Ground-breaking in his highly anticipated albeit well-needed sequel to his far-out space romp, are the A-holes back? It's safe to say they are.