Guardians 2 mostly delivers

Rating: 7/10 (11 May 2017)

James Gunn's sequel to the surprise hit Guardians of the Galaxy had a lot to measure up to, and it mostly passes. Marvel has added an unconventionally character driven movie to its pantheon, which is both its strength and its weakness.
The Guardians are still a dysfunctional family – Peter and Gamora are the couple that you root for but always seem to find things to fight about; Rocket is so jaded he won't let anyone get too close; Drax is still socially inept; the most normal member of the group seems to be the talking tree, Groot, who can only say variations of the phrase "I am Groot." When Rocket steals valuable property from a race of gold skinned aliens, the Guardians are chased around the universe, until they are intercepted by Ego, a living god played by Kurt Russell, who just happens to be Peter's father. Peter, Gamora, and Drax go off with Ego while Rocket and Groot stay behind to guard Nebula, Gamora's wacko sister. Without giving too much away, eventually a bad guy threatens to destroy the universe and the Guardians have to stop him.
While the plot ends up being pretty conventional, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is really about the characters learning to deal with all of their pent up personal issues. In that sense, it's pretty unusual for a Marvel movie. Marvel's grip is definitely felt on the film, but it's not nearly as strong as you would think. We get some pretty good emotional scenes here. I was most impressed with Michael Rooker's character Yondu, a supporting character from the first film that I did not expect to see again. He develops a pretty believable bond with Rocket and we get more insight into who he really is. I also have to give a shout out to Batista's performance as Drax. I'm not sure how much range he has as an actor, but he's excellent in the part. He's hysterically funny and he really becomes the character. But every character is handled very well. Peter's relationships with Gamora and his father are well done, and Gamora's relationship with her sister is also developed more.
I did have some problems with the movie though. As much as I liked the character's individual stories, I could have used a stronger plot. It takes a really long time for the real plot to kick in. I felt like there was not enough really meshing the movie together and instead it was just like watching a day in the life of the Guardians, albeit a slightly more unusual one. I also think it tried too hard to be funny at times. The humor came out of the scenes more naturally in the first movie – with this one it felt like they were jamming in jokes to measure up.
Still, I'd recommend seeing this in theaters, especially if you liked the first one.