Not Thrilling or Ground Breaking, Yet Still Fun

Rating: 7/10 (16 June 2015)

If you expect the thrill of the first movie, you'll be disappointed. If you expect ground-breaking CGI, look elsewhere. As has been repeatedly stated, some of the special effects felt low-budget. There were some recycled scenes that paid homage to the other movies in the series, but since they have been done before they lacked the original suspense that caused so many of us to grip our seats in fear and anticipation. Most of the deaths were so outrageous that they were laughable. A lot of the subplots were dropped halfway through or in the middle of the movie. Characters who started off playing a somewhat central role seemed to disappear without us knowing if they survived or not.
Overall, the acting wasn't awful. Chris Pratt does a surprisingly excellent job of breaking away from his usual comedic roll into an action star. Bryce Dallas Howard and Infan Khan also play their roles quite well. Everyone else is Meh. But that seems to fit with the sometimes good and sometimes meh script and special effects.
So why 7 stars?
Because despite how implausible and cheap some of it was, overall it was still a FUN movie that everyone should see once in the theaters. Don't see it expecting to be wowed, see it expecting to be entertained. Then, and only then, you won't be disappointed.