Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Film Review: Is It Better Than The First Movie?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

2 sets to try and do the impossible and that's to surpass the quality of the first movie that came out back in August 2014. Most of the original cast members are back, although this time new threats await them.

Over the years, we've seen many sequels being far superior than the original movie. Some excellent sequels have been Terminator 2, The Dark Knight, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and more.

Where does Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

2 fit in you might say? Well in my opinion, this movie falls in the same category as Avengers: Age of Ultron.

It's a good movie, but it has some flaws that prevent it from being as fun as the original movie.

Let's start talking about the positives first. This sequel is by far the most colorful and best looking movie that Marvel has been released to date.

You may have seen a YouTube video recently calling out Marvel films for their lack of use of color grading. Well you don't have to worry about that here as the colors are all very bright and vibrant.

The visuals are by far the best thing about this film. It's also great to see the chemistry between the main heroes return.

Groot is adorable in his baby form and Dave Bautista as Drax always makes me laugh. We even get to see more character development from the likes of Yondu and Nebula. Even the new character of Mantis has a backstory.

Another good thing about the movie is the soundtrack and humor. There is an abundance of songs from the '70s and '80s here and many of them will be recognizable to people that grew up in that era.

The music is not there just for show either as they are actually songs that Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) likes to listen to because his mother was a fan of them.

The humor is also on point as many of the characters again crack a lot of jokes. There's also many '80s/Marvel references to look out for plus the obligatory Stan Lee cameo.

As good as this movie is, it is sadly bogged down by its biggest flaw which is the story and pacing.

It takes such a long time for the main story to pick up as the purpose of the main villain is not revealed until the latter half of the movie.

For the majority of the movie, you are wondering what the heroes are actually doing and what's their main threat.

After a fun beginning, the movie slows down a lot in the middle when the team is separated. Rocket, Groot and Yondu's adventure is exciting, but Peter Quill, Gamora and Drax do nothing for a good portion of the film.

The latter trio are just on a planet relaxing and talking. It's a spoiler to say who they are talking to, but they're not doing much while they are visiting this planet.

However once the main villain shows up, the movie gets better.

It's too bad that the movie takes a long time to actually get started though. This is unlike the first film which had a faster pace and was great to watch from beginning to end.

Is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 a good movie? Yes, it is still an enjoyable film, but it might be slow if you watch it the first time.

It might be better with a repeat viewing once you know what the point of the whole movie is.

This sequel is not better than the first film, but it's still worth watching in the cinema due to its visual effects alone.

Verdict: 3/5 stars

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