Our story begins back in 1980’s Missouri, USA, where we meet a young couple, who we soon discover is Meredith and Ego Quill, the parents of the yet to be born, Peter. Flash forwards in time to 34 years later and we re-join the Guardians doing what they do best, fighting alien creatures. After completing a mission, it’s discovered that Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) has once again used his sticky fingers to take something that isn’t his. Needless to say, the owners are extremely angry and a chase begins. The Guardians are assisted by a mysterious spaceship and soon the crew introduce themselves as Peter’s father, Ego (Kurt Russell) and his assistant, Mantis (Pom Klementieff). He claims that he has been searching for Peter (Chris Pratt) for many years and offers to take the group back to his planet where he can explain everything. They go but are soon separated into smaller groups. The story of Peter’s father soon begins to unfold, but is he all that he seems to be, and can he be trusted?
The second instalment in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise sees the mismatched group of friends once again working together as an extremely capable unit. Groot has now grown into a very cute little baby and is once again a key member of the quintet. The comedy aspect of the movie has been ramped up a lot since the first movie and there is an obvious bond and comfortableness between the Guardians. Drax (Dave Bautista) has relaxed a lot more and seems to spend most of the movie cracking up laughing at the misfortune of others. There is an obvious connection between Starlord/ Peter and Gamora (Zoe Saldana), though neither would admit to it. Rocket is his same grouchy gun happy self, still very protective of Groot.
Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 1 grossed an amazing $773.3 million worldwide and then went on to become the highest-grossing superhero film of 2014. Its soundtrack also managed to top the Billboard Soundtrack chart for 11 consecutive weeks. By January 2015, it had sold around a million copies in the US alone, and was the US’s second best-selling soundtrack album of 2014, just behind the phenomenon that was Disney’s Frozen.
If you loved the first movie, then you will love this one just as much, probably even more. The new Vol. 2 soundtrack once again pulls you into the action from the opening scenes, kicking off with the brilliant, ‘Mr Blue Sky’ by ELO, and then there’s Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ and some David Hasselhoff for good measure. Baby Groot is adorable and you will feel a huge range of emotions watching him in the movie. Drax as well gets a lot of laughs throughout the story with his brilliant quips and comments. Guardians 2 definitely feels like it’s had a lot more work put into it than the first movie but I guess in order to up the game, that’s what had to happen. There’s also the fact that the mystery of Peter’s parentage is fully explored and solved.
I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to see it again. Just make sure you stay til after the credits where you will find an amazing 5 extra little scenes. If you weren’t in love with the Guardians before then prepare yourself to fall head over heels.
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Kurt Russell, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan.
Director: James Gunn
Release date: 28th April 2017
9.5/10
