I think Arcana should write more movie reviews. Seriously.
TL;DR.To me, GoTGV2 isn't going to top the original. The original movie was a bat across the head compared to the rest of the MCU both in style, cinematography, and writing. But in trilogies, the second rarely exceeds the first in the first place (unless all cylinders are firing in a well oiled machine: The Dark Knight vs. Batman Begins.) The job of a second movie is to not lose too much momentum, while setting up the next and final part, and we got what we paid for.
I feel they did their job with GOTG Vol. 2, while allowing the movie to stand on it's own apart from the MCU, and that I feel is it's bigger victory. You can watch both films without knowing a damn thing about the rest of the Universe, and I hope they continue this for the final installment, which I'm afraid is at the end of the MCU franchise schedule.
Light spoilers if you haven't seen MCU movies going forward, but generally safe for those who haven't seen GOTG Vol 2 yet.Since MCU movies are critically seen as a waste of time, I think comparing this to other MCU sequels might give a better grasp on what to expect:
Thor: The Dark World -- The rest of the ensemble shined in GOTG, whereas Thor had a villain everyone loved more than the rest of the cast... it's all about Loki, damn it. Jane Foster being left alone while Thor fought in the first Avengers struck most folks as a "oh, yeah" moment, not really a big deal. In GOTG, there was no such issue as Agents of SHIELD was the last tie-in (Kree) and that really didn't faze the plot for Quill et al. Kurt Russell has great presence in the beginning, but by the end of the movie...
Captain America: The Winter Soldier -- Another epic villain. Here it's all about Bucky. Same reasoning as Thor 2, except turn the anti-hero dial higher than Loki...
Iron Man 2 -- In this Tony Stark faces his success after revealing to the world that he is Iron Man, while facing a personal crisis in three angles: fighting his own megalomania, dealing with Stark Industries moving on without him, and the Arc Reactor in his heart slowly killing him with exotic metal poisoning. Peter's soliloquy with his past isn't anywhere as complex, and his 'tug on the heartstrings' moment is a little more poignant than Tony Stark's revelation from his father beyond the grave.
Avengers: Age of Ultron -- To be honest, any of the above movies would top this. Age of Ultron was a bit of a mess, and the only reason to watch it seems to be to hear the words "Sekovia Accords" in SHIELD and Captain America: Civil War over and over. (Shorthand for "Superheroes need to be accountable for the damage they cause.") Guardians of The Galaxy has no reverence for this mindset. Rocket has his kleptomania, and the team pays for it to some degree... but he's learned nothing. And the planets damaged by 'the plan' is beyond the Guardian's responsibility as far as the aftermath (particularly Earth), so no worries on revisiting the 'Sekovia Accords' here.
Here be dragons. Hit the jump at your own peril.Spoiler for Hidden:
Kurt Russell is a charisma actor, fair and simple. But I kind of failed to understand the "purpose" he had for planting 'seeds' in other planets to destroy other life and remake those planets. Having children was just to increase his own power? Then why not direct invasion? That much I didn't get. I did laugh when Peter and Ego basically played a game of "catch" on Ego's Planet.
The Sovereign had a Ender's Game feel to them, except their repeated attempts to use drones to overtake the Guardians were kind of a nuisance at the end instead of a realized threat. Fortunately, Ego was a much more potent antagonist and I hope the Sovereign have a stronger presence in the next movie.
Rocket is at once the joke of the cast ("Trash Panda" has me giving a spit take) and at the same time, a badass. ("Oh shit, I'm using my wrong eye again, aren't I? I'm sorry, that was meant to be behind your back... [to Drax] Hey, you want to buy some batteries?") Yondu was given a great sendoff. I appreciated how they handled him where Rocket and Yondu figured out they are pretty much one and the same, and Peter/Rocket's bickering was similar to Peter defying Yondu in the first movie.
Baby Groot was cute, but it basically meant that the team of five was now four in essence. His presence was reduced a bit, and fairly so as Groot was a bit of a deus ex machina in the first movie protecting the team from the Infinity Stone's effects by sacrificing his body. So I didn't mind it as much remembering that.
Drax was the scene stealer out of the original cast. His naivete and bluntness came to the fore and that was welcome in this movie. You don't expect the deadliest brute on the team to be the comic relief unless they're inept, but he pulls it off and remains formidable. Batista was a great choice. (Runner up for the Scene Stealer trophy was Kraglin, Yondu's second in command played by Sean Gunn, James's little brother. "Yeah... I was talking about like a pretty necklace, or a nice hat, you know. Something to make the other girls go 'ooh, that's nice.'")
Gamora has some reconciliation with Nebula which is welcome, but as she's spending most of her time being the second in command, they're still playing the 'no time for love, Dr. Jones' card with her. She shows some signs of letting her guard down by the end, but if you're expecting her to stop withholding affection before the 3rd installment, don't hold your breath.
Finally, the audience advocate himself, Peter Quill. The main hook of the plot is why Peter's father was a mystery and how Peter's life was orchestrated from the start. As any hero does, he works past the villainous designs of Ego, overcomes his influence, and returns to space a little different than before. So in that instance, GOTG and GOTG Vol. 2 have that in common. But with his father's past reconciled, unless they intend to go further with his Mom's background past being a Missouri girl who fell for Starman, his past isn't likely to be as big of a part of a third installment, which will be an obvious comparison to separate the movies apart. All in all, the second go around wasn't terribly flawed.
I agree with Arcana's score. It's a B or a B+ in my book. There's not much that could be improved upon, but it's not exactly "magic" deserving of an A grade. If you've seen the first film, the second won't be a terrible stretch or stray too far from formula.