Film Review: "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017).

"You only get one chance to save the galaxy twice." So here comes Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This superhero film based on the titular Marvel Comics superhero team, written and directed by James Gunn and produced by Marvel Studios. It is the sequel to 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and the fifteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film continues the team's adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill's true parentage.

At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International, a sequel was officially announced a before the theatrical release of the first film, with a July 2017 release date. Gunn's and the cast were conformed to return in July 2014 October 2014. During the writing process, Gunn proposed the idea of Ego the Living Planet being Star-Lord's father. Unfortunately, Marvel did not have the rights to Ego, the rights were owned by 20th Century Fox. Since Gunn did not have any other characters in mind for Star-Lord's father, he had to ask Fox if he could use the character. Fortunately, Fox agreed to let Marvel have Ego, in return for Fox having more creative freedom regarding the character of Negasonic Teenage Warhead for Deadpool (2016). In addition, in May 2015, Gunn wanted to include the characters of Mantis and Adam Warlock. Ultimately, the latter was removed from the final draft. In June, the title of the film was confirmed to be Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. In October, Pom Klementieff was cast as Mantis, and Matthew McConaughey was offered the role of Ego, but he eventually passed on the role. Gary Oldman, Viggo Mortensen, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Plummer, Max von Sydow, and Liam Neeson were considered for the role before Kurt Russell entered negotiations. Principal photography began in February 2016 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, and wrapped in June 2016. This was the first film to utilise the RED WEAPON 8K digital camera. It is the digital equivalent to VistaVision, a higher definition 35mm format developed in the 1950s. At San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Russell and Debicki were confirmed for the roles of Ego and Ayesha. Sylvester Stallone was also confirmed to be in the film. In January 2017, Gunn stated that the film contains five mid- and post-credits scenes, all of which were written and directed by him.

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan and Sean Gunn reprised their roles. The film also stars Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sylvester Stallone, and Kurt Russell. The performances in this film, new and old, did anything but kill the film thanks to the cast's impressive collective charisma. However, the film's stand-out performance was from none other than Rooker who made Yondu everybody's new favourite character.

It may not live up to its unexpected predecessor, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 still offers plenty of the humour and high-stakes action that fans have come to expect. In the end, the film delivers the goods - action, otherworldly adventure and humour, of course.

Simons says Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 receives:

Also, see my review for Guardians of the Galaxy and Doctor Strange.