WEEKEND REVIEW OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2

Return of The Guardians of the Galaxy Year: 2017

...Instead playing out like an intricate, talky episode of the original Star Trek...

Having earned tons of money at the box office on the opening weekend, and continuing to score for several weeks afterward, the first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was a surprise blockbuster: The Marvel Universe trading in their "serious" superheroes for a smack-talking raccoon, a mumbling tree-beast and... a lot of weird, risky stuff that moved so fast it was impossible not to enjoy the pulpy, action-packed fare, somewhat reminiscent of the original STAR WARS universe had it been produced by Sid and Marty Krofft and loaded with retro tracks from Quentin Tarantino's personal playlist... 

The Guardians leaping through endless flames

Meanwhile, the sequel is another surprise entirely — not really a sustained adventure but more a prequel that still moves the story forward, which, technically, doesn't make sense until you experience the far more contained, bizarre, slowburn romp that's hardly an action-packed journey — instead playing out like one of the more intricate, talky episodes of the original STAR TREK: a cerebral plot concerning our hero, Chris Pratt's cocky Peter Quill, searching for his long lost father and winding up on a mysterious planet that's like a living/breathing character in itself...

GuardianScore: **

Despite a few initial leaps from location to location, for the most part the gang winds up staying put for the long haul — dealing with Kurt Russell as Quill's demigod daddy who's much too good to be true, making the end result not only predictable but taking its sweet time despite a few bombastic explosions, dogfights, gunfights and mile-a-minute insults to keep core fans satisfied.

While the first film seemed like it consisted of four of five connected comic books, this feels like a single prolonged Special Edition Daddy Issue. And yet there's a feeling that these people/creatures have an even more progressed admiration for each other that makes even the corniest moments feel very genuine, despite the fact this second GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY consists of two acts instead of three: The first consisting mostly of dialogue, where you better pay close attention, while the second partakes in a long epic battle that doesn't quite know how or when to end. And yet, when it does, you just might feel you know these unique superheroes better than they know themselves, making the inevitable third outing something to truly look forward to — having gotten all the superfluous backstory out of the way, let's hope there's not too much looking back the next time around.