Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy is more or less in the same vein as the first one, but it doesn't bring much new. It's decent fun no doubt. Drax and the raccoon are the funniest again, Starlord is a bit bland and didn't seem to have enough space, I didn't like Kurt Russell much and Stallone is only here for maybe two minutes, so there's not much to look forward to. The film is a bit too colourful and quite infantile in places for my taste, and the big finale is actually the weakest part, as it is nothing but a massive digital mess that you can't really absorb and you don’t really care how it ends. The highlight for me was the scene in the forest where the raccoon disarms his opponents with ingenious traps. I probably won't watch it again and would classify it as one of the more mediocre Marvel films. I suspect DC will kick Marvel's ass this year with Wonder Woman. 75% (04/05/2017)

David Hasselhoff and his talking car meant a lot to me too… volume 2 of Guardians of the Galaxy plays on a family note (did Vin Diesel drag this in from Fast and Furious?) and an emotional cartwheel. An evil bastard can have a heart of gold and, vice-versa, a golden bastard can have a heart of evil. The continuing storyline revealing Quill’s origins is convincingly perverse and the idea with the living planet is sufficiently unusual. A welcome return of Tango and Cash, parody of the USA’s drone policy, Drax’s humorous interjections and Groot’s cute smile. Nothing changes in terms of acting, everybody is having a great time, Gunn’s childhood dream with rainbow bubbles comes true and nostalgic music creates gallons of good feelings with an emotionally draining ending even more intense than volume 1. Absolutely happy with this. (09/05/2017)

Blockbuster equivalent of the 90th TV Nova Saturday variety show, too colorful, trying to be funny at all costs, but it´s simply not funny. It´s excessively long, dull and relies only on famous people making faces. Perhaps only Petr Novotný was a better villain than these ones. The characters themselves are not that bad, but the way they are (not) uses in a confusing coloring book digital is hopeless. The first hour can keep up with the first movie in terms of quality, put the second one destroys the whole "feel good" concept. (06/05/2017)

Even though the movie is not as good as the first part, it still is a very good Marvel movie which – in terms of fun and original ideas – beats other Marvel films. For the first half an hour, I kept thinking about where the plot was headed only to start really enjoying it later. Starlord, Groot, Rocket, Drax and Gamora are simply a group of friends that I wished I had my entire childhood, only to finally find them in adulthood. Those three years of waiting were really worth it. By the way, it’s interesting that Tyler Bates chose a soundtrack consisting of lesser known hit songs, which is really working with the film. I was satisfied and I am really curious what the authors will come up with when things get tough with the average Avengers. Average not only in terms of the characters, but also in terms of the jokes. I hope that Teen Groot will save the day… (27/05/2017)

It really needs something more than the solid chemistry of the main gang, Zoe Saldana, Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone’s cameo. After half an hour of camera flourishes and digital effects I already had a headache. (12/08/2017)