The Film (3.5/5)

    I have been a fan of James Gunn since the one-two punch of getting a VHS copy of Tromeo and Juliet in 1999, and the book "All I Needed to Know About Filmmaking, I Learned from the Toxic Avenger" co-written by Gunn around the same period. His career has been interesting to follow coming from his Tromatic roots to mainstream success with some interesting stops along the way, such as writing  the Scooby Doo live action films, Dawn of the Dead remake, and the made for TV superhero parody The Specials before stepping into the director's chair with his Night of the Creeps-ish Slither, Super, and his web series PG Porn.

    It was both unexpected, but exciting to hear that Gunn was picked up by Marvel to adapt their Guardians of the Galaxy comic to the big screen, as even though he had handled super hero cinema from a parody perspective previously, it seemed that his very unique cinematic viewpoint would work well with the material. As it turns out, it did,  and so 3 years later we welcome to the world Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 a film that is bigger and more dynamic than its predecessor in every way, and bears its creator’s imprint all over it more so than the original film.

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sees the Guardians hired by an alien race called the Sovereign to retrieve their valuable batteries in exchange the Guardians will get Nebula, the sister of Gamora who previously attempted to steal the batteries.  As it turns out, Rocket could not resist the chance to steal the rare batteries for himself, and gets the entire Sovereign chasing them throughout that sector of the galaxy. This leads them on an intense space chase, that causes the Guardians to land on a strange planet where Star Lord finally meets up with his Father, Ego (Kurt Russell). This causes friction in the group as half of them stay behind on the planet to fix the ship, while Star Lord and Gamora go back to his Father's home planet to get to know him and find out more about his background.

   Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is everything the first film was, but much much  more.  It's got more action, and adventure and an interesting story that ties into the familial themes that seem to carry through these films. It has a gorgeous cosmic look to the film that really helps to separate it apart from the rest of the Marvel films.

     The cast has an excellent chemistry that carries over from the first film, and the new cast integrates well with the old, creating something truly fantastic. Of course, the cast of the film is populated with old familiar faces, but also new comers to the franchise including such action cinema luminaries as Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. James Gunn brings his trademark style to both the direction, but mainly to the writing which is quite funny throughout the film.

    Of course, the biggest problem with the film is all its excesses add up to a film that is overly long, and feels a bit too bloated.   Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 feels fun and exciting for much of its running time, but by the end it feels like the race has gone on too long, and I felt like I was out of breath, and just wanted things to be tied up. Overall, it was a fun picture, but I guess it was too much of a fun thing. Others may feel differently.

Audio/Video (5/5)

Disney presents Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in an excellent 2:39:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film. Everything here looks fantastic, colors pop, detail is excellent, blacks are inky and deep and I can find nothing to complain about.

Audio is handled by a DTS-HD 7.1 track in English. The track is quite solid with dialogue and score coming through crisp and clear.

Extras (3.5/5)

   We get a commentary by Gunn, a short 4 part making of, deleted scenes, a music video, trailer, and more.

Overall

    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a fine follow up to the original film, it just falls victim to its own excesses, and feels a bit overdone. It is still a fun and exciting watch, and I look forward to seeing these characters again in Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol .3.