***WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS***

STARRING:

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord

Zoe Saldana as Gamora

Dave Bautista as Drax

Vin Diesel as Baby Groot (voice)

Bradley Cooper as Rocket (voice)

Michael Rooker as Yondu

Karen Gillan as Nebula

Pom Klementieff as Mantis

Kurt Russell as Ego

CAMOES:

Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord

Seth Green as Howard the Duck

Ving Rhames as Charlie-27

Michael Rosenbaum as Martnex

Michelle Yeoh as Aleta Ogord

Miley Cyrus as Mainframe

Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster

David Hasselhoff as Zardu Hasselhoff

Stan Lee as Astronaut

Unlike other MCU films, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 takes place only months after the first film. This means that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 takes place in 2014. All other MCU films take place in real time of when they are released (Doctor Strange is the only other exception as it took place before Captain America Civil War). That will leave a gigantic gap between this film and when we see these character again in Avengers: Infinite War. I wonder what our Guardians would be up to during those four years in between.

Now that I got that point out of the way, let's get to the film. We first meet Ego on Earth spending time with Peter Quill's mother Meredith in 1980. We get to see the love that they felt for each other and a glimpse of life before Peter Quill came into this world. We also get a glimpse of a plant like object that Ego planted into the Earth. This is apparently an extension of himself.

Fast forward to 2014 and we meet our Guardians fighting an inter-dimensional monster for the golden Sovereign race. After defeating the beast, they claim their bounty in the form of Nebula and leave the planet. But not before Rocket can steal valuable batteries from the Sovereign people. The Sovereign people attack the Guardians once the theft is discovered. The Guardians find themselves in a fatal situation when a single blast from a lone ship destroys all of the Sovereign ships and save the Guardians. The only image we see of this mysterious hero is him outside of his ship waving to the Guardians. Shortly later he reveals himself as Ego and Peter Quill's father.

The original film was more fun and action packed then Vol. 2. I am not saying that there wasn't great action as there was. In fact this film was very fun to watch. Some of the fun and excitement that was not in this film was replaced by Peter Quill and his father Ego reconnecting. It had a strong sense of family and longing. These were needed for the story. There needed to be a bond made between father and son in order to give greater meaning to the conflict at the end of the film. The conflict being that Star-Lord's Celestial daddy is a power crazy planet who seeks universal domination. It was pretty damn big if you think about it.

We also find out that Yondu didn't just keep Peter all of those years just for business reasons. He loved Peter as a son. Peter realized the father he had in Yondu. Yondu found out what Ego was doing with the rest of his children before he went to pick up Peter from Earth. Yondu's change opf heart of what to actually do with Peter came after he met Peter. This all created yet another layer to this complex story.

Baby Groot.. I loved everything this character did. He was the star of the film. I don't think much needs to be said beyond that.

The cameos were written into the story well. Sly Stallone is a nice addition to the MCU and I hope they bring together the group of reunited Ravagers back together in a spin-off film down the road. It was great to see Howard the Duck again, I hope to see him as a bigger part of the MCU down the line though. We also finally got to see a small group of Watchers in the MCU listening to Stan Lee's astronaut talk about some of his other cameos. That was really cool to me.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was different then the original and in good ways. The film works. I can't wait to see how they get incorporated with the Avengers. I give this movie a 4 out of 5 stars.

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