Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, the follow-up to writer-director James Gunn's 2014 sci-fi smash hit, is a kicky, goofy blast when stacked up against the majority of comic-book movies, its day-glo visuals and irreverent sense of humour setting it apart in style.

But when Vol 2 is stacked up against the first outing of the Guardians, Marvel Comics' rag-tag team of rascally intergalactic heroes, a bit of wear and tear is evident.

Rewatching Gunn's first Guardians after watching Vol 2, I was struck by how confidently he took to big, broad-stroke franchise filmmaking, where the special effects team is usually the size of a small army, while imprinting the material with sneaky, snarky wit and a surprising amount of heart and soul.

Both of those qualities are apparent in the Guardians' new adventure - it's determined to make you cry, cheer and chuckle in equal measure, it appears - but it doesn't feel quite as spontaneous or natural the second time around.

That's not to say the moments that tickle the funny bone or tug at the heartstrings don't work. For the most part, they do, and pretty well, but you can sense the planning and effort that went into them, and Vol 2 comes off as a little less nimble and light on its feet as a result.

Fear not, Guardians fans, this isn't as severe a drop in quality as, say, The Fate Of The Furious. Devotees of splashy, super-sized space adventures are still going to find much to enjoy during this rocket-fuelled ride through the cosmos.

The last time we left our heroes - roguish Peter 'Star-Lord' Quill (Chris Pratt), hot-tempered Gamora (Zoe Saldana), lovable brute Drax (Dave Bautista), trigger-happy raccoon Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and walking tree Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) - they'd overcome most of their differences to form a makeshift family.

Of course, they all still had their own family issues to deal with - Gamora had an ongoing feud with her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan), while the identity of Peter's father remained a mystery.

Luckily, Vol 2 is hellbent on tying up those dangling story threads as quickly as possible, with Gamora and Nebula sorting out their issues from childhood when they're not trading gunshots and body blows.

And as for Peter, he gets a crash course in his family history when he meets Ego (Kurt Russell), a cosmic god with a habit of spreading his seed, so to speak, all around the universe.

When Ego visited Earth back in the '80s, he had a fling with a small-town gal...and nine months later, Star-Lord was born.

Now dear old dad is looking to rebuild his relationship with his long-lost son, and Peter is understandably thrilled. But is there something a little sinister about Ego's motives, something that may, in fact, place the whole universe in jeopardy?

That's more than enough to keep viewers hooked, but there are a fair few subplots swimming around here, including Rocket's insistence on self-sabotaging any chance of happiness and Peter's complicated relationship with Yondu (Michael Rooker), the rough, tough bounty hunter who raised him.

As you may have guessed, there's a whole lot of emotions surging through this story, and while Gunn and his cast are up to the task of expressing them, there are times when it comes off as a little manipulative.

Fortunately, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2 is also savvy enough to throw in giant monsters that are 90% fangs every once in a while. It's considerate that way.