The original 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy is, in my “professional” opinion, the best movie of 2014. It blew everyone’s minds as well as their expectations out of the water when it came out, and remained the most talked about and watched movie all year. I was in the same boat as everyone else. I watched it countless times and for a long time it was my go-to “background-noise-movie”. So, naturally, I was excited beyond belief of the prospect of a sequel, but, the closer it got the more uncertain I was. Guardians of the Galaxy was a near perfection and out of left field superhero movie that no one expected from Marvel, and I was worried they would cash in on that and overdue all the old jokes… Thank god I was wrong!.. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 follows your favorite misfit group of galaxy crime fighters. They are working as hired guns more or less, until they end up finding Quill’s dad and a whole bunch of fuckery goes down. I can’t tell you much about the plot or else it would ruin the movie, but, I will tell you what I can about the movie and tone itself… The original movie had so much going for it, the strongest of which were the soundtrack, humor, action, acting, and relate-ability of Star Lord. This movie is not AS good as the first one. I’m not saying it is bad, because it’s not, it’s fantastic, just not nearly as good. It was however much funnier, and somehow much darker at the same time… That right there would have to be my favorite part of the movie. It somehow bounced back and forth, scene to scene, from hilarious to dark and sad. It added much needed depth to the movie as well as the characters… Now, Characters. Chris Pratt obviously killed it as Star Lord, the character he was born to play. Zoe Saldana added more depth to her portrayal of Gamora, playing her part of the will they/won’t they romance very well. Dave Bautista surprised me once again with his impeccable comic timing and stand out acting chops. Bradley Cooper is nearly unrecognizable as the voice of rocket, and Vin says his three words well yet again… The stand out role however is Michael Rooker as Yondu. Yondu has an amazing character and story arc just for him, playing a much larger part in this movie than the last. Rooker delivers as many hilarious lines as he does heart-wrenching. I loved seeing the backstory of Yondu and the difficulties he goes through because of his past decisions… Better than that you get more depth on his relationship with Quill that went unfinished in the previous movie… Not many sequels are good. Fewer are great. It is once in a great while that one is a perfect continuation of the original, and that is what Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 did.