Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Writer/director James Gunn fires up the sequel to his 2014 Marvel blockbuster with an outrageously entertaining intro that sees our crew of space misfits tackle a tentacled monster, while Baby Groot grooves along to ELO's Mr Blue Sky. It's a rousing opening to more snappy patter, crazy action and weird new characters like Pom Klementieff's dippy empath Mantis, a kindred spirit for Dave Bautista's lovable doofus Drax. However, too much of this yarn is absorbed by family dilemmas, as Chris Pratt's Star-Lord tries to resolve daddy issues with his actual father, Ego (Kurt Russell), and surrogate dad Yondu (Michael Rooker). Meanwhile, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) irons out the killer kinks in her relationship with homicidal cyborg sister Nebula (Karen Gillan). As with Iron Man 2, subplot overkill does occasionally hinder the pace in an otherwise enjoyable romp around the Marvel cosmos.