Jonny Numb’s review published on Letterboxd:
At the trailer stage, my worst fear for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (G2) was that it would become complacent in the quirky antics that made the original film so charming and unexpected. Watching G2 proper, from the too-cute (WAY too cute) opening that fixates on Baby Groot (BG), to the climactic sequence that hinges on BG, my worst fears were pretty well confirmed. I mean, just looking at the overcompensating starburst (Skittle-burst?) of a poster tells you all you really need to know: in expanding and overlapping the MCUs, story and character has taken a backseat to visual spectacle. While writer-director James Gunn subverts the expectations for key action scenes (even pulling away from the thick of battle), what he replaces them with is problematic; coasting on the three-word vocabulary and munchkin delivery of BG gets old after the opening credits. While Gunn does a decent job of juggling a large ensemble, the new additions function about as you'd expect, with Kurt Russell doing what most seasoned thespians do in these types of films - recite reams of exposition in front of a green-screened diorama. For some reason, G2 is all about sibling and/or daddy issues, with Quill (Chris Pratt) and Ego's (Russell) estranged relationship taking center stage (the latter presides over a perfect world of his own design...TOO perfect, if you catch my drift...*wink wink*). The film is weirdly sentimental, but to no narrative end outside of a lack of other viable ideas. The one relationship where this resonates with any interest is the rivalry between Gamora (an otherwise badly marginalized Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), in part because the latter's angst and resentment is rooted in genuine emotion; while everybody else is coasting on this treacly bullshit, Gillan is the only one who doesn't seem on paycheck-cashing, product tie-in autopilot mode. While "Doctor Strange" started to show the seams in the MCU, G2 could be the first genuine harbinger of its decline. Too bad - I really wanted to be on board with this one.