“He says, ‘Welcome to the frickin' Guardians of the Galaxy. Only he didn't use frickin'.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is easily my favourite MCU film and almost certainly the best film that Marvel Studios has ever released.

This film has a fantastic ability to operate in many different tones and styles and very rarely feel like a confused film. In fact, the only example I can think of in this film is the Pac-Man moment in the finale; but even this is a pay-off to a previous moment. Everyone does unbelievably well, especially Kurt Russell as Ego who I love and is a well crafted antagonist with an interesting relationship to the hero (shock).

It is however the script and interaction that I love more than anything else; there are far too many small moments that I love to name here but a good example is that Quill and Gamora don’t get together at the end and it instead finishes on a platonic side-hug. I can’t really fault this film for anything. It made me laugh a lot consistently from every character and it made me cry; which takes a lot.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is a wonderfully relatable action-family drama-comedy film that has the unique feeling of focusing on emotions and relationships more than the action. James Gunn did a great job here and I am over the moon he’s coming back for the third instalment.

Finally I want to mention the exquisite colour palette and the beautiful soundtrack, which is even better than the original Guardians of the Galaxy compilation, fight me. It also gets an extra half star for featuring My Sweet Lord.