Guardians of the Galaxy sequel lacks mystique

Marvel Studios released Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, May 5 with much anticipation surrounding it. Given the abundant critical and financial success of the first Guardians film, with almost all the original cast returning along with Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone, the expectations for this movie were very high.
  First off, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is the most unimportant and unessential movie in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unlike its prequel, nothing in this movie has any long-term effects on any other property in the Marvel universe. It is not a Marvel movie so much as it is a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. That may not be a bad thing, but it gives the movie the stigma of an unnecessary cash-grab rather than a film that changes the scape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the original movie did.
  Aside from that one glaring issue, the movie has a lot of good things working for it. First off, Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) interaction and relationship with his father Ego (Kurt Russell) is the very foundation for the movie and is just strong and interesting enough to keep the movie fluid. Yondu’s(Michael Rooker) development as a character also something keeps the audience invested in the film. Even though his character development ends in a somewhat predictable way, he is arguably the best part of the film.
  Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula’s (Karen Gillan) relationship is the biggest downfall of the film. Their interactions with one another are all over the place and when the two characters reach their resolutions, it’s disappointing and forced.
  Like the original, there is plenty of humor in this film. Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) is a cute and comedic relief to the seriousness of the film, and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is the same sarcastic, smart-alec, quick-to-quip raccoon the audience will remember from the first film.
  In the first movie, Drax was a stone-faced character who took everything literally and couldn’t understand the simplest of metaphors. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, however, Drax is a constantly laughing, overall funny guy, especially in his interactions with Mantis (Pom Klementieff).
  Ultimately, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 was not a bad movie, but it was still disappointing. The disappointment isn’t a result of the movie itself, but its context. The movie still had humor, serious moments, and mostly good character development, but the movie didn’t need to happen. If the movie were removed from the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it would not matter.
  Although a lot of the audience might not care about this fact, Avengers: Infinity War is only a year away from release and Marvel Studios is building it as the climax of the whole MCU thus far. There are only three MCU movies set to release in between now and then.  At this stage, all the movies released should serve as a build up to Avengers: Infinity War or should at the very least impact some other aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 does not accomplish this. For this, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 gets a 7/10.