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6 Reasons to Get Excited for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Put your hand up if you honestly knew a lot about the Guardians of the Galaxy before the first film came out.
I can’t tell if you’re raising your hand because this is just an article, but I’m assuming not many of us did.

Perhaps that’s why it’s success in July 2014 was so shocking to a superhero genre that heavily relied on well-known names up until that point (how many Spider-Man/Batman/Superman films had there been?). Either way, we ended up with a great film and the popularity of the Guardians of the Galaxy has skyrocketed – well played, Marvel.
The highly anticipated sequel is due to be released in the UK on the 28th April and in the US on 5th May and now audiences are familiar with the characters its sure to be a success!

But why should you be excited for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Well, here are 6 reasons in no particular order:

1. 100/100

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A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release in order to gauge audience reaction. This is nothing special.

Marvel’s highest rated films were The Avengers and Iron Man 3 which both scored in the 90s.That was until now – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has accomplished the impossible by scoring 100/100 in its test screening.

This list could stop here, to be honest.

How many times have we all been in a group chat trying to decide on something only to find there’s always that one person who makes everything difficult by disagreeing with the consensus? *sigh* Well, this film was so good that NOONE in the test screening audience had anything bad to say about it?!
Now I’m sure as soon as the film comes out in cinemas there will be:

1) Some people who want to disagree with this scoring to try and make people think they’re cool because their tastes are SO different and non-confirmative.
and
2) Some people who just genuinely don’t like the film (probably the first person in denial).

For now however, I think this is as good a reason as any to be excited for this film – even if you’re not a die-hard fan of comic/superhero films!

2. Awesome Mix Vol. 2

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Regardless of how you felt about the first Guardians of the Galaxy, one thing that is universally acknowledged is that it had one of the best soundtracks in recent times.

So good, in fact, that Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 was nominated for a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media in 2015… it lost to Frozen… but whatever… I’m not salty. It also went Platinum and went to #1 on the album charts in the US and Canada and #2 in the UK and Australia.

Awesome Mix Vol. 1 was more than a great soundtrack though, it was the mixtape that Peter Quill’s mother gave to him before she died and he was abducted, and director James Gunn said in May 2014 ‘[the music] reminds us that, yeah, [Quill] is a real person from planet Earth who’s just like you and me. Except that he’s in this big outer space adventure’

But the best part? At the end of the first film, Quill opens a gift from his mother and guess what it is? Number 2 on this list! James Gunn is returning as producer and he said he thinks it’s even better than Vol. 1!

3. MCU 2017

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Spider-Man: Homecoming cementing the web-slinger’s presence in the wider context of the MCU in July, and Thor: Ragnarok in November (with possible ties to the Planet Hulk story arc, as well as being the speculated reveal of the final infinity stone), 2017 is going to be a huge year for the MCU.

And what will be the first release of this year? Given the subject of this list, I’d be pretty shocked if you didn’t know the answer.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is going to put the MCU in full swing and hammer home the fact that MCU is one of the greatest cinematic triumphs in recent times.

…Swing …Hammer …Spider-Man …Thor …No?

Whatever… it’s going to set off an epic year of cinema.

4. The Script

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Gunn said in an interview with Collider “It’s a more emotional movie, it’s both a bigger movie and a smaller movie because we focus more intensely on some of the characters.”

What’s interesting is that, contrary to the trend of superhero films at the moment, there will be fewer characters in this film than the first. Apparently, the intention is to go deeper with the characters that are now well known to audiences.

This isn’t to say there won’t be new characters popping up, but the intention may be to firmly establish the characters as individuals before they link up with The Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War on 27th April 2018 (UK) and 4th May 2018 (US) – which isn’t a bad idea!

5. All-Star Cast

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The chemistry between the Guardians was what made the first film truly shine and a lot of the credit for that goes to the actors. Well, guess what?

They’re all coming back!

Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation, Jurassic World), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Avatar), Dave Bautista (WWE, Spectre), Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious, xXx) and Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, Limitless)

‘So? People always come back for sequels?’ I hear you say. Well, how about the new additions to the cast including Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo) and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight, The Thing) I’m pretty sure so many big names wouldn’t sign on to a project unless they knew it was something worthwhile…

6. Baby Groot

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‘Nuff said.

Why are you excited to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? Let us know in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter!

About the author

Ryan John