★★★★☆

AFTER the success of the first Guardians Of The Galaxy, coupled with the self-aware Deadpool and ultra-gritty Logan, it’s clear that audiences have an appetite for more unusual superhero blockbusters as much as the mainstay output.

Now Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel), now in cute Baby form, are back to save the galaxy once more.

This time the intergalactic motley crew find themselves on the run from their ancient, gold-coloured previous employers the Sovereign, led by the conceited and pompous Ayesha (a scenery-chewing Elizabeth Debicki), after Rocket nabs some rare and expensive batteries.

This puts them back on the path of Yondu (Michael Rooker), the blue-coloured Ravager who raised Peter and is much-hated by most of his fellow faction because of a past breaking of their sacred code, as well as Nebula (Karen Gillan), hell-bent on killing her sister Gamora for certain childhood transgressions. But the biggest deal of all is the addition of Kurt Russell as Ego the Living Planet, whose relationship to Peter was hinted at in the last film and forthright in this one’s illuminating opening sequence. Anyone looking to delve deeper into the mythology and heritage side of this world will find something wholly satisfying at play in this funny, entertainingly spirited sequel.

Like many of the Marvel outings, it’s a film that knows its audience and gives them more of what they loved the last time. That largely translates in the Guardians interstellar offshoot to colourful action mixed with the playful interactions between its loveable rogue team, very much the weird cousin of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cooper really sinks his teeth into voicing the ever-sarcastic Rocket, while Bautista once again steals the show as the mountainous, overly-literal Drax.

Yet despite it delivering a healthy dose of what it knows fans loved last time around, it’s also a film that gratifyingly builds on the relationships between the characters and illuminates their backstories, playing up to our affections for them and giving each of them a true purpose for being there: Gamora and Nebula’s tempestuous relationship, thanks to their father Thanos (already set up as the big baddie for the next Avengers team-up flick); Drax’s tragic family history revealing a softer side to him; Rocket trying to reconcile the fact that he was genetically developed in a lab.

Through each of them it deals with the idea of lineage and what exactly family means, whether it’s ingrained from birth – Peter’s lifelong yearning to find out who his father is and why exactly he left Earth acts as the backbone to the plot – or if the makeshift, galaxy-saving squad counts just as much if not more.

It may not feel quite as fresh this time around, an inherent problem of just being unable to capture lightning in a bottle twice. And there are certainly pacing issues and problems with making certain subplots tie in cohesively to the main narrative as we go along.

But cracks are painted over with quippy dialogue between characters that are a hoot to be around, another cracking soundtrack (ELO, George Harrison, Fleetwood Mac) and vibrant visuals that really pop. It continues to make the Guardians saga a colourful, characterful part of the ever-growing MCU with an enjoyably goofy personality all of its own.