The best moments of Gunn's follow-up to his 2014 hit have an unfettered filmmaking joy - a knowing, kinetic pleasure that comes with a wink and some adolescent wish fulfilment.
The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has found its little, expletive-inflected corner of the Marvel universe and it frolics there, shooting down its enemies and shooting off its mouth.
The rare Hollywood CGI orgy that doesn't take itself deadly seriously-like the current plague of superhero movies-and wants to be as purely entertaining as possible.
...aims to please with breathtaking set pieces that'll convince you to delete all your old diatribes about CGI ruining the movies. But... too many of the punch lines are referential; how much comedy can you milk from the mere mention of David Hasselhoff?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 probably couldn't, and definitely doesn't, recapture the sweet and singular silliness of the original, though the new edition from Marvel Studios and Disney has its rewards.