Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2: 12 Critical Reactions You Need To Know

10. It's A Mostly Standalone Movie

"There’s no slavish need to tie this into every other movie in the franchise; in fact, this is probably one of the most standalone MCU movies in Phase 3." - IGN

"It helps that Vol. 2 is given a reprieve from the burden of actively advancing the larger MCU narrative in favor of honing in on this pivotal moment in the Guardians’ arc. There are no Infinity Stones. Thanos is mentioned, but never appears, and the extent of his villainy is finally revealed by showing us the lasting effects of his evils deed gone by rather than the sinister machinations of his evil deeds to come." - Collider

"Particularly refreshing to me were its almost defiant disinterest in what’s happening in the rest of the MCU, favoring its own internal continuity more than that of the studio as a whole." - Nerdist

One of the MCU's biggest handicaps is the tendency for its movies to feel overly tethered to the internal framework, such that they can't just tell a great, single story without it connecting to the overall fabric of the universe.

Despite the scattered mentions of Thanos, Vol. 2 is a thankfully largely standalone effort, dealing with a mostly self-contained story and presumably leaving the bigger picture details to Spider-Man: Homecoming and, more likely, Thor: Ragnarok later in the year.