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

7. The Tone Is Sometimes Jarring

"Vol. 2 occasionally struggles with tonal imbalance...It’s both funnier and darker than the first film, and splitting up the team means that Gunn has to constantly cut across the narratives, making for some jarring transitions along the way...That gleeful goofiness threatens to topple over into self-indulgence when they chip into a heartfelt moment, diminishing the emotional investment the film worked so hard to earn. The nature of the story calls for a tricky tonal tightrope, and while never falls off, he makes some jarring missteps along the way. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, those franchise trademarks can feel like distracting packaging." - Collider

"It seems antithetical to me that a film with rampant destruction, henchmen actually getting gleefully killed onscreen, and some fairly tough moral dilemmas at work, that Guardians 2‘s climax would be almost totally devoid of a hard edge. This doesn’t detract too-too much–as I said, I think this movie made me laugh more than any this year–but it does strike me as strange. It’s as though Gunn decided to amp up the “We are Groot” moments by 400%." - Nerdist

Guardians Vol. 2 tries to take its characters to more ambitious emotional places, but this is at risk of off-setting the overall tonal balance, which several critics claim feels uneven throughout.

It's one thing for MCU movies to be consequence-free fun, but in aiming for legitimate character development, Gunn struggles to reconcile this with the more free-wheeling and ridiculous moments, not letting the character beats breathe before jumping into the next insane gag or set-piece.

It's not terribly surprising and likely won't sink the film for most, even if it could end up making the film a bit of an exhausting sit.