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

5. The Pacing & Structure Are A Bit Messy

"All these moving parts cause one to start to lose track of where the main thread of the story is as the movie gets very dense, and it’s problematic that major characters in the third act are absent for big chunks of the second act." - IGN

"There is one subplot that overstays its welcome. Along with a bit of a flabby second act, said plotline contributes to the biggest flaw in the film – at 136 minutes it warranted some stricter editing." - Digital Spy

"Multiple storylines interweave in a way that may have looked Empire Strikes Back-sharp in an outline, but in practice, it’s painfully awkward." - The Verge

Circling back to Gunn's decision to split many of the Guardians up for large chunks of the film, some reviewers feel that it results in the sequel feeling clumsily structured and awkwardly paced, which might make its two-plus-hour run-time pass more slowly than you might hope for.

It's an interesting criticism considering how uniformly structured most of the MCU's movies are, but at least suggests that Gunn was given a fair amount of freedom to figure the film out for himself rather than adhere to the much-discussed (and criticised) Marvel "house style".