'Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2': Don't see this sassy space adventure in 4DX

Tymon Smith believes that sometimes a movie should remain what it is — not pretend to be an amusement park ride

Let me begin by saying that the preview for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 was hosted in 4DX - the latest and most annoying piece of cinematic trickery conjured up by studios and intended to lure audiences back to the movies.

It's the one where you pay way too much money to sit in seats that rock to the action, water sprayed in your face and strobe lights flashed into your brain in an effort to really bring you into the action-packed experience of the world of the story unravelling on screen.

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In the case of an overlong, action-busting, sassy space adventure like this, it's an experience that will leave you with a sore neck, a throbbing head and a feeling that sometimes a movie should remain what it is instead of pretending to be a theme-park amusement ride for 10-year-olds.

As for the film itself, well it's been three years since Marvel's surprisingly entertaining and irreverent introduction to the oddball outlaw defenders of the universe, made up of Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), the green-skinned beauty Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the monolithic Drax (Dave Bautista), the slow-minded tree Groot (voiced by Vince Diesel) and the irritable raccoon-like Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper).

Here we are once again treated to liberal doses of tongue-in-cheek, in-joke wisecracks, the soothing sounds of the Awesome Mix Tape #2 and the appearance of everyone's favourite past master of the sci-fi action hero, Kurt Russell.

The biggest challenge to the survival of both the galaxy and the Guardians turns out to be the sticky question of just who is Peter's daddy. Turns out that's the celestial Ego (Russell), creator of his own planet and not quite as paternal as he at first appears.

Add to that a race of gold-skinned Aryan types, pissed off by the theft of their special batteries and some tension between scavengers and their leader, and old Quill mentor Yondu (Michael Rooker), and the stage is set for plenty of chair-shaking space chases, earthquakes and conflicts between friends and family members.

WATCH the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

For fans of the first film there are plenty of the original delights to be had, but as we enter the long months of superhero blockbuster overload it would be nice to see future films in the genre learn from director James Gunn's mistakes - it's at least half an hour and two fight scenes too long and a sometimes sentimental and on-the-nose script is short of excellent.

More attention to plot and dialogue and slightly less to pyrotechnic CGI wizardry will also go a long way to ensuring an inevitable third instalment keeps fans and newcomers alike flocking back to their magic-finger, water-spritzing, white-light-popping seats.

WHAT OTHERS REVIEWERS SAY

• The second ''volume" of the open-ended franchise is simply not as charming as the original. — Gersh Kuntzman, New York Daily News

• The ruling aesthetic of the Marvel universe is now bloat. — David Edelstein, Vulture

• The rare Hollywood CGI orgy that doesn't take itself seriously, like so many superhero movies, and just wants to be entertaining. — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

• This article was originally published in The Times.