Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2: Pruned Edition

This is one of those rare edits that turn a movie I strongly disliked into one I'll rewatch and enjoy again for years to come. The theatrical cut of this movie suffered terribly from lame and obnoxious jokes that never knew when to end, and which had a way of ruining good moments. This edit flows smoothly without it ever being slightly apparent that something is missing. I watched this with a friend who is a big fan of the original, and even he didn't notice anything missing. So I'd say all around it holds up very well.

That said, we did miss the full opening Marvel title and regret it being sped up. The video quality is, as the editor puts it, best enjoyed with the expectation of a softer HD experience, due to a lengthy conversion process. And there is one instance where I noticed a cut between scenes could be heard at the 40 minute mark. These nitpicks are nothing though when faced with such a vastly superior version of the film.

Unquestionably a tighter, better edited version of the GOTG2 than the one we got in theatres. The emotional stakes (and stunning FX that I'd forgotten were so impressive, looking at you, arcade game space fleet shootout) are front-and-center here with a lot of the self-indulgent banter chopped down. My only negative criticism is that the extreme editing on Ego's plan, while mostly done incredibly well, seems to rob the climax of some of its far-reaching power and stakes since we never see for ourselves the scope of his plan. But a change I'm happy to live with if it makes the film feel more personal. I hope we see more from "rb" before long, this edit shows a lot of potential.

I'm going to try to be specific in offering points that are not in many of the other reviews here. Essentially, what everyone echoes again and again is that a lot of the longer humorous scenes are cut down. True. Perhaps because a specific cutlist was not published, people seem not to have realized a lot of other things that were cut alongside this, but they stood out for me:
-Peter and Gamora's relationship is altered to be more aggressive, less romantic
-explanation of Ego leaving eggs all over the universe is missing, now we're just suddenly watching a random Dairy Queen blow up for no reason
-the seeds of jokes and comments are removed, making other lines come from nowhere and seem random and/or mean, such as: Drax telling Mantis his impression of her, Peter being called "pathetic" as a thread, seeding Yondu's Mary Poppins rescue moment, there being a limited number of spacesuits and packs, and many more

As well as the things that are missing, there are still beats included which don't let the serious moments breathe and instead immediately undercut them with a joke. Nebula taking over the pirates and then eating a too-bitter radish, Yondu's funeral being immediately followed with Kraglin playing with his arrow, his burial having MULTIPLE shots of silly objects being placed around him, etc. Yes, it's a funny film, but it's also a film with heart, and there's still a lot more room to let those moments have their spotlight.

And on the other hand, there are still more cuts that would help the edit. Sure, you probably need to leave the giant Pac-Man in, but can't the game sound be removed? Do you need so many jokes of Baby Groot bringing random objects to the cell? Such a long, oblivious argument between Rocket and Quill while their friends get sucked out the back of the ship and Nebula crawls around trying to eat a radish??

In the end, this edit is six of one and half a dozen of the other for me. I think it comes down to if you just want a version of GotG V2 that's 15 minutes shorter. There are points for and against watching this version instead of the theatrical, but I suspect most people will end up being forgiving because the story moves faster. On a rewatch, the jagged edges and tonal imbalances that result from that might not be very consequential. For me though, they were.

the main problem with guardians of the galaxy 2 was that some scenes just lingered far too long between jokes which made some of the dialogue seem awkward but RB has trimmed some of the slower paced scenes and made the the movie flow more freely.the viewer is no longer bombarded with jokes and forced one-liners.The movie now has a steady pace which make for a more fun viewing experience. definitely worth a rewatch

My experience with the theatrical cut of GotG:V2 was excruciating. There were so many "wrong" moments, unbearably awkward, or just out of character. I remember especially disliking Drax because his character was so horribly treated.
rb's fanedit saved this film for me. It trimmed nearly all of the cringe-worthy scenes, and did it seamlessly. Well done. It is the definitive copy for me, at least until rb releases a "Chopped Edition"... :)
In short: Highly recommended.