Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
May 4, 2017 11:41 AM - Subscribe
Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' continues the team's adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill's true parentage.
Vox [Spoilers] - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is like listening to your favorite Fleetwood Mac song, while traversing a rainbow on a unicorn that fires glitter from its butt and laser beams from its eyeballs.
It’s an awful lot. At times it’s overwhelming. But it is, without a doubt, awesome.
Sarah of Cinesnark at LaineyGossip
[Mostly Spoiler Free*] ...Gunn’s script is deeper and more resonant, with real emotional arcs for not only Gamora and Nebula but also Rocket and Yondu (Michael Rooker), the blue space pirate who basically raised Quill. Because each character is treated as a whole person, and not just an exposition or joke delivery system, no one character is burdened with carrying the movie. The result is a true ensemble film where you actually like and care about every character....
io9 [Spoilers] - But feelings are really what James Gunn is going for in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Not all of them are the joys of seeing something totally awesome, laughing out loud, or the feeling of goosebumps on your arm and a shit-eating grin on your face. Some of them are awkward, uncomfortable and even upsetting for the characters, but it gives audiences a deeper, more layered look at the galaxy’s biggest a-holes.
If you stayed in your seat through ALLTHECREDITS, here's a breakdown of the 5 stingers [Spoilers] and (with some duplicates) a few of the Easter Eggs throughout the film.
*Nothing that isn't already on the IMDB cast/character list
Vox [Spoilers] - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is like listening to your favorite Fleetwood Mac song, while traversing a rainbow on a unicorn that fires glitter from its butt and laser beams from its eyeballs.
It’s an awful lot. At times it’s overwhelming. But it is, without a doubt, awesome.
Sarah of Cinesnark at LaineyGossip
[Mostly Spoiler Free*] ...Gunn’s script is deeper and more resonant, with real emotional arcs for not only Gamora and Nebula but also Rocket and Yondu (Michael Rooker), the blue space pirate who basically raised Quill. Because each character is treated as a whole person, and not just an exposition or joke delivery system, no one character is burdened with carrying the movie. The result is a true ensemble film where you actually like and care about every character....
io9 [Spoilers] - But feelings are really what James Gunn is going for in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Not all of them are the joys of seeing something totally awesome, laughing out loud, or the feeling of goosebumps on your arm and a shit-eating grin on your face. Some of them are awkward, uncomfortable and even upsetting for the characters, but it gives audiences a deeper, more layered look at the galaxy’s biggest a-holes.
If you stayed in your seat through ALLTHECREDITS, here's a breakdown of the 5 stingers [Spoilers] and (with some duplicates) a few of the Easter Eggs throughout the film.
*Nothing that isn't already on the IMDB cast/character list
FIVE credit "stingers"?
Might be misremembering, but I don't think the first one mentioned there was so much a post-credit scene as a brief coda (I mean, surely some credits need to come before it for it to count as a post-credit scene?).
As for the rest, I liked the first one more, but it wasn't boring. Plenty of fun stuff (I especially liked Klementieff's and Debicki's characters), some stupid but still fun stuff, but also some stuff that was just plain stupid. Also some of the design work felt extremely cheap, like they'd bought a generic 3D model from fiverr or something.
posted by effbot at 3:04 PM on May 4, 2017
Might be misremembering, but I don't think the first one mentioned there was so much a post-credit scene as a brief coda (I mean, surely some credits need to come before it for it to count as a post-credit scene?).
As for the rest, I liked the first one more, but it wasn't boring. Plenty of fun stuff (I especially liked Klementieff's and Debicki's characters), some stupid but still fun stuff, but also some stuff that was just plain stupid. Also some of the design work felt extremely cheap, like they'd bought a generic 3D model from fiverr or something.
posted by effbot at 3:04 PM on May 4, 2017
Yeah, still fun, but a bit too effects heavy. Cut the final mano y mano battle by 5-7 minutes and a bit more character interplay.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:01 PM on May 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:01 PM on May 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
What was most disturbing was an overall juvenile tone that permeated much of the film. For example, the scene where Yondu and Rocket murder most of the mutinied Ravagers is played for laughs, with particular slowmo closeup os the arrow going through them. For a good minute or two, to a cheerful soundtrack. There was a lot of that, intermixed with Quill's cliched daddy issues on the centerstage.
Fun film overall, but it didn't feel as deep or as meaningful as the previous.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:08 PM on May 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
Fun film overall, but it didn't feel as deep or as meaningful as the previous.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:08 PM on May 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'm going against the consensus, but I actually liked it more than the first one!
I felt like this film didn't need to spend any time establishing the characters, and so could dive into their relationships and characterisation instead, which I mostly really liked. I agree with Brandon that some of the violence was a bit disconcerting - bummer, really, because 90% of the film is something my daughter would love, but that 10% makes it too awful.
posted by smoke at 8:31 PM on May 4, 2017 [6 favorites]
I felt like this film didn't need to spend any time establishing the characters, and so could dive into their relationships and characterisation instead, which I mostly really liked. I agree with Brandon that some of the violence was a bit disconcerting - bummer, really, because 90% of the film is something my daughter would love, but that 10% makes it too awful.
posted by smoke at 8:31 PM on May 4, 2017 [6 favorites]
Loved the arcade parody though, that was spot on.
Odd soundtrack though, didn't recognize most of the songs, unlike vol 1.
Baby Groot was great, especially in the opening sequence.
Def good to see more female charcters.
Dave Batusta is the film's secret, he nails every scene he's in as Drax
Rocketis always a joy.
The makeup and costumes were fantastic, felt very real and looked great.
Loved how bright and full of color everything is was. Truly it's one of the hallmarks of Guardians and Gunn just kills it in this department
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:39 AM on May 5, 2017 [4 favorites]
Odd soundtrack though, didn't recognize most of the songs, unlike vol 1.
Baby Groot was great, especially in the opening sequence.
Def good to see more female charcters.
Dave Batusta is the film's secret, he nails every scene he's in as Drax
Rocketis always a joy.
The makeup and costumes were fantastic, felt very real and looked great.
Loved how bright and full of color everything is was. Truly it's one of the hallmarks of Guardians and Gunn just kills it in this department
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:39 AM on May 5, 2017 [4 favorites]
The best performance in the film was Karen Gillan.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:39 AM on May 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:39 AM on May 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
Dave Batusta is the film's secret, he nails every scene he's in as Drax
I dunno, he seemed to spend most of this film as a PUA, negging on Mantis. Got a little tiresome.
(...but then I found the "every guy needs to pair up a girl and they need to fall in love, at least a little, before the end credits" bit rather boring. That, and walking in slow motion to some obscure hit song from an obviously horrible eighties that had David Hasselhoff in Night Rider but not Kurt Russell in Escape from New York...)
posted by effbot at 5:02 AM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
I dunno, he seemed to spend most of this film as a PUA, negging on Mantis. Got a little tiresome.
(...but then I found the "every guy needs to pair up a girl and they need to fall in love, at least a little, before the end credits" bit rather boring. That, and walking in slow motion to some obscure hit song from an obviously horrible eighties that had David Hasselhoff in Night Rider but not Kurt Russell in Escape from New York...)
posted by effbot at 5:02 AM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Question before I watch... does Baby Groot get overplayed? First movie had the right balance of Groot being cute and funny without the shtick getting tiresome. Based on the previews, they really drive the joke into the ground in this movie.
posted by 2ht at 5:59 AM on May 5, 2017
posted by 2ht at 5:59 AM on May 5, 2017
No, baby Groot worked thoughout the movie for me, mostly because of nice comedic pieces and the occasional shift in tone.
I dunno, he seemed to spend most of this film as a PUA, negging on Mantis. Got a little tiresome.
Hee, was expecting something like this on Metafilter, mostly because it's correct. The guys arguing about stupid shit, while Gamara was the sensible one felt cliched and clashed horribly with the incredibly dark tone of Nebula. It was good to see her and Gamora reconcile, but reminder of the horrifying abuse they both suffered felt wildly out of place next the guys arguing about who was the better pilot.
I don't think Drax was negging per se, though I feel ya on the complete. He's always been a somewhat difficult character, what with calling Gamora "a whore" in the first film. If's why thing to make him a bit odd and difficult, but why go that route?
But the character's humor and Bautista's comedic timing working well for me.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:19 AM on May 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
I dunno, he seemed to spend most of this film as a PUA, negging on Mantis. Got a little tiresome.
Hee, was expecting something like this on Metafilter, mostly because it's correct. The guys arguing about stupid shit, while Gamara was the sensible one felt cliched and clashed horribly with the incredibly dark tone of Nebula. It was good to see her and Gamora reconcile, but reminder of the horrifying abuse they both suffered felt wildly out of place next the guys arguing about who was the better pilot.
I don't think Drax was negging per se, though I feel ya on the complete. He's always been a somewhat difficult character, what with calling Gamora "a whore" in the first film. If's why thing to make him a bit odd and difficult, but why go that route?
But the character's humor and Bautista's comedic timing working well for me.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:19 AM on May 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
The movie pays some lip service to feminist critiques of it. Namely, there's the opening credits sequence wherein Drax thinks he's killing the Lovecraftian space demon, when actually it was Gamora doing the killing.
But it's still just lip service. Never for a moment do I believe in the "unspoken" chemistry between Quill and Gamora.
posted by HeroZero at 10:02 AM on May 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
But it's still just lip service. Never for a moment do I believe in the "unspoken" chemistry between Quill and Gamora.
posted by HeroZero at 10:02 AM on May 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
For example, the scene where Yondu and Rocket murder most of the mutinied Ravagers is played for laughs, with particular slowmo closeup os the arrow going through them. For a good minute or two, to a cheerful soundtrack.
This one was off key for me too - otherwise a fun movie.
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:36 PM on May 5, 2017
This one was off key for me too - otherwise a fun movie.
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:36 PM on May 5, 2017
The death of the mutinying Ravagers certainly could have been cut down upon quite a lot, but it's neither particularly violent for an MCU film (consider the first Avengers film, for example, with all of the invading Chitauri being slaughtered wholesale by superheroes who obviously don't have their comics counterparts' code against killing), or that surprising for a James Gunn film--I'd refer you to Super, his film with Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page, which is quite violent.
Overall, I liked it quite a lot, both for building on the characters' established personalities (yes, Drax was pretty obnoxious in this one, but he also was in the last film), and for incorporating a lot of stuff from the comics in interesting ways (Ego was well-done, and Taserface is an actual pre-existing character; I also liked their takes on the original Guardians turned Ravagers, including Starhawk and Martinex). Sad to see Rooker go, but he did a lot more interesting things with Yondu than the comics ever did.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:29 PM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Overall, I liked it quite a lot, both for building on the characters' established personalities (yes, Drax was pretty obnoxious in this one, but he also was in the last film), and for incorporating a lot of stuff from the comics in interesting ways (Ego was well-done, and Taserface is an actual pre-existing character; I also liked their takes on the original Guardians turned Ravagers, including Starhawk and Martinex). Sad to see Rooker go, but he did a lot more interesting things with Yondu than the comics ever did.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:29 PM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
And the only one surviving the slaughter was the director's brother. What are the odds for that? Talk about breaking the immersion :-D
As for Drax, I don't really mind the "tactless idiot with a good heart" angle, it would just have been less annoying if they'd given him at least a few jokes that wasn't about how horribly ugly the Asian character was (while at the same time making her stereotypically childlike and subservient).
(also, wasn't that guy supposed to be human from the start? That Marvel Wiki lists him as an american human in an artificial body, but I guess that's another multiverse or whatever these things are called.)
Taserface is an actual pre-existing character
"A scout from an alien race that started as primitive purple-skinned aliens on a distant planet, aliens that happen to look exactly like dressed-up humans and who's been worshipping Tony Stark for many centuries after stumbling upon one of his rockets, in the Earth #691 dimension". Yet another candidate for "worst sci-fi story ever written" :-) (like so much else from Marvel)
posted by effbot at 3:28 AM on May 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
As for Drax, I don't really mind the "tactless idiot with a good heart" angle, it would just have been less annoying if they'd given him at least a few jokes that wasn't about how horribly ugly the Asian character was (while at the same time making her stereotypically childlike and subservient).
(also, wasn't that guy supposed to be human from the start? That Marvel Wiki lists him as an american human in an artificial body, but I guess that's another multiverse or whatever these things are called.)
Taserface is an actual pre-existing character
"A scout from an alien race that started as primitive purple-skinned aliens on a distant planet, aliens that happen to look exactly like dressed-up humans and who's been worshipping Tony Stark for many centuries after stumbling upon one of his rockets, in the Earth #691 dimension". Yet another candidate for "worst sci-fi story ever written" :-) (like so much else from Marvel)
posted by effbot at 3:28 AM on May 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
but it's neither particularly violent for an MCU film (consider the first Avengers film, for example, with all of the invading Chitauri being slaughtered wholesale by superheroes who obviously don't have their comics counterparts' code against killing)
The Chitauri were pretty clones, at least from the audience's point of view. Gunn took pains to individualize the Ravagers and then gleefully slaughtered them all. Which may be part of his thing, but was extremely out of place in a Marvel movie.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:59 AM on May 6, 2017
The Chitauri were pretty clones, at least from the audience's point of view. Gunn took pains to individualize the Ravagers and then gleefully slaughtered them all. Which may be part of his thing, but was extremely out of place in a Marvel movie.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:59 AM on May 6, 2017
I liked the 'I am very wise?' response to being called an old woman from Drax. Big improvement over his gross whore joke in the previous movie.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 1:21 PM on May 6, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 1:21 PM on May 6, 2017 [6 favorites]
James Gunn writes like he wants to move from one action set piece to the next. Which is fine. And there are some good laugh lines in there, but boy I wished I cared about the characters more. Like I can't give a damn about Peter and Gamora; are we supposed to want them together just because they seem to be the leads?
posted by crossoverman at 4:00 PM on May 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by crossoverman at 4:00 PM on May 6, 2017 [1 favorite]
are we supposed to want them together just because they seem to be the leads?
Sam and Diane.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:17 PM on May 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
Sam and Diane.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:17 PM on May 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
Sam and Diane were interesting people both together and apart and I understood why they had a love/hate relationship. Pop culture referencing pop culture as a shortcut to actual characterisation is lazy. Like, I don't need to want Peter & Gamora together - but this film sure spends a lot of time trying to convince me they should be without any reasons to support that contention.
posted by crossoverman at 12:00 AM on May 7, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by crossoverman at 12:00 AM on May 7, 2017 [10 favorites]
The Ego planet landscape with its tortured spires seem to be directly inspired by Max Ernst's "decalcomania" paintings from the 1940s (Europe after the rain, The eye of silence and The fascinating cypress particularly).
posted by elgilito at 6:23 AM on May 7, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by elgilito at 6:23 AM on May 7, 2017 [10 favorites]
Sam and Diane were interesting people both together and apart and I understood why they had a love/hate relationship. Pop culture referencing pop culture as a shortcut to actual characterisation is lazy. Like, I don't need to want Peter & Gamora together - but this film sure spends a lot of time trying to convince me they should be without any reasons to support that contention.
Gunn isn't trying to mimic the Sam & Diane relationship exactly, but rather the tension of the dynamic and the question of whether they will or won't get together. I liked that tweak on the "well, they're the leads, of course they'll get together!" At this point, after two movies, the two haven't even kissed, which is a nice change of pace. It certainly looks like they'll get together at some point but it's great that it's not be automatic thing.
Gamora suffered a lot of abuse, on multiple levels, so it makes sense that she's not very trusting of anyone and its pleasing that she recognizes her attraction, but doesn't want to go rushing into anything. For now, just having a family of sorts is probably pushing it for her trust levels.
Obviously you don't agree and that's fine, just explaining what I see and like in Gunn's writing about the two characters. It's isn't perfect, but his thoughtful approach to the relationship is welcome.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:08 AM on May 7, 2017 [4 favorites]
Gunn isn't trying to mimic the Sam & Diane relationship exactly, but rather the tension of the dynamic and the question of whether they will or won't get together. I liked that tweak on the "well, they're the leads, of course they'll get together!" At this point, after two movies, the two haven't even kissed, which is a nice change of pace. It certainly looks like they'll get together at some point but it's great that it's not be automatic thing.
Gamora suffered a lot of abuse, on multiple levels, so it makes sense that she's not very trusting of anyone and its pleasing that she recognizes her attraction, but doesn't want to go rushing into anything. For now, just having a family of sorts is probably pushing it for her trust levels.
Obviously you don't agree and that's fine, just explaining what I see and like in Gunn's writing about the two characters. It's isn't perfect, but his thoughtful approach to the relationship is welcome.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:08 AM on May 7, 2017 [4 favorites]
I liked this one better than vol. I, and I liked vol. I a lot. For one thing I liked that it gave you the benefit of the doubt that you understood the characters and didn't spend a lot of time re-explaining everything. This gave it lots of room to explore actual new things, most of which were familial-style relationships between the very broken characters.
This character development was poignant and went far deeper than I ever expected. We find out why Yondu really didn't deliver Quill to Ego. Yondu gets through to Rocket. Gamora's unspoken thing is revealed by her reaction to Quill's near death experience. The massacre of the Ravager mutineers was in character since they were preparing to hand Rocket and Yondu over to people who were quite certain to murder them. Gamora and Nebula reconcile, but Nebula still goes out on her own to wage what might be futile vengeance on Thanos. Yondu finds redemption in an honorable *cough*. The concept of family is explored at several interesting levels, and much less ham-handedly than in famously family-dynamic driven Fast and Furious 8.
Marvel keeps proving that comics are themselves a visual and almost cinematic medium, and that comics don't have to be "hollywoodized" to work on the screen. GotG-1 took the whole MCU in a much more comic-booky direction than anything that had ever been shown before, and vol. 2 doubles down on that. This is likely to pull the whole MCU in that direction now that it's proven to work.
The audience erupted in laughter when the Zune appeared. I had to explain that gag to my father after the show, since still uses a flip phone and VCR.
Also, the trailer stingers were really well done, particularly after the feint of not having one for Logan. Instead of making you wait through the whole white text on black roll for 15 minutes to earn the payoff, the whole roll was littered with little animations and small gags to keep you engaged. Once again Marvel has shown the way to do it in the future.
posted by Bringer Tom at 2:48 PM on May 7, 2017 [13 favorites]
This character development was poignant and went far deeper than I ever expected. We find out why Yondu really didn't deliver Quill to Ego. Yondu gets through to Rocket. Gamora's unspoken thing is revealed by her reaction to Quill's near death experience. The massacre of the Ravager mutineers was in character since they were preparing to hand Rocket and Yondu over to people who were quite certain to murder them. Gamora and Nebula reconcile, but Nebula still goes out on her own to wage what might be futile vengeance on Thanos. Yondu finds redemption in an honorable *cough*. The concept of family is explored at several interesting levels, and much less ham-handedly than in famously family-dynamic driven Fast and Furious 8.
Marvel keeps proving that comics are themselves a visual and almost cinematic medium, and that comics don't have to be "hollywoodized" to work on the screen. GotG-1 took the whole MCU in a much more comic-booky direction than anything that had ever been shown before, and vol. 2 doubles down on that. This is likely to pull the whole MCU in that direction now that it's proven to work.
The audience erupted in laughter when the Zune appeared. I had to explain that gag to my father after the show, since still uses a flip phone and VCR.
Also, the trailer stingers were really well done, particularly after the feint of not having one for Logan. Instead of making you wait through the whole white text on black roll for 15 minutes to earn the payoff, the whole roll was littered with little animations and small gags to keep you engaged. Once again Marvel has shown the way to do it in the future.
posted by Bringer Tom at 2:48 PM on May 7, 2017 [13 favorites]
I like this much better then the first one. (I disliked the first one so much I didn't even consider going to see this one. I'm glad I did)
Re: Drax and negging.. Does it give it a different view if you think of the character as autistic or non-neurotypical? I read some articles this past week where Drax is having a happy if unintended side effect of helping autistic kids find representation in media.
posted by INFJ at 3:11 PM on May 7, 2017 [8 favorites]
Re: Drax and negging.. Does it give it a different view if you think of the character as autistic or non-neurotypical? I read some articles this past week where Drax is having a happy if unintended side effect of helping autistic kids find representation in media.
posted by INFJ at 3:11 PM on May 7, 2017 [8 favorites]
I used to work with a guy who was very obviously on the spectrum, but undiagnosed thanks to his overprotective parents. Drax reminded me of him even in vol. 1. If Drax is giving autistic kids a model to point to that is a very good thing.
posted by Bringer Tom at 4:08 PM on May 7, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Bringer Tom at 4:08 PM on May 7, 2017 [5 favorites]
I liked Drax's brotherly teasing of Quill, and the slide into going too far--like he's still getting the hang of social norms. It gives him a failing without making him unloveable, and he's tough without being malicious. Plus, yeah, Bautista's timing! Big improvement over his last outing as Drax.
it would just have been less annoying if they'd given him at least a few jokes that wasn't about how horribly ugly the Asian character was (while at the same time making her stereotypically childlike and subservient). Agreed. I don't know what she's like in the source material, but I found that casting/character combination off-putting. Older white man living in a paradise with an Asian woman to soothe him? Nope, didn't like that. ("Mama, you're reading too much into it!" said my 13-y.-o. son).
Were Kurt Russell and Karen Gillan patched in from other films? He didn't make actual human contact with anyone and she was borrowed from a serious action film, and they both stood out as...not really present for the rest of the cast?
Was Nebula's entrance via spaceship a nod to "North by Northwest"? And then the cave piloting a "Star Wars" riff?
My kids missed a bunch of the '80s references, though they quite liked the soundtrack. I was unmoved by the Sam-and-Diane line, as I was by most of the pop culture callbacks. As mentioned upthread--lazy. But I'm not going to lie--I teared right up at the Cat Stevens song.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:56 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
it would just have been less annoying if they'd given him at least a few jokes that wasn't about how horribly ugly the Asian character was (while at the same time making her stereotypically childlike and subservient). Agreed. I don't know what she's like in the source material, but I found that casting/character combination off-putting. Older white man living in a paradise with an Asian woman to soothe him? Nope, didn't like that. ("Mama, you're reading too much into it!" said my 13-y.-o. son).
Were Kurt Russell and Karen Gillan patched in from other films? He didn't make actual human contact with anyone and she was borrowed from a serious action film, and they both stood out as...not really present for the rest of the cast?
Was Nebula's entrance via spaceship a nod to "North by Northwest"? And then the cave piloting a "Star Wars" riff?
My kids missed a bunch of the '80s references, though they quite liked the soundtrack. I was unmoved by the Sam-and-Diane line, as I was by most of the pop culture callbacks. As mentioned upthread--lazy. But I'm not going to lie--I teared right up at the Cat Stevens song.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:56 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm in the slightly weird position of really liking the first one despite things just not landing quite in the spot of...I don't know, timing, line delivery, whatever, that would hit my emotional jackpot and make everything stick. This was a movie that did just about the same thing- I liked it a lot, laughed at things, admired the pretty scenery and the emotional throughlines that I appreciated a lot, but I never tipped over into the emotional crevasse of "Aah I love this!!!" Those three exclamation points, you know? Not just one, all three. But I am happy with these movies if not as happy as I was with, say, the first Iron Man.
Kurt Russell was having a blast, and his story was pretty great and dark, but I didn't get the feeling that Quill was ever really tempted one bit by godlike powers. Which is fine, that's probably a decent take on the character but I think I was supposed to think he was? Maybe?
Yay for Nebula and Gamora having a sisterly storyline. Gamora's muttered "Psychopath" as her sister chases her in a spaceship firing laser guns at her was great.
Also I was a Yondu fan girl after the first movie (who know? I guess thus is the power of The Rooker) so this movie gave me a lot of delicious Yondu stuff.
posted by PussKillian at 6:03 PM on May 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
Kurt Russell was having a blast, and his story was pretty great and dark, but I didn't get the feeling that Quill was ever really tempted one bit by godlike powers. Which is fine, that's probably a decent take on the character but I think I was supposed to think he was? Maybe?
Yay for Nebula and Gamora having a sisterly storyline. Gamora's muttered "Psychopath" as her sister chases her in a spaceship firing laser guns at her was great.
Also I was a Yondu fan girl after the first movie (who know? I guess thus is the power of The Rooker) so this movie gave me a lot of delicious Yondu stuff.
posted by PussKillian at 6:03 PM on May 7, 2017 [1 favorite]
Why would a Boltzmann brain want to reproduce itself to take over the universe? Isn't that what us products of evolution are supposed to do?
I mean, I know the answer is because this movie needed a bad guy, but still...
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 7:13 PM on May 7, 2017 [4 favorites]
I mean, I know the answer is because this movie needed a bad guy, but still...
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 7:13 PM on May 7, 2017 [4 favorites]
I really hated drax in vol1 because it doesn't really feel like he did anything. Like, he's theoretically a badass - but what does he actually *do*?
Same problem here - drax is mostly muscle standing around in a setting with superpowers and guns. Does he actually do anything at all here?
All up the movie made me pine for the alternate universe in which everyone else liked Jupiter Ascending more and I was watching that sequel instead.
posted by xiw at 7:43 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
Same problem here - drax is mostly muscle standing around in a setting with superpowers and guns. Does he actually do anything at all here?
All up the movie made me pine for the alternate universe in which everyone else liked Jupiter Ascending more and I was watching that sequel instead.
posted by xiw at 7:43 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
Jupiter Ascending sequel? God, what an awful thought. Sorry.
posted by hoodrich at 10:07 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by hoodrich at 10:07 PM on May 7, 2017 [2 favorites]
I sure hope they got a lot of sweet product placement money from Microsoft for that.
posted by ckape at 12:58 AM on May 8, 2017
posted by ckape at 12:58 AM on May 8, 2017
A good, fun movie that I happily recommend but have some criticisms of. The biggest one is that I hated Yondu in the first film--and I felt like the filmmakers did some work to make sure that I did. The scene in which he interrupts the broker with gibberish still makes me so angry. In this film, we're expected to be accepting of Yondu to such an extent that we would care about his fatherly feelings for Quill. But I could not get there. Maybe it's because I feel so sad for Quill, imagining how terrifying it would have been be abducted and have this asshole alien bossing him around and threatening to eat him. Maybe it's because of my own parental issues. Or maybe it's because I'm accustomed to feeling revulsion for Michael Rooker since he has played many awful characters convincingly in the past. I respect that they tried to make me like Yondu, though. I truly love the way that these films humanize almost everyone and show how the people we care about most can be jerks too. That's a real writing challenge. It's also one of the things that made a lot of 70's movies great.
I got to see this at 9 AM. Then we went to lunch. It was perfect! I wish all movies had early showings. I would go to the movies much more often.
posted by heatvision at 3:36 AM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
I got to see this at 9 AM. Then we went to lunch. It was perfect! I wish all movies had early showings. I would go to the movies much more often.
posted by heatvision at 3:36 AM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
Hey, was that 9am showing crowded? What theater was showing it as 9am and do they do that often? 'Cause it sounds great.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:56 AM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:56 AM on May 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm a morning movie goer too for all the MCU releases. This time the Saturday 9am IMAX 3D showing was maybe 25% full at the nearest mall's AMC.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:17 AM on May 8, 2017
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:17 AM on May 8, 2017
The repair spray that Rocket used to fix up the ship somehow managed to challenge my suspension of disbelief -- even though it has already been suspended high enough to allow for nonsense like Ant Man and the Hulk.
I mean how do you end up with a technology that intelligently rebuilds complex machinery but still requires and operator to point it and wave it around?
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:29 AM on May 8, 2017 [8 favorites]
I mean how do you end up with a technology that intelligently rebuilds complex machinery but still requires and operator to point it and wave it around?
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:29 AM on May 8, 2017 [8 favorites]
I didn't get the feeling that Quill was ever really tempted one bit by godlike powers
I didn't get that feeling either, but I was glad about that. "Humans tempted by godlike powers" is an overplayed SF trope. I kind of liked that Quill mainly liked the idea of making weird stuff, but then when he saw where Ego was going with this, wanted no part of it. Ego's "If you kill me you'll be just like everyone else" and Quill's "Well, what's so bad about that?" was a nice character beat.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:39 AM on May 8, 2017 [8 favorites]
I didn't get that feeling either, but I was glad about that. "Humans tempted by godlike powers" is an overplayed SF trope. I kind of liked that Quill mainly liked the idea of making weird stuff, but then when he saw where Ego was going with this, wanted no part of it. Ego's "If you kill me you'll be just like everyone else" and Quill's "Well, what's so bad about that?" was a nice character beat.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 6:39 AM on May 8, 2017 [8 favorites]
I mean how do you end up with a technology that intelligently rebuilds complex machinery but still requires and operator to point it and wave it around?
That's just the portable model. The big question is how much power does it need?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:25 AM on May 8, 2017
That's just the portable model. The big question is how much power does it need?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:25 AM on May 8, 2017
That's just the portable model. The big question is how much power does it need?
One big Sovereign battery?
posted by entropicamericana at 7:51 AM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
One big Sovereign battery?
posted by entropicamericana at 7:51 AM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
OK, I made up an answer to my question: The repair spray nanotech is so powerful that designers had to build in strict spatial and temporal limits in order to avoid the risk of a grey goo event. If it gets more than a few feet from the nozzle, or if the operator stops pressing the trigger, the nanobots immediately shut down. The operator is necessary essentially to keep the nanobots on a leash.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 8:03 AM on May 8, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by paper chromatographologist at 8:03 AM on May 8, 2017 [8 favorites]
I was surprised at how much of a tonal shift this was from the first movie -- from action/comedy to straight-up madcap comedy with dramatic moments and fight scenes. The first movie was goofy but it didn't have a scene that was just characters' faces being put through a funhouse-mirror distortion effect, for instance.
Despite that, and a final battle that went on about 5 minutes too long (if not more) I think it worked really well! I was cracking up throughout, the characters were all fleshed out in interesting ways and the retcons felt like natural parts of the setting. Nebula and Gamora's relationship in particular was a really good direction to take those characters, and I loved how the Sovereign weren't just generic haughty alien overlords but actually behaved like stuck-up, holier-than-thou people. (Underrated scene: The chase through the "quantum asteroid field" where all the pilots who lost their ships are crowded around the one guy still on the Guardians' tail, behaving exactly like they're cheering for somebody about to break a scoring record in an arcade.)
Oh, and the sheer comic-book-ness was delightful. EGO THE LIVING PLANET, Y'ALL. And Yondu's ridiculous fin from the original GOTG! And Adam Warlock! The whole thing felt like an arc from a really good run of the comics -- building on the mythology they've set up before, adding interesting new wrinkles, and introducing supporting players who are clearly set up to be a big deal later on while still contributing to the current story.
Re: Drax and autism, that's absolutely part of it -- my wife's little brother is autistic, and part of the reason she loves the Guardians movies so much is because Drax and Groot both remind her of him, in different ways. (Remember Groot's big, didn't-I-do-good grin after killing a bunch of mooks in the first movie? I've seen that look on my brother-in-law's face a hundred times, generally when he thinks he just got away with something.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:24 AM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
Despite that, and a final battle that went on about 5 minutes too long (if not more) I think it worked really well! I was cracking up throughout, the characters were all fleshed out in interesting ways and the retcons felt like natural parts of the setting. Nebula and Gamora's relationship in particular was a really good direction to take those characters, and I loved how the Sovereign weren't just generic haughty alien overlords but actually behaved like stuck-up, holier-than-thou people. (Underrated scene: The chase through the "quantum asteroid field" where all the pilots who lost their ships are crowded around the one guy still on the Guardians' tail, behaving exactly like they're cheering for somebody about to break a scoring record in an arcade.)
Oh, and the sheer comic-book-ness was delightful. EGO THE LIVING PLANET, Y'ALL. And Yondu's ridiculous fin from the original GOTG! And Adam Warlock! The whole thing felt like an arc from a really good run of the comics -- building on the mythology they've set up before, adding interesting new wrinkles, and introducing supporting players who are clearly set up to be a big deal later on while still contributing to the current story.
Re: Drax and autism, that's absolutely part of it -- my wife's little brother is autistic, and part of the reason she loves the Guardians movies so much is because Drax and Groot both remind her of him, in different ways. (Remember Groot's big, didn't-I-do-good grin after killing a bunch of mooks in the first movie? I've seen that look on my brother-in-law's face a hundred times, generally when he thinks he just got away with something.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:24 AM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
I didn't get that feeling either, but I was glad about that. "Humans tempted by godlike powers" is an overplayed SF trope. I kind of liked that Quill mainly liked the idea of making weird stuff, but then when he saw where Ego was going with this, wanted no part of it. Ego's "If you kill me you'll be just like everyone else" and Quill's "Well, what's so bad about that?" was a nice character beat.
Yeah, exactly. The idea of living forever and having godlike creative powers wasn't the key to Quill's heart, but it is a plot point so often used that it took me a little bit to realize that they were just letting it drop. But as usual with a lot of these types of movies, things simultaneously are a bit rushed and a bit overstuffed, so by the time I had noodled it, we were already into the final battle.
I've seen a few comments about Yondu and Rocket's mass carnage through the Ravager ship as too much casual cruelty, but honestly, these guys were airlocking their former friends, so I allowed myself to be caught up in how damn cool it looked and how much I want a flying arrow of death I can control even if there's no band of murderous space pirates I need to fight at this point in time.
posted by PussKillian at 9:31 AM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
Yeah, exactly. The idea of living forever and having godlike creative powers wasn't the key to Quill's heart, but it is a plot point so often used that it took me a little bit to realize that they were just letting it drop. But as usual with a lot of these types of movies, things simultaneously are a bit rushed and a bit overstuffed, so by the time I had noodled it, we were already into the final battle.
I've seen a few comments about Yondu and Rocket's mass carnage through the Ravager ship as too much casual cruelty, but honestly, these guys were airlocking their former friends, so I allowed myself to be caught up in how damn cool it looked and how much I want a flying arrow of death I can control even if there's no band of murderous space pirates I need to fight at this point in time.
posted by PussKillian at 9:31 AM on May 8, 2017 [2 favorites]
Excuse me while I gush a wall of text.
This is my new favorite Marvel movie.
My favorite thing in both Marvel and DC are the crazy-cosmic beings that show up from time to time. Galactus, the Celestials, Metron, Mogo, Darkseid and the New Gods, kind of characters and I was so tickled to see not just a (for this film only?) Celestial show up, but Ego the sentient planet too!
But another thing that I've wanted from all these super hero movies are stories that are smaller and more personal. Like, say, a Batman movie that's just about Batman trying to track down a crafty criminal that doesn't involve a world-spanning plot to destroy Gotham.
GotG2 is both about a sentient god-planet and also a small, personal story about a family learning how to be a family. Most of it takes place on Ego itself or on Yondu's ship. For as many characters as there are in the movie, they all get their own arc! And I thought they were all interesting and endearing in their own ways.
It was also visually stunning and interesting. There was a distinct Kirby influence in Ego that made it feel alien and heavenly, off-putting and inviting. And the color pallet! Pink, rainbow, gold, purple! So vibrant. My favorite touch was the inter-dimensional monster in the opening fight scene whose breath was a spray of sparkly nebula. And why not?
There were other touches, too. Peter and Gamora drawn to each other for exactly the reason Drax warns Peter. They're opposites, and they see something in each other that they recognize is missing in themselves. But then we also see why their relationship is a problem: they can't communicate. Their childhoods, and go-to points of reference, are so different that they don't really get what the other is saying half the time. The thing that draws them to each other is the thing keeping them apart! It's not a new kind of relationship, but damn if it isn't relateable.
And of course Peter wasn't tempted by godlike power for its own sake, he only wanted it as a way to grow closer to his dad (and make awesome statues). So there was no problem for him to throw away his gift as soon as he found out his dad hadn't just abandoned him, but actually abandoned and betrayed his family.
So much good stuff. Everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion but I truly don't understand how you could like Vol 1 more than Vol 2. I suspect there's an element of expectations - Vol 1 was great but nobody expected it. People who liked Vol 1 expected Vol 2 to be good, so it doesn't get the "defies expectations bump." I don't know, it doesn't matter.
I liked this movie A LOT.
posted by Tevin at 1:29 PM on May 8, 2017 [30 favorites]
This is my new favorite Marvel movie.
My favorite thing in both Marvel and DC are the crazy-cosmic beings that show up from time to time. Galactus, the Celestials, Metron, Mogo, Darkseid and the New Gods, kind of characters and I was so tickled to see not just a (for this film only?) Celestial show up, but Ego the sentient planet too!
But another thing that I've wanted from all these super hero movies are stories that are smaller and more personal. Like, say, a Batman movie that's just about Batman trying to track down a crafty criminal that doesn't involve a world-spanning plot to destroy Gotham.
GotG2 is both about a sentient god-planet and also a small, personal story about a family learning how to be a family. Most of it takes place on Ego itself or on Yondu's ship. For as many characters as there are in the movie, they all get their own arc! And I thought they were all interesting and endearing in their own ways.
It was also visually stunning and interesting. There was a distinct Kirby influence in Ego that made it feel alien and heavenly, off-putting and inviting. And the color pallet! Pink, rainbow, gold, purple! So vibrant. My favorite touch was the inter-dimensional monster in the opening fight scene whose breath was a spray of sparkly nebula. And why not?
There were other touches, too. Peter and Gamora drawn to each other for exactly the reason Drax warns Peter. They're opposites, and they see something in each other that they recognize is missing in themselves. But then we also see why their relationship is a problem: they can't communicate. Their childhoods, and go-to points of reference, are so different that they don't really get what the other is saying half the time. The thing that draws them to each other is the thing keeping them apart! It's not a new kind of relationship, but damn if it isn't relateable.
And of course Peter wasn't tempted by godlike power for its own sake, he only wanted it as a way to grow closer to his dad (and make awesome statues). So there was no problem for him to throw away his gift as soon as he found out his dad hadn't just abandoned him, but actually abandoned and betrayed his family.
So much good stuff. Everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion but I truly don't understand how you could like Vol 1 more than Vol 2. I suspect there's an element of expectations - Vol 1 was great but nobody expected it. People who liked Vol 1 expected Vol 2 to be good, so it doesn't get the "defies expectations bump." I don't know, it doesn't matter.
I liked this movie A LOT.
posted by Tevin at 1:29 PM on May 8, 2017 [30 favorites]
Replacing all of the multitudinous variety of the galaxy with just more of yourself? It would take an ego the size of a planet to find that appealing.
Oh.
posted by ckape at 3:04 PM on May 8, 2017 [13 favorites]
Oh.
posted by ckape at 3:04 PM on May 8, 2017 [13 favorites]
I mean how do you end up with a technology that intelligently rebuilds complex machinery but still requires and operator to point it and wave it around?
It's also a world where a Zune containing 300 songs is the epitome of music playing technology. Something that I like about the MCU is that in spite of the megabucks it's not that really that far from the Buckaroo Banzai style of crazy (and it even has Jeff Goldblum now).
posted by elgilito at 3:39 PM on May 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
It's also a world where a Zune containing 300 songs is the epitome of music playing technology. Something that I like about the MCU is that in spite of the megabucks it's not that really that far from the Buckaroo Banzai style of crazy (and it even has Jeff Goldblum now).
posted by elgilito at 3:39 PM on May 8, 2017 [4 favorites]
It's also a world where a Zune containing 300 songs is the epitome of music playing technology.
Quill has been carrying around a cassette tape Walkman since 1986. On a starship. It was one of the best jokes in the movie (and that being a high bar to clear) when he finally "upgrades," and the digital musical player is a Zune, just as obsolete as the Walkman. The whole audience snickered at it. It was one of many perfect touches in an incredibly well done movie.
posted by Bringer Tom at 7:10 PM on May 8, 2017 [13 favorites]
Quill has been carrying around a cassette tape Walkman since 1986. On a starship. It was one of the best jokes in the movie (and that being a high bar to clear) when he finally "upgrades," and the digital musical player is a Zune, just as obsolete as the Walkman. The whole audience snickered at it. It was one of many perfect touches in an incredibly well done movie.
posted by Bringer Tom at 7:10 PM on May 8, 2017 [13 favorites]
I liked it more than its predecessor (which I am on record both pre- and post-release as opining that it would bring a downturn to the MCU's string of mostly pretty solid movies). This one had its predecessor's virtues expanded on: some more character development, allowing us to see previous villains as sympathetic characters with understandable motivations. I still find some of the writing not far above fart joke humour, but it varies.
What really got me on board is the sprawl of it. Far too much science fiction and fantasy goes to such lengths to reassure you will find little or nothing too shocking or surprising here, while GotG colours way outside the lines and draws a great tense comedy scene from a talking raccoon explaining a deadly weapon to a baby (semi-)sentient tree.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:59 PM on May 8, 2017 [3 favorites]
What really got me on board is the sprawl of it. Far too much science fiction and fantasy goes to such lengths to reassure you will find little or nothing too shocking or surprising here, while GotG colours way outside the lines and draws a great tense comedy scene from a talking raccoon explaining a deadly weapon to a baby (semi-)sentient tree.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:59 PM on May 8, 2017 [3 favorites]
My main takeaway is that it was super fun and gorgeously designed on every level. Not just the production, but the economy of storytelling that kept movie weighing in at like 2 and a half hours feeling so light on its feet. There's not a boring frame, or a setup that doesn't pay off, or a character without a resolved arc, down to Taserface. I've heard it said that it's clearly the work of a single writer, by contrast with many adapted comics that clearly have a lot of chefs in the kitchen. I don't know enough about screenwriting to say if that's true, but it does have a really strong voice.
Ego was a way, way better villain than Dark Robe Man from the first one. His Nefarious Plot could have used a little more buildup maybe, given its scale? but I don't know where you would have squeezed that into this movie without bumping something more fun, so whatever.
I can't quite settle my mind on how I feel about some of the tonal shifts. My initial feeling is that it jumped from well developed characters struggling with their frailties, to making silly faces, to fairly graphic violence, to baby Groot, with a speed that threw me off a little. It'd be dismissive to say a film can't do all of those things though. It's ambitious in a way, and I like that.
I probably just need to watch it again, knowing what to expect. Which I'm happy to do.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:24 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Ego was a way, way better villain than Dark Robe Man from the first one. His Nefarious Plot could have used a little more buildup maybe, given its scale? but I don't know where you would have squeezed that into this movie without bumping something more fun, so whatever.
I can't quite settle my mind on how I feel about some of the tonal shifts. My initial feeling is that it jumped from well developed characters struggling with their frailties, to making silly faces, to fairly graphic violence, to baby Groot, with a speed that threw me off a little. It'd be dismissive to say a film can't do all of those things though. It's ambitious in a way, and I like that.
I probably just need to watch it again, knowing what to expect. Which I'm happy to do.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 12:24 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
I've heard it said that it's clearly the work of a single writer, by contrast with many adapted comics that clearly have a lot of chefs in the kitchen. I don't know enough about screenwriting to say if that's true, but it does have a really strong voice.
It does feel more...unified, I guess, than the other Marvel movies, especially the other sequels. It's been a while since I watched the first one, but I suspect (and would be happy to test!) that if you watch the pair of them in sequence they'd hold up better as a cohesive series than any other pair of MCU entries.* And, I suspect not unrelatedly, GOTG is the only series where both the original director and even one of the original writing team stayed on for part two. Other than Avengers, but those movies were never meant to function even slightly as a cohesive series.
*Disclaimer: I haven't watched Civil War.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:22 PM on May 9, 2017
It does feel more...unified, I guess, than the other Marvel movies, especially the other sequels. It's been a while since I watched the first one, but I suspect (and would be happy to test!) that if you watch the pair of them in sequence they'd hold up better as a cohesive series than any other pair of MCU entries.* And, I suspect not unrelatedly, GOTG is the only series where both the original director and even one of the original writing team stayed on for part two. Other than Avengers, but those movies were never meant to function even slightly as a cohesive series.
*Disclaimer: I haven't watched Civil War.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:22 PM on May 9, 2017
The makeup, you guys. Semi-metallic looking, covering lips, noses, eyelids. Consistent. Allowing for lots of close-ups. I'm sure it was digital, but still.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:52 AM on May 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:52 AM on May 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
Yeah, the makeup on the actors was fantastic, really helped make
the characters believable.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:43 AM on May 10, 2017
the characters believable.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:43 AM on May 10, 2017
> another thing that I've wanted from all these super hero movies are stories that are smaller and more personal. Like, say, a Batman movie that's just about Batman trying to track down a crafty criminal that doesn't involve a world-spanning plot to destroy Gotham.
Ah, OK, this puts into words what I'd been thinking. I was a bit surprised that this movie plot was only tangentially about saving the Galaxy - it was, but it was played on a really personal level.
>... the digital musical player is a Zune, just as obsolete as the Walkman.
I burst out laughing, as did most of the theater.
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:04 PM on May 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ah, OK, this puts into words what I'd been thinking. I was a bit surprised that this movie plot was only tangentially about saving the Galaxy - it was, but it was played on a really personal level.
>... the digital musical player is a Zune, just as obsolete as the Walkman.
I burst out laughing, as did most of the theater.
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:04 PM on May 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm a little surprised that most of the comments here are so positive; I usually don't feel so adrift! Anyway, I found this to be largely a too-long mess. (There were mitigating circumstances: I had a massive headache during the last third of the film because I was dehydrated, but still.) I didn't laugh very much, I got bored ... I don't know. This just wasn't for me, I guess. It felt like all the characters had each been reduced to a single note that kept being pounded when the script called for it. (I guess Peter has two - Gamora and daddy issues - but anyway.)
However, I do have a question - what's happening with Drax and Peter's disagreement about the name of the batteries? It comes up a few times and doesn't end up going anywhere, but it seemed like there should've been something there. Was part of the script cut, or did I miss something? (I thought maybe it was going to to tie up with Ego's mention of batteries - though I can't really remember the context of this - and it didn't, as far as I can recall.)
posted by minsies at 7:43 AM on May 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
However, I do have a question - what's happening with Drax and Peter's disagreement about the name of the batteries? It comes up a few times and doesn't end up going anywhere, but it seemed like there should've been something there. Was part of the script cut, or did I miss something? (I thought maybe it was going to to tie up with Ego's mention of batteries - though I can't really remember the context of this - and it didn't, as far as I can recall.)
posted by minsies at 7:43 AM on May 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
I saw it as emblematic of Drax's single-minded certainty that anything he thinks is correct is the universal truth -- as seen when he insists that Mantis is objectively hideous, or that romance relies 100% on shared interests and personality traits. He misheard the name of the batteries, but he never thinks to doubt that he's remembering it correctly.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:46 AM on May 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:46 AM on May 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oh. That makes sense, but it's kind of disappointing to me that that's all it is.
posted by minsies at 9:49 AM on May 11, 2017
posted by minsies at 9:49 AM on May 11, 2017
I utterly failed to connect with or care about Peter Quill's storyline, but oh my god did the Gamora and Nebula stuff get to me. I wanted it to be Nebula's movie, because she was going on a much more interesting journey, and I found everything about her and Gamora reckoning with their post-escape from Thanos lives and the traumas of their upbringing to be so moving.
Baby Groot did not overstay his welcome. He is precious and adorable and my higher mental functions went out the window whenever he was on screen because look at the precious baby??? he is the cutest thing to ever exist?? protect him at all costs, etc etc.
I wasn't sure what was going on with Rocket's whole "asshole for no reason" thing. That just didn't land for me, even though I did sorta get what they were going for there.
posted by yasaman at 10:10 AM on May 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
Baby Groot did not overstay his welcome. He is precious and adorable and my higher mental functions went out the window whenever he was on screen because look at the precious baby??? he is the cutest thing to ever exist?? protect him at all costs, etc etc.
I wasn't sure what was going on with Rocket's whole "asshole for no reason" thing. That just didn't land for me, even though I did sorta get what they were going for there.
posted by yasaman at 10:10 AM on May 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
I enjoyed the first one more, though part of that might be not remembering the disappointing bits.
Part of why I enjoyed Guardians is that it was a great non-serious action flick, and part of the problem with 2 is that it ties it down with so much seriousness. I don't really want or need to see Rocket and Quinn bitterly fighting between each other. If I wanted to watch a movie with this much emphasis on family I would have gone to Fate of the Furious (again).
The jokes were funny, and the action was fun. It didn't feel particularly overlong, which is a serious issue with movies lately.
posted by graventy at 12:03 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Part of why I enjoyed Guardians is that it was a great non-serious action flick, and part of the problem with 2 is that it ties it down with so much seriousness. I don't really want or need to see Rocket and Quinn bitterly fighting between each other. If I wanted to watch a movie with this much emphasis on family I would have gone to Fate of the Furious (again).
The jokes were funny, and the action was fun. It didn't feel particularly overlong, which is a serious issue with movies lately.
posted by graventy at 12:03 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Went to see this last night with a small crowd at the behest of a dear friend, because that's what he wanted to do for his birthday. I hadn't seen the first one, and didn't mind so much, I was just there because "this is C's birthday and this is what he wants to do". I'd also had a suck-ass thing happen at work right before.
And, it was a lot of goofy fun, which is exactly what I needed. It wasn't my ultimate favorite flavor of brain candy, but it was still goofy silly brain candy, easily-digested, easily-understood even by a total newbie, and I thought it was great fun and felt much better (and I kicked the ass of work today at the expense of the people who dissed me yesterday so it's all good).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:47 PM on May 12, 2017 [4 favorites]
And, it was a lot of goofy fun, which is exactly what I needed. It wasn't my ultimate favorite flavor of brain candy, but it was still goofy silly brain candy, easily-digested, easily-understood even by a total newbie, and I thought it was great fun and felt much better (and I kicked the ass of work today at the expense of the people who dissed me yesterday so it's all good).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:47 PM on May 12, 2017 [4 favorites]
Just saw it tonight and liked it more than I expected. I didn't expect to dislike it but I was only so-so on the first one and thought this one was much better written and held together much better. As usual with these things, I got pretty bored during the big explodey climax because it was pretty much same as every other action movie right down to the red-led bomb countdown but I guess that you just can't have a movie like with without an ending like that.
I did love the colors; I'm so sick 21st century films with gray-green color palettes that it's great to see some real primary colors up there on the screen.
posted by octothorpe at 6:59 PM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
I did love the colors; I'm so sick 21st century films with gray-green color palettes that it's great to see some real primary colors up there on the screen.
posted by octothorpe at 6:59 PM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]
If I wanted to watch a movie with this much emphasis on family I would have gone to Fate of the Furious (again).
I saw the connection between the two movies but had the opposite impression; I found the "family" emphasis in FotF (and frankly the entire franchise) to be ham-handed and unconvincing, while GotG2 cemented and expanded a bond between misfits who were drawn together by circumstance and believably bonded because they had nowhere else to turn. The Guardians weren't born a family, they made themselves a family without even realizing what they were doing.
The reveal of the real reason Yondu didn't deliver Quill to Ego didn't quite bring me to tears but only because by then I was holding them back. And since his first scene it's been plain Rocket has been propelled by rage at the forces that created him as a misfit in a universe that has no place for him, and at the end of the movie he is realizing for the first time in his (*cough* short-expectancy) life he actually has a place, with the Guardians. It astonishes him because it's a thing he never expected to have, and it took him awhile to recognize that he even had it.
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:16 PM on May 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
I saw the connection between the two movies but had the opposite impression; I found the "family" emphasis in FotF (and frankly the entire franchise) to be ham-handed and unconvincing, while GotG2 cemented and expanded a bond between misfits who were drawn together by circumstance and believably bonded because they had nowhere else to turn. The Guardians weren't born a family, they made themselves a family without even realizing what they were doing.
The reveal of the real reason Yondu didn't deliver Quill to Ego didn't quite bring me to tears but only because by then I was holding them back. And since his first scene it's been plain Rocket has been propelled by rage at the forces that created him as a misfit in a universe that has no place for him, and at the end of the movie he is realizing for the first time in his (*cough* short-expectancy) life he actually has a place, with the Guardians. It astonishes him because it's a thing he never expected to have, and it took him awhile to recognize that he even had it.
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:16 PM on May 13, 2017 [4 favorites]
Drax is not there to be a badass. He is, and he's tough enough to enjoy being dragged through a forest by a crashing starship after tossing himself out an airlock to get into a gunfight with a starfighter.
He's there as the emotional center. He is literally the heart of the Guardians. He does not get along with the others. None of them do. They need each other intensely. Only Drax bothers to explain why.
Drax and Mantis - this is a beautiful anti-romance friendship. Drax, who is incapable of subtext, tells the audience again and again he's not into the clearly attractive Mantis. Yet he resolutely loves her, like he loves his other friends, and literally moves heaven and earth for her. She feels the same way, when she touches him while he's talking about his daughter, and bursts into uncontrollable weeping, and wants to warn him about Ego. They are friends, and that is AWESOME!
OK. So Ego the Living Planet - Kurt Russel is the embodiment of the banality of evil. "I loved your mother so much, if I didn't plant that tumor in her head, well, I'd have to live out this vessel's life with her, and never realize my dream of KILLING ALL LIFE AND BEING EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE! Along, with you, son! You and me! EGO AND PETER! PETER AND EGO! TOGETHER! ONE HUNDRED YEARS! SZECHUAN SAUCE!"
Yondu and Rocket - they are both terrifyingly powerful and ruthless. (And, yes, Peter should have let the Trash Panda fly them through the ASTEROID FIELD WHERE ASTEROIDS POP INTO EXISTENCE AT RANDOM! I love this movie so hard for its space-hokum.)
And, well, Yondu. Once he figured out what that Jackass was up to, and it got him kicked out of the only family he ever knew... he was very imperfect in how he tried to make up for it. He knew he was.
Yondu was very well aware which of his crew were decent Ravagers abiding by the code, and they were all spaced, save one. The ones left? None of them were spared, save one.
Rocket is strange and self absorbed and cruel and then Yondu says "AH AM YEW!" Everyone in the theater took in the surprised breath along with Rocket.
And then... and then... "I am very proud to be your Pappy!"
Waterworks everywhere in the theater.
Ok, ok, we got it all under control...
Then Starlord starts talking about David Hasslehoff, and then brings it on home, and the sniffles start...
RAVAGER FUNERAL! Redemption confirmed.
The entire theater is on its feet crying and clapping.
That isn't even the most emotional part of the movie!
It comes closely after the secondmost badass part of the movie, where Gamora picks up the ordinance of a starfighter, hotwires it, and mounts it on her shoulder like a gatling-gun of rage and fury literally the size of a city bus to shoot it at a spaceship in a cave. Yus. This is good. What comes next is better, and sniffles were heard around the theater.
It's established that Starlord is probably the least powerful of the Guardians... and that's kind of the joke.
The comedy in this film is ever present, and prescient, never overwhelming, never weak. The Pac-Man cameo alone is worth the watch. Checkov's Gun in action!
It is a sequel that is to the pure and perfect original the way the Empire Strikes Back is to Star Wars.
Only this movie had Yondu in it, which makes it literally better than Empire. That is not a small claim, but I stand by it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:34 PM on May 13, 2017 [18 favorites]
He's there as the emotional center. He is literally the heart of the Guardians. He does not get along with the others. None of them do. They need each other intensely. Only Drax bothers to explain why.
Drax and Mantis - this is a beautiful anti-romance friendship. Drax, who is incapable of subtext, tells the audience again and again he's not into the clearly attractive Mantis. Yet he resolutely loves her, like he loves his other friends, and literally moves heaven and earth for her. She feels the same way, when she touches him while he's talking about his daughter, and bursts into uncontrollable weeping, and wants to warn him about Ego. They are friends, and that is AWESOME!
OK. So Ego the Living Planet - Kurt Russel is the embodiment of the banality of evil. "I loved your mother so much, if I didn't plant that tumor in her head, well, I'd have to live out this vessel's life with her, and never realize my dream of KILLING ALL LIFE AND BEING EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE! Along, with you, son! You and me! EGO AND PETER! PETER AND EGO! TOGETHER! ONE HUNDRED YEARS! SZECHUAN SAUCE!"
Yondu and Rocket - they are both terrifyingly powerful and ruthless. (And, yes, Peter should have let the Trash Panda fly them through the ASTEROID FIELD WHERE ASTEROIDS POP INTO EXISTENCE AT RANDOM! I love this movie so hard for its space-hokum.)
And, well, Yondu. Once he figured out what that Jackass was up to, and it got him kicked out of the only family he ever knew... he was very imperfect in how he tried to make up for it. He knew he was.
Yondu was very well aware which of his crew were decent Ravagers abiding by the code, and they were all spaced, save one. The ones left? None of them were spared, save one.
Rocket is strange and self absorbed and cruel and then Yondu says "AH AM YEW!" Everyone in the theater took in the surprised breath along with Rocket.
And then... and then... "I am very proud to be your Pappy!"
Waterworks everywhere in the theater.
Ok, ok, we got it all under control...
Then Starlord starts talking about David Hasslehoff, and then brings it on home, and the sniffles start...
RAVAGER FUNERAL! Redemption confirmed.
The entire theater is on its feet crying and clapping.
That isn't even the most emotional part of the movie!
It comes closely after the secondmost badass part of the movie, where Gamora picks up the ordinance of a starfighter, hotwires it, and mounts it on her shoulder like a gatling-gun of rage and fury literally the size of a city bus to shoot it at a spaceship in a cave. Yus. This is good. What comes next is better, and sniffles were heard around the theater.
It's established that Starlord is probably the least powerful of the Guardians... and that's kind of the joke.
The comedy in this film is ever present, and prescient, never overwhelming, never weak. The Pac-Man cameo alone is worth the watch. Checkov's Gun in action!
It is a sequel that is to the pure and perfect original the way the Empire Strikes Back is to Star Wars.
Only this movie had Yondu in it, which makes it literally better than Empire. That is not a small claim, but I stand by it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:34 PM on May 13, 2017 [18 favorites]
Well, this movie-going experience seems to be going alri-
Oh fuck, are they using Father and Son?
oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck
posted by Parasite Unseen at 5:42 PM on May 14, 2017 [4 favorites]
Oh fuck, are they using Father and Son?
oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck
posted by Parasite Unseen at 5:42 PM on May 14, 2017 [4 favorites]
I'm going against the grain here, but I didn't like this as much as the first. Baby Groot was way overused and uninteresting. For example, when Yondu and Rocket were locked in a cell, it seemed like a good opportunity to reinterpret the terrific prison escape set piece from the first movie. Instead we get Baby Groot being bad at following directions, which was kind of funny the first time and not so much after that. It's like they forgot that a lot of the appeal of the first movie was the charisma and charm of Chris Pratt and Bradley Cooper.
I didn't recognize any of the songs on the soundtrack. I was born in 1976, so I feel like they should have been a bit familiar.
Art direction was fantastic though.
posted by jeoc at 7:01 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
I didn't recognize any of the songs on the soundtrack. I was born in 1976, so I feel like they should have been a bit familiar.
Art direction was fantastic though.
posted by jeoc at 7:01 PM on May 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
I didn't recognize any of the songs on the soundtrack. I was born in 1976, so I feel like they should have been a bit familiar.
Excepting the song from the closing credits (which is a new song written specifically for the movie), every song on the soundtrack was in the Billboard Top 40 when it was released. Many were in the Top 10, and I think a couple ranked Number 1. I believe you when you say that you don't recognize any of them, but it's certainly not for lack of trying on the soundtrack's part.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:29 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
Excepting the song from the closing credits (which is a new song written specifically for the movie), every song on the soundtrack was in the Billboard Top 40 when it was released. Many were in the Top 10, and I think a couple ranked Number 1. I believe you when you say that you don't recognize any of them, but it's certainly not for lack of trying on the soundtrack's part.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:29 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
(then you get the reveal that Quill's dad was a jerk and the romance was just a con to appeal to her and he just needed suitable breeding stock or something. blah blah your real family is the one you make blah )
posted by The Whelk at 14:22 on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite −] [!]
While Awesome Mix Vol.2 didn't actually feature Come Sail Away as was discussed during the Fanfare thread for the last installment, I just want to call out The Whelk for totally calling this part of it three years ago.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:14 AM on May 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 14:22 on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite −] [!]
While Awesome Mix Vol.2 didn't actually feature Come Sail Away as was discussed during the Fanfare thread for the last installment, I just want to call out The Whelk for totally calling this part of it three years ago.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:14 AM on May 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
My impression of the extended Ravager mutineer murder scene was that it was intentionally emotionally dissonant. Half of Yondu's crew, the loyal half, is already dead, and so he kills the other half with a grim smile pasted on his face.
You know what the ending kind of reminded me of, though? Star Trek V. Travelling to a faraway planet. Giant talking energy face fake god.
posted by Zarkonnen at 4:28 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
You know what the ending kind of reminded me of, though? Star Trek V. Travelling to a faraway planet. Giant talking energy face fake god.
posted by Zarkonnen at 4:28 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
Finally got out to see this, and I'm in the 'better than the first one' camp. I thought I would literally figuratively literally die laughing, and from now on, Knight Rider was indeed played by Zardu Hasselfrau.
Only spots that really bothered me:
* Mantis.
Her entire thing was completely flubbed. As others have discussed in more detail, 'submissive Asian pet girl' was not a good place to go with her. (I don't know Mantis from the comics, but they changed Ego - I'm sure they could've gone somewhere else with her.)
That said, I'm on the side of 'Drax is autistic (and they're pushing it too far)' versus 'Drax is negging (and should stop entirely).'
* Gamora/Peter
That all felt pretty forced. I'd be happier if they didn't get together. It was particularly galling given how much I liked Gamora's relationship with Nebula here. The banter about 'you're doing guns now?' was fine, but the talk about Cheers and stuff... nah. I would really rather have friendship there.
posted by mordax at 12:52 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Only spots that really bothered me:
* Mantis.
Her entire thing was completely flubbed. As others have discussed in more detail, 'submissive Asian pet girl' was not a good place to go with her. (I don't know Mantis from the comics, but they changed Ego - I'm sure they could've gone somewhere else with her.)
That said, I'm on the side of 'Drax is autistic (and they're pushing it too far)' versus 'Drax is negging (and should stop entirely).'
* Gamora/Peter
That all felt pretty forced. I'd be happier if they didn't get together. It was particularly galling given how much I liked Gamora's relationship with Nebula here. The banter about 'you're doing guns now?' was fine, but the talk about Cheers and stuff... nah. I would really rather have friendship there.
posted by mordax at 12:52 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
One thing I absolutely loved: everyone was involved in raising and protecting Baby Groot. There's a scene where Quill is piloting, and he quickly turns to check that Baby Groot puts his seatbelt on, while explaining why it's important right now to do so. It's such a small thing, but it stood out to me--this little tree got more obvious parenting care than, say, any of the kids on Modern Family.
posted by meese at 7:57 AM on May 20, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by meese at 7:57 AM on May 20, 2017 [9 favorites]
Oh, one more thing: I agree with the criticisms about the characterization of Mantis.... But it's so annoying, because the problematic aspects about her characterization should have been the key to the whole plot reveal.
It makes sense that a guy like Ego, as he is ultimately revealed to be, would have raised a larva to become subservient and self-doubtful. It makes sense that he would raise her to call him 'Master.' It makes sense that she would become the wounded adult that she is. And it was so clear, from the moment we first saw her: here is a person who has not been treated well. That should have been something the other characters picked up on.
All it would have taken is a single line added to the fight between Gamora and Quill: "If he's such a good guy, why did he teach Mantis to call him 'Master' rather than 'Father'?" I mean, that's what did it for me: as soon as we saw the dynamic between Ego and Mantis, it was clear Ego was not the benevolent, loving father-figure Quill wanted him to be--it just would have been nice if that had been made into a plot point, if the characters had acknowledged how messed up Mantis's situation was rather than just taking it in stride.
posted by meese at 8:15 AM on May 20, 2017 [7 favorites]
It makes sense that a guy like Ego, as he is ultimately revealed to be, would have raised a larva to become subservient and self-doubtful. It makes sense that he would raise her to call him 'Master.' It makes sense that she would become the wounded adult that she is. And it was so clear, from the moment we first saw her: here is a person who has not been treated well. That should have been something the other characters picked up on.
All it would have taken is a single line added to the fight between Gamora and Quill: "If he's such a good guy, why did he teach Mantis to call him 'Master' rather than 'Father'?" I mean, that's what did it for me: as soon as we saw the dynamic between Ego and Mantis, it was clear Ego was not the benevolent, loving father-figure Quill wanted him to be--it just would have been nice if that had been made into a plot point, if the characters had acknowledged how messed up Mantis's situation was rather than just taking it in stride.
posted by meese at 8:15 AM on May 20, 2017 [7 favorites]
Everyone zeroes in on the "Master" thing upon Mantis and Ego, and I mean everyone: Peter, Gamorrah, Drax...
Starlord's shift from zero to Kill You Dead, Ego! happened as quickly as it did because Drax and Mantis are besties, and he trusts Drax. He was suspicious, angry and pissed off and said things people in love with each other should not say to each other with Gammorah, and then he realized he was the jerk, and was guns ablaze, in all of a heartbeat. Starlord is embarrassed constantly by Drax, but Drax always gives it straight. Starlord is embarrassed by himself, but Drax is there, and doesn't care, they are friends figuring this out as best they can.
There is a span of one heartbeat between when Peter says "What?" and the gunfire ensues as the villain casually turns to admit it and is made to pay, and deeply.
I really love this movie!
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:49 PM on May 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Starlord's shift from zero to Kill You Dead, Ego! happened as quickly as it did because Drax and Mantis are besties, and he trusts Drax. He was suspicious, angry and pissed off and said things people in love with each other should not say to each other with Gammorah, and then he realized he was the jerk, and was guns ablaze, in all of a heartbeat. Starlord is embarrassed constantly by Drax, but Drax always gives it straight. Starlord is embarrassed by himself, but Drax is there, and doesn't care, they are friends figuring this out as best they can.
There is a span of one heartbeat between when Peter says "What?" and the gunfire ensues as the villain casually turns to admit it and is made to pay, and deeply.
I really love this movie!
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:49 PM on May 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
I finally saw this yesterday and enjoyed it tremendously. There were a few cameos besides the big obvious ones that I was delighted to spot-- Ben Browder turns up briefly, painted gold, and Michelle Yeoh is a Ravager captain at the end, and apparently Seth Green is the voice of Howard the Duck.
Also, I am 1000% convinced that Mantis is another of Ego's children, one he kept around because she was useful, and no one will ever persuade me otherwise.
posted by nonasuch at 7:26 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also, I am 1000% convinced that Mantis is another of Ego's children, one he kept around because she was useful, and no one will ever persuade me otherwise.
posted by nonasuch at 7:26 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
I had some friends visiting for the weekend and we decided to go see GOTG2 (first time for them, second for me), and then that evening we were looking for something to put on the TV while hanging out and decided, what the heck, let's watch the first one again. So I got to watch them (almost) back to back like I wanted, albeit in reverse order. Thoughts:
Nebula's relationship with Gamora holds up in light of Vol. 2, despite the fact that they barely talk. From the lines they do have, and Nebula's demeanor around her sister, I get the impression that if Gamora had just asked for help stealing the Power Stone, she'd have gone along with it. But leaving her with Ronan while fleeing to freedom? That's a stabbin'.
Everybody else develops at least somewhat over the course of the duology, but Peter Quill is 100% the same person at the end of GOTG Vol. 2 that he was when he danced through that abandoned temple. We just get more insight into what made him that person, and watch him react to new situations. He's not a bad character by any means, but he's static (if nuanced).
Related: Yondu & Quill's fucked-up father-and-son dynamic. I've seen some criticism elsewhere than Peter accepting Yondu as his father immediately when they reunited didn't ring true because he wasn't there for any of the redemption scenes back on the Ravager ship, but I don't think that bears out -- Yondu's arc confronts why he treats Quill the way he does, but those two always knew where they stood with each other. One thing in particular that's clear in retrospect: the scene in the first movie where the Ravagers have Peter captured, with Yondu threatening to execute him, was pure theater. Yondu's balancing his love for his “son” (and a certain amount of pride when Peter can out-space-pirate him) with the need to save face in front of his crew – the importance of which gets driven home in a hurry when he goes too far in Vol. 2.
Rocket: He's the toughest character to reconcile between the two movies, because he's the one who learns the True Meaning Of Friendship™ in the first, and then when the second starts he's even more antagonistic than before, up to “professional A-hole” status. I guess you can read it as him not realizing what he was getting into in Vol. 1 and pushing back against the idea that the other Guardians are “family” and not just people he likes enough to justify shooting other people in the face.
Favorite call-back I completely missed until I rewatched the first movie: When Rocket is formulating his plan to break out of the Kyln, he sends Peter to get some random prisoner's prosthetic leg as a practical joke. Then when he's working out the plan to bring down Ronan att he end of the movie, he points to a Ravager with a robot eye and demands it, which Peter calls out as bullshit. THREE YEARS LATER (or however long it is in movie time) when he's stuck in the brig on the Ravagers' ship, Baby Groot finally gets him that eye!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 3:02 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]
Nebula's relationship with Gamora holds up in light of Vol. 2, despite the fact that they barely talk. From the lines they do have, and Nebula's demeanor around her sister, I get the impression that if Gamora had just asked for help stealing the Power Stone, she'd have gone along with it. But leaving her with Ronan while fleeing to freedom? That's a stabbin'.
Everybody else develops at least somewhat over the course of the duology, but Peter Quill is 100% the same person at the end of GOTG Vol. 2 that he was when he danced through that abandoned temple. We just get more insight into what made him that person, and watch him react to new situations. He's not a bad character by any means, but he's static (if nuanced).
Related: Yondu & Quill's fucked-up father-and-son dynamic. I've seen some criticism elsewhere than Peter accepting Yondu as his father immediately when they reunited didn't ring true because he wasn't there for any of the redemption scenes back on the Ravager ship, but I don't think that bears out -- Yondu's arc confronts why he treats Quill the way he does, but those two always knew where they stood with each other. One thing in particular that's clear in retrospect: the scene in the first movie where the Ravagers have Peter captured, with Yondu threatening to execute him, was pure theater. Yondu's balancing his love for his “son” (and a certain amount of pride when Peter can out-space-pirate him) with the need to save face in front of his crew – the importance of which gets driven home in a hurry when he goes too far in Vol. 2.
Rocket: He's the toughest character to reconcile between the two movies, because he's the one who learns the True Meaning Of Friendship™ in the first, and then when the second starts he's even more antagonistic than before, up to “professional A-hole” status. I guess you can read it as him not realizing what he was getting into in Vol. 1 and pushing back against the idea that the other Guardians are “family” and not just people he likes enough to justify shooting other people in the face.
Favorite call-back I completely missed until I rewatched the first movie: When Rocket is formulating his plan to break out of the Kyln, he sends Peter to get some random prisoner's prosthetic leg as a practical joke. Then when he's working out the plan to bring down Ronan att he end of the movie, he points to a Ravager with a robot eye and demands it, which Peter calls out as bullshit. THREE YEARS LATER (or however long it is in movie time) when he's stuck in the brig on the Ravagers' ship, Baby Groot finally gets him that eye!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 3:02 PM on May 22, 2017 [6 favorites]
If nothing else this movie confirms what I always thought to be true.
Fleetwood Mac is the most powerful force in the universe.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
Fleetwood Mac is the most powerful force in the universe.
posted by The Whelk at 10:25 AM on May 25, 2017 [5 favorites]
Rocket does NOT learn the "True Meaning of Friendship" - Rocket was on a suicide spiral. No one is him. No one understands. Welllll, guess what?
Yondu remembers every inch of his existence. He remembers being sold into slavery as a baby, he remembers doing horrible things as a slave soldier, he remembers worse than that. He remembers being free, and he remembers how he was so horribly used, children suffering in the end... save one.
All of this guilt and anger and aggression explodes as he realizes the arc Rocket chooses to take, "AH AM YEW!"
He has two kids, right there, and loves them both very much. He's just very bad at saying it. Until he's not, as time runs out.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:36 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yondu remembers every inch of his existence. He remembers being sold into slavery as a baby, he remembers doing horrible things as a slave soldier, he remembers worse than that. He remembers being free, and he remembers how he was so horribly used, children suffering in the end... save one.
All of this guilt and anger and aggression explodes as he realizes the arc Rocket chooses to take, "AH AM YEW!"
He has two kids, right there, and loves them both very much. He's just very bad at saying it. Until he's not, as time runs out.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:36 PM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
As someone who has VERY SPECIFIC* father issues I was not expecting to encounter them in this blockbuster trifle and I would be lying if I didn't get uh, a little teared up around the end there.
*you got me I'm half planet.
posted by The Whelk at 9:00 PM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]
*you got me I'm half planet.
posted by The Whelk at 9:00 PM on May 25, 2017 [15 favorites]
Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang on endless repeat. That is all.
All of it, here.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 8:16 PM on May 27, 2017
All of it, here.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 8:16 PM on May 27, 2017
I really enjoyed this movie, and thought it was better then the original. Chris Pratt seems to be killing it lately, and really can't wait till Avengers: Infinity Wars. It's going to be epic.
posted by ZypDon54 at 8:13 AM on June 5, 2017
posted by ZypDon54 at 8:13 AM on June 5, 2017
"that makes no sense, the skin is the same thickness from both sides"--"I KNOW!!!!"
"Let's just go along with him and if he turns out to be evil, we can kill him"
And that was when I realized I am Gamora.
I wasn't sure what was going on with Rocket's whole "asshole for no reason" thing.
He's a raccoon, they're assholes. He can't help it. When Baby Groot showed up with the underpants and Rocket just sighed we lost it and did not regain it until the end. Also there were TWO scenes where they just ran characters faces through a fun house mirror, not one. And they were hilarious.
This movie was a perfect antidote to too much time spent watching The Waling Dead and Game of Thrones.
posted by fshgrl at 1:33 AM on June 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
"Let's just go along with him and if he turns out to be evil, we can kill him"
And that was when I realized I am Gamora.
I wasn't sure what was going on with Rocket's whole "asshole for no reason" thing.
He's a raccoon, they're assholes. He can't help it. When Baby Groot showed up with the underpants and Rocket just sighed we lost it and did not regain it until the end. Also there were TWO scenes where they just ran characters faces through a fun house mirror, not one. And they were hilarious.
This movie was a perfect antidote to too much time spent watching The Waling Dead and Game of Thrones.
posted by fshgrl at 1:33 AM on June 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I saw this last night in a double feature with Baby Driver. (By which I mean, not an actual double feature, but a self-made one by seeing GotGv2 first, then Baby Driver shortly afterwards.)
Thematically connected, of course, by the significant use of music within the movies — and the respective main characters using outdated technology to listen to said music.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:51 AM on July 9, 2017
Thematically connected, of course, by the significant use of music within the movies — and the respective main characters using outdated technology to listen to said music.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:51 AM on July 9, 2017
...so, worse than expected, with some wonderful scenes and concepts.
A wonderful open.
Probably the worst thing I've seen from the immensely talented James Gunn. Heart-felt and authentic in concept, insipid in execution. Also - I hope I never hear the bland Marvel fanfare theme pointlessly inserted into a film again.
posted by Auden at 10:43 PM on August 17, 2017
A wonderful open.
Probably the worst thing I've seen from the immensely talented James Gunn. Heart-felt and authentic in concept, insipid in execution. Also - I hope I never hear the bland Marvel fanfare theme pointlessly inserted into a film again.
posted by Auden at 10:43 PM on August 17, 2017
So....uh, this happened.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:04 AM on August 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:04 AM on August 21, 2017 [4 favorites]
Well, that certainly is a thing, Holy Zarquon.
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:18 AM on August 21, 2017
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:18 AM on August 21, 2017
It absolutely exists.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:17 AM on August 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:17 AM on August 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
So I definitely recognize Zardu Hasselfrau and that guy who was with the Watchers, and I feel like I should recognize a bunch of other people, but between the effects makeup in the movie and the 70s makeup in the video I can't really correspond them together other.
Well OK, I also figured out Star Lord and I assume Drax is the guy built like a professional wrestler, but if anyone has like, an imgur gallery of everyone with side-by-side shots of their movie and music video appearances that would be great.
posted by ckape at 1:06 PM on August 22, 2017
Well OK, I also figured out Star Lord and I assume Drax is the guy built like a professional wrestler, but if anyone has like, an imgur gallery of everyone with side-by-side shots of their movie and music video appearances that would be great.
posted by ckape at 1:06 PM on August 22, 2017
Gyrating white chick is Karen Gillan who is Nebula.
Which reminds me that when I am God-Emperor there will be a law that if you are making a tv or movie or whatever and you cast Scottish people in it, they get to just stay Scottish and not have to pretend to be American. Or Egyptio-Spanish.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:45 PM on August 22, 2017 [4 favorites]
Which reminds me that when I am God-Emperor there will be a law that if you are making a tv or movie or whatever and you cast Scottish people in it, they get to just stay Scottish and not have to pretend to be American. Or Egyptio-Spanish.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:45 PM on August 22, 2017 [4 favorites]
Red-haired woman: Karen Gillan/Nebula
Platinum blonde woman: Pom Klementieff/Mantis
Black/Hispanic woman: Zoe Saldana/Gamora
Skinnier guys with horrible/amazing mustaches: Michael Rooker/Yondu and Sean Gunn/Kraglin (Yondu's bumbling sidekick); offhand I can't recall which is wearing what outfit
Heavyset Hispanic guy who's not built like a pro wrestler: Guillermo Rodriguez (Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show sidekick) doing a cameo because why not
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:47 PM on August 22, 2017
Platinum blonde woman: Pom Klementieff/Mantis
Black/Hispanic woman: Zoe Saldana/Gamora
Skinnier guys with horrible/amazing mustaches: Michael Rooker/Yondu and Sean Gunn/Kraglin (Yondu's bumbling sidekick); offhand I can't recall which is wearing what outfit
Heavyset Hispanic guy who's not built like a pro wrestler: Guillermo Rodriguez (Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show sidekick) doing a cameo because why not
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 1:47 PM on August 22, 2017
I watched this at home and didn't love it. The first film was such a surprise and fresh take on sci-fi and superhero movies. This second film had a lot to live up to and I felt mostly it just relied on the same beats and ideas they used in the first film. More of the same. Which was fine, but not so exciting.
The part I found most interesting is the really weird and unsettling emotional pastiche of the movie. Slapstick combined with sincere father/son stories and some really violent horror. Then some more slapstick. All mixed together. I was reminded some of Sense8 which also had a lot of weird emotions for one video but not mixed together quite as rapidly.
The Zune reference had me laughing out loud. Definitely not a clumsy Microsoft placement; for those you have to watch Under the Dome or other B-grade fare. Oh God do not watch Under the Dome. Zune was retired as a brand back in 2012. Anyway here's James Gunn talking about what'll be on the Zune in vol. 3. (Thematically, no tracks mentioned.)
I'm surprised they killed Yondu, he was such a delicious character even before the development as father. The setup replacing him with a new arrow whistler was super clumsy.
posted by Nelson at 4:27 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
The part I found most interesting is the really weird and unsettling emotional pastiche of the movie. Slapstick combined with sincere father/son stories and some really violent horror. Then some more slapstick. All mixed together. I was reminded some of Sense8 which also had a lot of weird emotions for one video but not mixed together quite as rapidly.
The Zune reference had me laughing out loud. Definitely not a clumsy Microsoft placement; for those you have to watch Under the Dome or other B-grade fare. Oh God do not watch Under the Dome. Zune was retired as a brand back in 2012. Anyway here's James Gunn talking about what'll be on the Zune in vol. 3. (Thematically, no tracks mentioned.)
I'm surprised they killed Yondu, he was such a delicious character even before the development as father. The setup replacing him with a new arrow whistler was super clumsy.
posted by Nelson at 4:27 PM on August 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
I agree with the general sentiment that this was a good series of action setpieces and character interactions interspersed with weird, off-key scenes like Funhouse Hyperspace Jump and Happy Murder Time.
My favorite thing about this movie, and Guardians of the Galaxy in general, is how it takes the wackiest, 60s-70s psychadelic things in the Marvel cosmology like Ego the Living Planet, Yondu the Space Indian, and Adam Warlock and translates them into a less weird but still colorful sci-fi universe. I genuinely geeked out more about the Watchers than the guy who was boring them with his anecdotes.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:05 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
My favorite thing about this movie, and Guardians of the Galaxy in general, is how it takes the wackiest, 60s-70s psychadelic things in the Marvel cosmology like Ego the Living Planet, Yondu the Space Indian, and Adam Warlock and translates them into a less weird but still colorful sci-fi universe. I genuinely geeked out more about the Watchers than the guy who was boring them with his anecdotes.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:05 PM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
Lindsay Ellis did a video about this movie, which is surprisingly touching.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:14 AM on August 31, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:14 AM on August 31, 2017 [7 favorites]
I've just been rewatching the Lindsay Ellis video to work through family feelings, jenfullmoon, and man, it's like explaining so many feelings I have and reconciling thoughts. I think I prefer film criticism to actual films.
posted by ambrosen at 2:14 PM on November 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by ambrosen at 2:14 PM on November 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
I adored this movie for a lot of reasons, but I keep coming back to two:
Drax's laugh is amazing. The fact that it sounds forced because you're used to dealing with humans, and then you realize, he REALLY IS experiencing that much joy. Just great.
The other amazing thing was the color palette. The only thing I've seen to compare was the otherwise-a-total-hot-mess Speed Racer.
But yeah, I enjoyed vol. 2 more.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 2:24 PM on February 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
Drax's laugh is amazing. The fact that it sounds forced because you're used to dealing with humans, and then you realize, he REALLY IS experiencing that much joy. Just great.
The other amazing thing was the color palette. The only thing I've seen to compare was the otherwise-a-total-hot-mess Speed Racer.
But yeah, I enjoyed vol. 2 more.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 2:24 PM on February 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
May I admit to watching The Sneeps ft. Zardu Hasslefrau way to often when I am feeling low or or of sorts?
If not, well bless your heart, I'm getting down and dirty with The Procyon Lotor!
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:51 PM on July 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
If not, well bless your heart, I'm getting down and dirty with The Procyon Lotor!
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:51 PM on July 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
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I look forward to the day someone gets really cheeky, rolls intro credits and then just plays the trailer (trailers spoil the best parts already, right?), and then hits the rolls end credits, which are then interrupted by a dozen ten-minute "stingers."
posted by filthy light thief at 2:42 PM on May 4, 2017 [8 favorites]