We just got back and loved it - although there are a few instances where you question the thought process a character goes through before doing/saying something - but while we’d like to have our on-screen characters be perfect, we all have flaws.
The opening sequence is wonderful and the closing credits just keeps going on & on, so stay seated because there are quite a few nice small bits.
As others have mentioned, many of the characters get flushed out back stories and family is a strong theme throughout. I didn’t have a bad thought as @John_Reynolds did, but then as Yondu says
“He may have been your father, Quill, but he wasn’t your daddy.”
Nebula and Drax should get together. It seems they have a common enemy.
I love how this movie looks, it has a lot of great action sequences, it’s full of jokes and almost* all of them land, and the characters all make sense. They’re not all given the same level of development, but what’s there is consistent and engaging.
On the other hand, it goes overboard with exposition throughout, and it leans too hard on the “Awesome Mix”. One of the main crew ends up with an arc that doesn’t feel connected to this movie, and it probably should’ve been axed, but then they’d have almost nothing left to contribute. The runtime is a little too long, though that’s really just a symptom of the above.
Solid, 5/5 stars, very entertaining movie that I’ve already seen twice now and it was totally worth it both times. But the original was just about perfect, and this won’t top it. “Harbulary battery.”
*almost all of the jokes land, but “It wasn’t ripe”? That was a lot of awkward setup for a non-joke dud of a line.
spoilers obviously, but fwiw the reason ego killed the mom was because he was actually in love with her, he was so in love with her that he knew he was willing to just stay there and be mortal to be with her. That conflicted with his ‘purpose’ so the logical part of him knew he had to eliminate the temptation or he would never achieve his actual goal. It all makes sense from a logical viewpoint, it’s just horrible and creepy and devoid of morals or emotion. He couldn’t have just waited for her to die though, his point was that he knew if he went back he would stay, and staying would have killed him and he would have been fine with that to be with her. I’m guessing this realization scared him and he acted.
Yeah, I can buy that. Not sure why he’d casually relay killing her to Peter though, but maybe the lack of experience with emotions or misunderstanding how much Peter has missed his mother made him not realize the potential reaction someone like Peter would have to the info. I don’t know, it just seemed inconsistent. I got the feeling Ego genuinely wanted a relationship with his son, but when Peter attacked Ego seemed to glibly hand-wave it away and say Peter could fit into his grand plans just fine as a human battery.
he’s lonely and lacks social skills, don’t think he even considered that Peter wouldn’t fully understand the reasoning and accept it. He did seem like he wanted to be fully open and honest with him and spend eternity together. He even told him upfront about killing all the other kids.
The problem with trying to humanize Ego’s thought process is that there is nothing human in him. He even consciously excised the creeping bit of humanity he was experiencing, in a terrible way and felt nothing. Why would you think he would expect any different from his progeny, especially when they are easily disposable if they disappoint? This guy is pure selfish ego, he understands nothing else and destroys anything contrary to his needs. All of his actions seemed right in line with that. He told Peter about his mom because he was going to get what he wanted however Peter took the news and while he would have prefered to have a progeny he gould co-exist with, in the end it really didn’t matter to him, he believed that there was nothing Peter or anyone could do about it. He told Peter, quite simply, because he just didn’t care enough about which way it played out.
I’m pretty sure he killed her because he was getting too attached to her, and she was jeopardizing his “mission”.
Loved it. Just about as good as the first film, and that’s saying something. Rooker should get a nomination for that performance. Everyone was just perfect - but him especially.
The ending scenes were really great, too. And how great was that intro?!
You are correct, but it was still worth it for Drax kicking the fruit from her hand when he was walking past her. “It’s not ripe.” That would have been the correct place to let that joke finish, I think.
I just came back from the theater. It’s a wholly enjoyable movie, but’s not even on the same level as the original. What keeps it going despite the really lack of surprise or you know a plot that makes some sense is the characters, even the ones that were minor before, come to life really well, and you just want more of them. The soundtrack was not that great either.
Also, the Guardian must have the highest murder count of all the superhero groups in Marvel.
That and more. I mean you look at Captain America who, you know, generally tries not to kill, and even Winter Soldier doesn’t want to kill. The kill count is just huge in the Guardian movies vs the others, for the most part.
I think it was just the pirates that were killed, unless you count Ego as well? You aren’t referring to the Soverign people/ships of course, since those were all remote piloted.
EDIT - Rocket even went full-non-lethal with his traps when they had him surrounded.
I know it might seem like I am pulling this out of nowhere, but the body count was mentioned for the first movie too. I’m also trying to avoid spoilers, but yeah I know about the unmanned ships.
This is not a criticism so much as a curiosity on how these two groups will mesh with such… different approaches.And yeah the one rampage would not be looked kindly upon by some of the other heroes.
I think the body count is significantly lower than the first movie. They hint at some stuff on other planets, in the last act but it isn’t clear how much of that there was.
I’d say the body count is much less than the first Thor (all those vikings in the opening and the Frost Giants when Thor goes to their realm).
Oh, wait, are you saying the film itself has a higher than normal body count? I thought you meant the titular characters themselves. That’s possible - though I feel like quite a few people died in the Avengers and Captain America films, too. I mean, any time a world-threatening thing happens lots and lots of people are dying (hence the Geneva Accords or what have you) just maybe not on-screen.
Yondu and Rocket sure did murder the fuck out of an entire ship full of pirates though.
Well yes, they were mostly bad, except you know the other group that were sent floating but… can you imagine Captain and Stark just sort of walking through an area blowing everyone aware like that. It’s just a different style is all. I mean I can’t be the only one who watches all these movies and thinks… wow this group is going to meet up with that other group and wow that’s going to be interesting!
I think part of that goes to who the Guardians are, as far as heroes go.
They’re the most misfit, anti-hero set of heroes in the current Marvel cinematic universe. Starlord was a pirate. Rocket and Groot were bounty hunters (and maybe mercenaries?). Gamora is a daughter of Thanos. Admittedly not sure what Drax did before showing up in that prison.
I don’t think most of the Guardians give that much of damn about offing “bad” people.
As to meeting the Avengers, I suspect that Black Widow’s and Hawkeye’s body counts (off-screen) are pretty high. They haven’t had their own movies, so we admittedly don’t know. Plust Thor as I mentioned above. Also, don’t forget the Chitauri in the first Avengers. I think all the Avengers offed a ton of those guys.
Which is why I look at what they do as more of murder than the desperate fighting that sometimes leads to death that the others employ (that doesn’t mean I am unaware of their less lethal tactics though). It seems like a good chunk of the villains of the other groups don’t even die.
Anyway, it’s enjoyable movie with a fair mount of bodies in tow and I look forward to all the movies leading up to however they wind up combining all these gals and guys.
