Author Topic: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2  (Read 2204 times)

Dev7on

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« on: May 07, 2017, 06:12:05 PM »
After watching the movie I understand why there are mix reviews about this movie. Some people say they like the first movie better, other people say they like the second movie better. Personally I like the first Guardians better than this one. The reason why is because it's too goofy and the jokes is not as funny from the first movie. The movie felt like a video game. It felt like I was playing Star Fox Zero on weed. This movie does have a few raunchy jokes in there and it's really out of place by being a comic book movie and for the movie being targeting for a younger audience  because of Baby Groot. The movie didn't bring an emotional attachment at the end like it did with Logan for me. Oh, one last thing, if you have Daddy Issues like myself it'll probably trigger it. I think Marvel is slipping this year.........

Arcana

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2017, 12:24:14 AM »
Just saw GotG Vol 2 over the weekend.

Overall: 8 out of 10

The good:

- More balance between the characters.  The first GotG was heavily focused on Peter.  The second one gives more for the other characters to do.  It can be tricky to balance out story and attention for a large cast, but I believe Vol2 does a very good job of that.

- Deeper story.  Vol1 was a relatively light space adventure story.  Vol2 was a much deeper character driven story.  Some people liked Vol1 more than Vol2 because of that - and I'm actually one of them - but demonstrating that GotG is not a one-note property is a good thing in my opinion.  It means the property has legs.

- Easter eggs.  If you like that sort of thing, they are there in spades.  If you don't like that sort of thing, they are basically invisible and don't harm the movie.  Which is basically how good easter eggs are supposed to work.

- The post-credits scenes.  No spoilers, but I thought the last one was simultaneously thought-provoking and very playful.  Clearly Gunn has been listening to the fans toss this around.  Whether it actually means anything outside of GotG, it was still amusing to me to see.

- Not too much Baby Groot.  It could have been easy to go overboard with Baby Groot.  At least for me, this movie doesn't do that.

- Introducing more of the "cosmic" Marvel Universe.  I liked the way the MCU alters and simplifies the Marvel cosmology.  Ego is now a "celestial" (not really a spoiler) instead of an "Elder" but that's more of a terminology thing than anything else.  But it does hint that the MCU might be "flattening" the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe, because in the comics the "Elders" and the "Celestials" were two totally different things.  Simplifying for the cinematic universe might be a sign we will also get to see more of it.


The bad:

- Minor pacing issues.  Having to balance the different story lines meant some of it seemed to be too abrupt or too slow and sometimes rapidly oscillating between both.  This is almost impossible to avoid in a movie with the size of the main cast and the story arcs contained within.

- Peter is more passive.  Vol1 put Peter at the center of the GotG maelstrom.  In Vol2 he is a less active protagonist overall, even though he is very active at the end of the movie.  That made him less interesting than Gamora, say, or Rocket or Yondu.


The ugly:

- Taserface of course.


Overall:

Doesn't quite have the magic of the first one, but shows GotG to be a solid property that you can tell different stories within.  Well executed, and shows promise for being one avenue into the MCU cosmology.  Still very enjoyable movie, and it earns its ending in my opinion.  Definitely recommended.

Tahquitz

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2017, 08:49:12 AM »
I think Arcana should write more movie reviews.  Seriously.

TL;DR.
To me, GoTGV2 isn't going to top the original.  The original movie was a bat across the head compared to the rest of the MCU both in style, cinematography, and writing.  But in trilogies, the second rarely exceeds the first in the first place (unless all cylinders are firing in a well oiled machine: The Dark Knight vs. Batman Begins.)  The job of a second movie is to not lose too much momentum, while setting up the next and final part, and we got what we paid for. 

I feel they did their job with GOTG Vol. 2, while allowing the movie to stand on it's own apart from the MCU, and that I feel is it's bigger victory.  You can watch both films without knowing a damn thing about the rest of the Universe, and I hope they continue this for the final installment, which I'm afraid is at the end of the MCU franchise schedule.

Light spoilers if you haven't seen MCU movies going forward, but generally safe for those who haven't seen GOTG Vol 2 yet.

Since MCU movies are critically seen as a waste of time, I think comparing this to other MCU sequels might give a better grasp on what to expect:

Thor: The Dark World -- The rest of the ensemble shined in GOTG, whereas Thor had a villain everyone loved more than the rest of the cast... it's all about Loki, damn it.  Jane Foster being left alone while Thor fought in the first Avengers struck most folks as a "oh, yeah" moment, not really a big deal.  In GOTG, there was no such issue as Agents of SHIELD was the last tie-in (Kree) and that really didn't faze the plot for Quill et al.  Kurt Russell has great presence in the beginning, but by the end of the movie...
Spoiler for Hidden:
...it's not really a crime that he won't make it for the last part of the trilogy.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier -- Another epic villain.  Here it's all about Bucky.  Same reasoning as Thor 2, except turn the anti-hero dial higher than Loki...

Iron Man 2 -- In this Tony Stark faces his success after revealing to the world that he is Iron Man, while facing a personal crisis in three angles: fighting his own megalomania, dealing with Stark Industries moving on without him, and the Arc Reactor in his heart slowly killing him with exotic metal poisoning.  Peter's soliloquy with his past isn't anywhere as complex, and his 'tug on the heartstrings' moment is a little more poignant than Tony Stark's revelation from his father beyond the grave.

Avengers: Age of Ultron -- To be honest, any of the above movies would top this.  Age of Ultron was a bit of a mess, and the only reason to watch it seems to be to hear the words "Sekovia Accords" in SHIELD and Captain America: Civil War over and over.  (Shorthand for "Superheroes need to be accountable for the damage they cause.")  Guardians of The Galaxy has no reverence for this mindset.  Rocket has his kleptomania, and the team pays for it to some degree... but he's learned nothing.  And the planets damaged by 'the plan' is beyond the Guardian's responsibility as far as the aftermath (particularly Earth), so no worries on revisiting the 'Sekovia Accords' here.

Here be dragons.  Hit the jump at your own peril.
Spoiler for Hidden:
Kurt Russell is a charisma actor, fair and simple.  But I kind of failed to understand the "purpose" he had for planting 'seeds' in other planets to destroy other life and remake those planets.  Having children was just to increase his own power?  Then why not direct invasion?  That much I didn't get.  I did laugh when Peter and Ego basically played a game of "catch" on Ego's Planet.

The Sovereign had a Ender's Game feel to them, except their repeated attempts to use drones to overtake the Guardians were kind of a nuisance at the end instead of a realized threat.  Fortunately, Ego was a much more potent antagonist and I hope the Sovereign have a stronger presence in the next movie.

Rocket is at once the joke of the cast ("Trash Panda" has me giving a spit take) and at the same time, a badass.  ("Oh shit, I'm using my wrong eye again, aren't I? I'm sorry, that was meant to be behind your back... [to Drax] Hey, you want to buy some batteries?")  Yondu was given a great sendoff.  I appreciated how they handled him where Rocket and Yondu figured out they are pretty much one and the same, and Peter/Rocket's bickering was similar to Peter defying Yondu in the first movie. 

Baby Groot was cute, but it basically meant that the team of five was now four in essence.  His presence was reduced a bit, and fairly so as Groot was a bit of a deus ex machina in the first movie protecting the team from the Infinity Stone's effects by sacrificing his body.  So I didn't mind it as much remembering that.

Drax was the scene stealer out of the original cast.  His naivete and bluntness came to the fore and that was welcome in this movie.  You don't expect the deadliest brute on the team to be the comic relief unless they're inept, but he pulls it off and remains formidable.  Batista was a great choice.  (Runner up for the Scene Stealer trophy was Kraglin, Yondu's second in command played by Sean Gunn, James's little brother. "Yeah... I was talking about like a pretty necklace, or a nice hat, you know. Something to make the other girls go 'ooh, that's nice.'")

Gamora has some reconciliation with Nebula which is welcome, but as she's spending most of her time being the second in command, they're still playing the 'no time for love, Dr. Jones' card with her.  She shows some signs of letting her guard down by the end, but if you're expecting her to stop withholding affection before the 3rd installment, don't hold your breath.

Finally, the audience advocate himself, Peter Quill.  The main hook of the plot is why Peter's father was a mystery and how Peter's life was orchestrated from the start.  As any hero does, he works past the villainous designs of Ego, overcomes his influence, and returns to space a little different than before.  So in that instance, GOTG and GOTG Vol. 2 have that in common.  But with his father's past reconciled, unless they intend to go further with his Mom's background past being a Missouri girl who fell for Starman, his past isn't likely to be as big of a part of a third installment, which will be an obvious comparison to separate the movies apart.  All in all, the second go around wasn't terribly flawed.

I agree with Arcana's score.  It's a B or a B+ in my book.  There's not much that could be improved upon, but it's not exactly "magic" deserving of an A grade.  If you've seen the first film, the second won't be a terrible stretch or stray too far from formula.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2017, 08:54:45 AM by Tahquitz »
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Arcana

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2017, 02:06:30 AM »
Spoilers for anyone that hasn't seen the movie yet, this answers a question brought up by Tahquitz in his spoiler protected section:

Spoiler for Hidden:
For those unfamiliar with the Elders of the Universe in the Marvel comic book continuity, the backstory is that the characters are essentially immortal and wield a kind of cosmic power similar to but different than the power cosmic, which beings like Galactus and the Silver Surfer wield.  In each case the Elders managed to survive for billions of years by finding a purpose to their lives, without which they would eventually wither and die of boredom.  So for example, the Collector collects, the Gamesmaster plays games.  In the MCU, Ego appears to be an amalgam of the Celestials and the Elders with a merged backstory.  Ego is the first of the Elders-not-referred-to-as-Elders in the MCU to refer to the need to have a durable purpose.  Ego is a living cosmic mind that managed to learn how to create a planet and then rudimentary life.  He decided to make the purpose of his life to be the conversion of all life into himself.  Why not just invade those planets?  Because he doesn't want to rule them.  His purpose to remake all life in his image is just an extension of everything else he has done since his birth: first to control matter, then to arrange it into a planet that surrounded him, then to manipulate that matter into life.  He has been extending his purpose as he has lived to larger and larger scales.

The reason why he needed Peter is that he apparently needed to both focus the celestial power he was connected to, and wield it to power his seeds throughout the galaxy.  He couldn't do both at once, so he needed one more celestial being like him to pull it off.

Tahquitz

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2017, 02:08:49 AM »
That answers a lot.  His name should have been a bigger clue than I cared to follow on the first viewing.  Thanks. :D
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Dev7on

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2017, 03:47:37 AM »
Spoilers for anyone that hasn't seen the movie yet, this answers a question brought up by Tahquitz in his spoiler protected section:

Spoiler for Hidden:
For those unfamiliar with the Elders of the Universe in the Marvel comic book continuity, the backstory is that the characters are essentially immortal and wield a kind of cosmic power similar to but different than the power cosmic, which beings like Galactus and the Silver Surfer wield.  In each case the Elders managed to survive for billions of years by finding a purpose to their lives, without which they would eventually wither and die of boredom.  So for example, the Collector collects, the Gamesmaster plays games.  In the MCU, Ego appears to be an amalgam of the Celestials and the Elders with a merged backstory.  Ego is the first of the Elders-not-referred-to-as-Elders in the MCU to refer to the need to have a durable purpose.  Ego is a living cosmic mind that managed to learn how to create a planet and then rudimentary life.  He decided to make the purpose of his life to be the conversion of all life into himself.  Why not just invade those planets?  Because he doesn't want to rule them.  His purpose to remake all life in his image is just an extension of everything else he has done since his birth: first to control matter, then to arrange it into a planet that surrounded him, then to manipulate that matter into life.  He has been extending his purpose as he has lived to larger and larger scales.

The reason why he needed Peter is that he apparently needed to both focus the celestial power he was connected to, and wield it to power his seeds throughout the galaxy.  He couldn't do both at once, so he needed one more celestial being like him to pull it off.

I have another question:
Spoiler for Hidden:
When the movie revealed that Peter Quill didn't die when he held an Infinity Stone at the end of the first movie because he's half God due to Ego I thought he would be useful in Infinity War since he's immune to the Power Stone. After he killed Ego, Peter loses his celestial powers. I thought he can keep it because it's in his DNA. Now it's a waste in Infinity War by Starlord being a normal person....

Arcana

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2017, 10:02:04 PM »
I have another question:
Spoiler for Hidden:
When the movie revealed that Peter Quill didn't die when he held an Infinity Stone at the end of the first movie because he's half God due to Ego I thought he would be useful in Infinity War since he's immune to the Power Stone. After he killed Ego, Peter loses his celestial powers. I thought he can keep it because it's in his DNA. Now it's a waste in Infinity War by Starlord being a normal person....

Spoiler for Hidden:
Technically he wasn't immune to the power stone: it would have killed him had the other Guardians not shared the power with him.  It is also unclear that killing Ego causes Peter to completely lose his inherent nature.  Consider that Ego wasn't the source of the power, he tapped into it.  The planet Ego created was a huge reservoir of power that Peter could easily tap, but its implied in the movie it took millions of years for Ego the cosmic brain to build it.  Since Peter still has Celestial DNA, it is possible that he could still tap that power, it is just that without Ego and his planet around, Peter is essentially a Celestial infant and unable to manipulate the power very much at the moment.

It has also been stated by The Powers That Be at Marvel that they want to see Ego continue on in the MCU, so it is possible Ego isn't actually dead.  It is possible that Ego can't die by conventional means, and the Guardians only "set him back" by blowing him up.  He might reassemble himself, Dr. Manhattan-style, after enough time has passed.  Or he might be able to be revived by cosmic forces.  Consider that the detonation of the power stone at close range only gave the Collector a bump on the head.

The point, I think, is that we now don't know what Peter is capable of, and that means there's some suspense as to whether he can still wield Celestial power, whether he is still immortal, and whether he still is capable of wielding an infinity stone.  That uncertainty is important for future story telling.

Excidia

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2017, 04:20:24 PM »
Spoiler for Hidden:
I remember Ego saying something like "As long as the light exists, we exist." 

I'd say that means Peter is still half Elder/Celestial and still has those powers, just needs to hone them.  Also means Ego's still around and just needs to shift his consciousness into a new physical form.
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Tenzhi

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Re: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2017, 04:53:00 AM »
Finally got around to seeing it.  Overall I enjoyed it, though the story was a bit lacking and there wasn't much payoff character-wise.

I was mildly disturbed and amused by Golden Crichton doing his Peacekeeper impression.

I always thought Adam had orange skin, not gold.

I was indifferent to Yondu in the first movie, then they made me like him in this one just to do that...

They're really making me want a new Howard the Duck movie (or Netflix Original mini-series).

Rocket was almost unlikable in this, though he got some good action.

Groot didn't get as much focus as I was expecting, but perhaps got a bit too much in the intro.  It was a glorious intro, but they carried on with it just a little too long.

And there were times when the movie dragged a little.  It's okay to be a rollicking fun spectacle that's light on story, but you gotta keep a better pace.
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