Guardians of the Galaxy [Aug 2014]

[Ironwood]

The comedy element was nicely used to undermine some old superhero tropes throughout and I really enjoyed that. The monologing nonsense that's continued in Marvel's movies cut short by Rocket crashing a ship into the villain was the only one that's stuck with me since last night.

In fairness, it did it twice and it was just a redo of Puny God. 

Not that there's anything wrong with that AT ALL.

[Merusk]

Yeah, upon reflection I can see that it was a rehash but I feel like there was something else done with Rocket to undercut the tropes that wasn't the same joke.  Maybe it's just me getting old and making things up in my head now. I'll come back to it when it comes out on cable.

[Khaldun]

There isn't backstory to speak of. Nebula shows up at some point and claims to be Thanos' biological granddaughter, and when he meets her in the comics, he's like "Oh, who are you? Whatever." Then he torments her, seemingly for her presumptuousness in claiming what she claimed.

In recent years, they've retrofitted the whole thing to claim that Thanos' first bad-guy thing was having sex with a bunch of alien ladies and then hunting down and personally killing all the subsequent offspring in order to impress the spirit of Death.

This is the film's one weakness--Thanos is supposed to be the Big Fucking Bad that everybody's scared of, but folks are generally like, "Ronan is the guy we're worried about, because he's the local nutcase with the religious thing going on". It's not at all clear why people are actually supposed to be scared of Thanos besides his general Darth Sidious mannerisms and Gamora and Nebula both saying, "Dude did bad shit to us". Rocket and Drax can get away with vague, unseen references to past trauma, because it's pretty clearly enacted in the action and seen on Rocket's body, but Gamora and Nebula not so much. Even five minutes of "This is what Thanos did to us" or "Here's a video of Thanos killing everyone over here" etc. would have helped.

This is very minor bitching though. It is a great flick. Maybe my favorite Marvel film in multiple ways. And anyone who says "Oh, Marvel has a rigid house style, there's no range or genre variation in Marvel movies" can just suck it after this one. This is a very distinctively directed and imagined movie.

[Khaldun]

Also, and you should know who you are, the people who were like "This will never work! It's got a fucking raccoon in it! Marvel has LOST THEIR MINDS!" should now turn in their Nerd Fortune Teller License for good and just humbly wait for all that will come their way.

[Lakov_Sanite]

This looks to be about as close to a Farscape movie as I'll ever get so I'm excited.

And all is right in the world.

[WayAbvPar]

Just got back...enjoyed it immensely. I was actually annoyed by the post credits scene though...god I hated that shit back in the day. The rest of it was very entertaining.

[HaemishM]

Also, and you should know who you are, the people who were like "This will never work! It's got a fucking raccoon in it! Marvel has LOST THEIR MINDS!" should now turn in their Nerd Fortune Teller License for good and just humbly wait for all that will come their way.

You know, I was one of those who first heard the announcement that they were making a Guardians film and thought, "What the fuck? WHY?" That was before I read the comics which were hugely entertaining. When I heard it was James Gunn that was going to write/direct, I thought he was the perfect choice for it and it started making a little more sense. I mean, from a Hollywood perspective, it made NO fucking sense whatsoever - you don't take the established brand and do something so out there and against the type (i.e. it's not really a superhero movie in the traditional sense as the general public would view it).

I'm about ready to call Kevin Feige a fucking genius, though. He got this movie made and it was a HUGE success and according to this article, it's already beaten Winter Soldier and Thor: Dark World for first day grosses. And it is most certainly the freshest big budget blockbuster in a long while. Yes, it's just a space opera action movie but it's approach is so fun that it doesn't feel like just another sci-fi action movie. Everybody involved should be proud.

I didn't mind Nebula so much but Ironwood is right - she and Gamora both needed a whole lot more explanation to really make the audience believe what is said about them. They may have been the weakest parts of the movie but considering how strong the movie was it's inevitable something wouldn't be as well-developed as the rest. Groot is an absolute star, just like I thought he would be. I was more surprised by Drax being both funny and likable despite the character not really being likable at all. I hope that they introduce more of the Kree and make them not quite as evil as Ronan. After all, the race isn't all evil and it'd be nice to see more Kree characters when they hopefully bring Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel out.

After credits scenes were fantastic and I'm really glad to see that the creators of the various characters got prominent "created by" credits.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Nothing flies over my head.  My reflexes are too good, I would catch it.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, Drax surprised me, particularly because they (rather cleverly, I think) withheld all of his dialogue from the trailers. I was expecting him to just be dumb, silent muscle but he was funny as hell and yet also really helped sell the "these are damaged, sad people" thing.

I'm in awe of the marketing, by the way. Even the scenes that we'd seen in the trailers played differently, and the original 'what a bunch of aholes' trailer isn't in the film per se but yet perfectly captured its mood. They showed us what the movie's spirit and feel would be but didn't give the whole film away.

The opening scene in some ways might be my favorite--100% establishes the tone in a beautiful way.

[SurfD]

Have to wonder though.  Given the decent departure from the original Star Lord origin story, who the hell is his father in the MCU?

[CmdrSlack]

I saw this with my daughter last night. It was great. The writing was great, and I think that this may be the first MCU movie that my kid is old enough to "get" anything from.  I only wish that we had gone to a normal theater to see it. While food and beer plus movie is fun, having to interact with the server during big moments sucks.

[SurfD]

The heck?  Where did you go to see it where they still serve you at your seat durring the movie?

[CmdrSlack]

The lame one, apparently. Seats were awful.  Basically like sitting in a barstool with a back.  Not even basically, that was exactly it. Counter in front of you. We should have gone to the place with the armchairs.

[Khaldun]

In the new Bendis-drafted origin, the father is a pompous if somewhat high-minded jerk from a militaristic culture related to the Shi'ar, and Star-Lord is a sort of war-orphan since the father got stuck on Earth for a while because of political struggles in his empire. It gives Quill a different motivation for hanging around with pirates and getting drunk and so on, which is that he has no interest whatsoever in being his father's heir (the father is now emperor) and he hates his father's culture. I don't think this is quite where they're going in the MCU but maybe not that far off.

[MahrinSkel]

This is definitely a contender with IM1 for my favorite comic-book movie ever.  Only question is if it will hold up when I know the punch lines.  Certainly a harder movie to pull off, in IM1 they just had to let RDJ mug for the camera, in this one they had to work a lot harder for the laughs.  It does feel like some of the "character development" scenes got cut, we never got a good demonstration of why the Thanos daughters were supposed to be bad-asses, for example.


--Dave

[Evildrider]

Projected $95 million opening weekend.  Marvel definitely has the good will of its fans.

[Abagadro]

I'm not a Marvel comics guy so have no idea what the canon is on anything but it would be cool if each of the second movies in the Avengers and Guardians series have Thanos kicking the crap out of both of them a la Empire and then the teams come together for a mega-battle in a joint 3rd movie for both series.   It would probably be way overstuffed, but would still be cool.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Nothing flies over my head.  My reflexes are too good, I would catch it.

I like this knife.  I'm keeping it.

[Ginaz]

Just to echo what everyone else has been saying, I saw this Friday and it was pretty awesome.  Really enjoyed Rocket and Groot more than I thought I would and, surprisingly, Drax as well.  Never really a fan of Bautista when he was in WWE (yes, I'm a wrestling fan ) but I thought he was pretty solid here.  I love to see Drax and RDJ's Ironman interact with each other in the future.  Drax wouldn't know what hit him with Tony's onslaught of sarcasm.  Chris Pratt was fantastic and his Star Lord really held the movie together.  I really liked him in Moneyball and Wanted and now I want to see him in more movies.  I agree that Gamora and Nebula were pretty much a waste of screen time but I guess you have a certain hot chick quota in movies like this and Glenn Close wasn't going to cut it.

[Riggswolfe]

I forgot to mention one of my favorite funny exchanges in the movie.

[Abagadro]

I will bet you that was a Pratt ad lib. He is famous for dropping absolutely killer ad libs on Parks and Rec.

[Tannhauser]

I thought if Marvel would stumble it would be with this movie.  I was wrong.  While it's not my favorite Marvel movie, it's damn flashy, damn fun and has a damn good soundtrack.    Chris Pratt just became a star and has made me forget Burt Macklin.

[Maven]

I just got back. There were generally good moments in this film, especially exchanges of dialog, but my suspension of disbelief on the action was shattered multiple times by nonsensical developments and a critical analysis of the universe they are putting out there. There is a tonal dissonance. Some aspects of the film are interesting to explore, such as Peter's desire for respect as an infamous outlaw known as Starlord, or how the leader of a planetary government is only known as and referred to by her title.


Ah, fuck me. I felt stupid after watching this.

[HaemishM]

Have to wonder though.  Given the decent departure from the original Star Lord origin story, who the hell is his father in the MCU?

Adam Warlock? 

[Lakov_Sanite]

I just got back. There were generally good moments in this film, especially exchanges of dialog, but my suspension of disbelief on the action was shattered multiple times by nonsensical developments and a critical analysis of the universe they are putting out there. There is a tonal dissonance. Some aspects of the film are interesting to explore, such as Peter's desire for respect as an infamous outlaw known as Starlord, or how the leader of a planetary government is only known as and referred to by her title.


Ah, fuck me. I felt stupid after watching this.

It's ok to be wrong.

[Abagadro]

I just got back. There were generally good moments in this film, especially exchanges of dialog, but my suspension of disbelief on the action was shattered multiple times by nonsensical developments and a critical analysis of the universe they are putting out there. There is a tonal dissonance. Some aspects of the film are interesting to explore, such as Peter's desire for respect as an infamous outlaw known as Starlord, or how the leader of a planetary government is only known as and referred to by her title.


Ah, fuck me. I felt stupid after watching this.

Psycho.

[Evildrider]

I just got back. There were generally good moments in this film, especially exchanges of dialog, but my suspension of disbelief on the action was shattered multiple times by nonsensical developments and a critical analysis of the universe they are putting out there. There is a tonal dissonance. Some aspects of the film are interesting to explore, such as Peter's desire for respect as an infamous outlaw known as Starlord, or how the leader of a planetary government is only known as and referred to by her title.


Ah, fuck me. I felt stupid after watching this.

Psycho.

This is basically someone just trying to really nitpick and hate the movie.

[Lakov_Sanite]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI

[Surlyboi]

My father died of a brain tumor on the first day I ever got to visit him at the hospital when I was roughly the same age as the kid playing young Peter Quill, so the opening scene absolutely destroyed me. The fact that this flick got me over that and made me love it as much as I did is a testament to how good it was.

Yeah, the female roles were weaksauce, but the overall storyline was just so damn good. Even the wife loved it. She made me break out my Rocket Raccoon comics.

[Maven]

Psycho.

This is basically someone just trying to really nitpick and hate the movie.

Ok, how about this: I overall didn't enjoy the movie. I don't hate it. I enjoyed parts of it, certain macro concepts, but overall the majority of it was anti-intellectual fantastical bullshit dominated by the rule of cool, and I can't get into it.  When the movie tried to make me feel, it felt manipulative and not organic.

Is that less psychotic? I deconstruct shit. That's what I do, and that pissed me off to read, especially coming from you Abagadro. I have a high opinion of you.

I mean, what the hell? Are you two bratty girls gossiping in the locker room expecting I wasn't going to read that?

[Evildrider]

Our plan worked perfectly Abagadro.   

[Raguel]

Well if it's any comfort I liked the movie but some of the cheesier moments really limited my enjoyment of it. I'm just glad the origin movie is out of the way and hopefully the sequel goes full Magus (although I don't see Disney approving that story line. I think I've said all this before though. Anyway I want a Warlock/Magus/Church of Truth movie ASAP).

[Surlyboi]

Think less, enjoy more.

[Maven]

That's what they tell me. 

[Velorath]

I don't want to tell you to turn your brain off, because I hate when people use that as an excuse for shitty movies. Some of your points do seem a bit nitpicky though to the point where I'm almost surprised you weren't upset at the fact that Peter can somehow get batteries for his Walkman.