I watched the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie a week ago. Due to work and life in general, I have not had a chance to really sit down and write about it until now. My snap judgements will have faded, but the movie still left an impression.
If I've learned one thing over the past couple of years, I've become more critical of movies and sometimes hard to please, depending on the source material. I am happy to report that I really did like this movie. I had a couple of issues, but overall this movie was a lot of fun. I still think the first movie is better, but this is a worthy successor.
Let me dive right in. Warning, there might be Spoilers. I'll discuss the things I didn't like first. You know, just to mix it up a bit.
At some points in this movie, I think it got too cute for it's own good. There were scenes that lasted longer than they needed to. For instance, the opening sequence. While cool visually, they stayed with it too long. Basically, the camera focused on baby Groot dancing while a big fight scene is happening behind him. Call me a stickler, but I wanted to see the action from the rest of the Guardians, not watch Baby Groot. If this lasted for a minute and not five, I would not be complaining.
Later in the movie, there is a bit with Baby Groot having to retrieve some items for Rocket and Yondu. Again, this is a scene that started off as funny, but then went on way too long. To further my point, there's a bit with a character called "Taserface" that also starts off funny, but starts to continue past it's shelf life. Then there is a bit about looking for "tape" in the middle of a firefight at the end of the movie that also lasts too long. So basically there are jokes that start off funny but then go on way too long. Some editing on all of these scenes could have gone a long way to helping this movie.
This gripe is a personal thing, but I hate it when you have a movie about a team and then you spend the movie splitting up that team to see how they do individually. They spent the whole first movie putting this team together and then spend this move separating them. The way this movie presents it, they have now been working together as a family, but we don't get to see enough of that. The enjoyment comes watching these five bounce off each other. Instead you have two teams of three (Yondu joins them) and have them split up.
Another gripe and this one is minor, I didn't like the soundtrack this time. I at least recognized some of the songs in the first one. In this movie, I did not. Again, this is a minor quibble.
Finally, the Marvel movies have had a real problem with having a good villain and this movie is no exception. They tried their best to flesh it out, but you could see the twist coming a mile away. The character they use for the villain (I'm trying my best not to spoil) has murky motivations at best. He might as well have been twirling his mustache. The whole time, I got a Star Trek V: The Final Frontier vibe from this villain. That's not a good thing. If I say the phrase, "What does god need with a starship?", I think that encapsulates what I'm getting at.
Now that I got that out of the way, let's talk about what I did like.
I still really like the five members that comprise the Guardians team. Now that they have had a movie to come together, they really gel well as a group. That is why it was disappointing we didn't spend more time with them as a unit. One character in particular that I want to call out is Drax. In this movie he had a lot of great bits. Some did not like the seemingly regression of his character, but I am actually okay with that. He was always a bit of a lunkhead, so this movie kind of sets him to that. It does also illustrate that by being around all these characters, especially Peter Quinn he gained more of a sense of humor. We also get some profound moments with Rocket and Yondu. Quinn faces those long standing Daddy issues that he has had. We also see Nebula and Gamora settle their differences as well. So we got some character progression in this movie.
The special effects are still good. Rocket still looks fantastic. There are other elements that aren't so good, but they don't matter. As long as Rocket and Groot look good, the rest can fall by the wayside as far as I'm concerned.
I liked the humor used in the first movie and this movie ramps that up even more. I did mention before that some jokes go on too long, but overall, I think they hit their mark. I had a lot of legitimate laughs throughout the movie. There were a lot of great one liners. I wish I could give more concrete examples, but I don't want to spoil anything.
Although problematic with the pacing, I did like the mix of levity with profoundness in this movie. At it's core, it is a comedic adventure movie. However, they do take scenes to give you real heavy moments with some of the characters.
I liked the addition of Mantis to the cast. Although she is played mostly for laughs, I think she will fit in just fine with this team. I wish we had more time to watch her bounce off the rest of the cast. In regards to Ego, they did the best they could have done with this character. In the comics, he is "The Living Planet". A concept that is as silly as it sounds because comic books.
Overall, the cast did well. I still don't care for Karen Gillan as Nebula. Chris Pratt is still undeniably Star Lord. Bautista really impressed with his portrayal of Drax this time around. Bradley Cooper is still great as Rocket. I'll save my rundown of the rest of the cast, but it was all good.
Finally, there were a couple of great easter eggs for long time Marvel fans. Guardians of the Galaxy is already a deep cut, but it's always great to see other elements of the Universe being touched on. For instance, we get our requisite Stan Lee cameo and it was also a great this time around. Not sure how Marvel got the rights to the Watchers (which are Fantastic Four characters and tied up with Fox), but glad they made an appearance. We also get a quick cameo from Howard the Duck again. I was surprised by some cameos from other actors acting as what were the Original guardians of the galaxy. I don't want to give them away, but it was cool to see. There is a brief shot of "Ego the Living Planet" as he appears in the comics and that was a nice touch. Finally, we get a brief glimpse of Adam Warlock.
The future is looking bright for this franchise. There's a lot more I didn't touch on or what I would want to say, but I think I have prattled on long enough. Definitely recommend checking this movie out.
