Spoilers Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Grading & Discussion

[Hugo Rune]

So, we start with this...

Having Baby Groot ridiculously beat up guys isn't the same thing. Its just lame hijinks, like having him be too stupid to know which button to push. Its just stupid, and in a movie where Ego the Living Planet isn't actually a planet and has a human kid, this movie is pretty much already filled with its quota of acceptable/forgivable stupidity. Its junk like Baby Groot that takes a movie like GOTG 2 from enjoyably goofy to annoyingly idiotic.

and then this...

[...]but Gunn pretty obviously hates the comics so that doesn't matter [...]

followed by this...

That's why the director shouldn't also be writing the movie in the MCU in my opinion.

with a dash of this...

I considered it. then, I remembered who was in charge of the film. With Gunn, it could go either way. I suppose I don't have much faith in the writer of Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed.

sprinkle in a pinch of...

To be clear, I think Ego is great, and having him in a Marvel movie is awesome. I just wish he was being used fully, as an actual Living Planet, and not in a way that seems like the people in charge are either ashamed of the character or don't care about the character at all. That's not to say we won't see his real form once or twice, but that's what he should be the whole movie, The Living Planet. That's an interesting character, and a huge threat to the heroes. He's also unique, certainly more then Kurt Russel walking around as "Ego".

add a dash of...

New creative forces could easily make things better, and make use of several Marvel space properties Gunn has either outright stated he dislikes (Nova) or stuff he obviously doesn't care about (Moondragon, Quasar, Adam Warlock, etc). Plus, we probably would see the end of Baby Groot, have better writing, a better villain, and maybe more control by the MCU creative people. There seems to be no downside to Gunn leaving in my opinion. I doubt they'll force him to go, but I'm betting he'll either be lured away, or maybe he'll start feeling "artsy" and move on from blockbuster type movies.

don't forget to include...

Ok, wait a second. What the fuck do you mean Ego raised Mantis? Ok, yeah, fuck Gunn. baby Groot is annoying, and Ego the Living Human was stupid, but at this point he's giving a big "fuck you" to Steve Englehart along with everything else.

and a smidgen of...

Oh, so Gunn seems to not want to use or even mention Adam Warlock, but the extremely obscure villain that really shouldn't exist without Adam warlock is the villain for GotG 2? I had literally heard nothing of this character being in the movie. Hopefully it means Marvel didn't want Gunn to touch any of their good cosmic villains, so he's pulling from the bottom of the barrel stuff. Well, it could be worse. The villain could be a monstrous version of Scrappy Doo, like in one of Gunn's previous films

topped with a collection of...

But honestly, at this point I'm pissed off about Mantis more then I am about Groot being ruined. I don't think I've ever been this unexcited for, and preemptively pissed off at, a Marvel movie. I was probably more interested in Batman v Superman then I am for GotG 2, and I knew that movie would suck before I saw it. It looks like Thor: the dark world won't be he "least good" marvel movie in a few months time. Hopefully it won't be the first actually bad MCU movie, something I always thought was, when it comes to my tastes in superhero movies at least, an impossibility.

and a final drizzle of...

Well, of those three he's certainly the one who should have left, so of course he stayed I can't wait until GotG 3 where Baby Groot get revealed as the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree, right before its revealed that Drax's mother is a bald woman named Moondragon, Rocket Raccoon changes his name to Richard Rider and becomes a member of the Nova Corps and Gamora's biological father is revealed to be a Celestial named Mar-Vell

Bake at 180 Fan, stand back and hide in a bunker waiting for the ingredients to combine... and then we get this...??

The movie was very good. I'm someone who thought that GotG was very good, but not spectacular or the best of the MCU like some people. I think this movie blew the first out of the water. Everything was better, from the characters to the villain to the story and the humor. I cared about basically everyone, there were some surprisingly emotional moments that worked very well (the only really emotional moment in the first movie for me was Peter's Mom dying).

The movie managed to make Yondu and Nebula into characters I really enjoyed, after being neutral toward them in the first movie, and part of that was getting more backstory and characterization from them, along with just some great action and funny moments. Yondu dying as a hero and the realization that he was basically
Peter's dad (and that he hadn't been a bad guy to keep Peter in the first place) was a very well done emotional scene. Same with nebula and her reveal about what thanos did to her and how she just wanted a sister.Mantis was fine, she had a few good moments but didn't have all that much.

The main cast got some good stuff. Peter and his Dad worked great, both when they were having fun and when Ego was revealed as a villain who killed Peter's Mom. Drax got some great lines, I wish he'd gotten a bit more be3cause of how great all his stuff was. Gamora's relationship with Nebula was great, all their stuff together was very entertaining. Rocket was another character that got some very funny moments and some heartfelt character development. Groot was the only one that really didn't get anything. He wasn't as actively irritating as I expected, he even got a laugh from me when he brought that toe to Rocket and Yondu. But he was mostly pointless, and it was his stupidity that annoyed me more then them trying to make him "cute". He could have been completely removed and not have effected the movie (his only useful scene could have been changed easily). Hopefully he's adult Groot in Infinity War/GotG 3.

Ego was a great villain. I kind of figured he'd be evil, but what exactly he had done and what his plan was surprised me. When he admits to killing Peter's Dad and Peter just freaked out was a great scene. Kurt Russel played the character well, and he was easily one of the best "one-shot" villains in the MCU. I wish we'd seen him as a face on the planet (they kind of hinted at it, but didn't really commit), but besides that he worked very well.

Talking about some other leftover stuff, Stallone was interesting. He didn't get much, but he was ok and I liked his mid-credits scene (I hope that team shows up in GotG 3). The credit scenes were interesting. The reveal of Adam warlock was great, I never expected it even though the movie set up the gold aliens as genetic scientist who give birth through pods, which should have been a blatant reference. Teenage Groot was ok, I mostly just hope its leadi ng to adult Groot again. My favorite mid-credits scene (and in-movie cameo) is Stan Lee and the watchers. I didn't think that Marvel had the rights to the Watchers, so seeing them and Stan Lee was amazing. i especially like Lee mentioning his cameo from Iron man (2 or 3), probably connecting all Stan Lee cameos (in the MCU at least) as actually being one character. Howard the Duck's in movie cameo was also fun.

So, overall, this was a great movie. Not quite my favorite MCU movie, but easily a top 5 and maybe top 3 or 4.

I'm sorry, the (half revealed) ingredients do not match the final product?

James Gunn must be an alchemist! Take 50 horrible ingredients and make gold!

I've just sent him 100 pounds of lead via DHL. Looking forward to my retirement fund being posted back in a few weeks.

Hopefully I won't get back a nugget of purest green.

Hugo - good film, thought it was better than the first too

 

[Infern0]

It's what the JJ-verse wishes it could be tbh.

Awesome film, hit all the right notes.

 

[Infern0]

Also, need to see it again but i think Cara Delevigne was one of the gold ladies and lady gaga was a prostitute robot.

 

[kirk55555]

So, we start with this...



and then this...



followed by this...



with a dash of this...



sprinkle in a pinch of...



add a dash of...



don't forget to include...



and a smidgen of...



topped with a collection of...



and a final drizzle of...



Bake at 180 Fan, stand back and hide in a bunker waiting for the ingredients to combine... and then we get this...??


I'm sorry, the (half revealed) ingredients do not match the final product?

James Gunn must be an alchemist! Take 50 horrible ingredients and make gold!

I've just sent him 100 pounds of lead via DHL. Looking forward to my retirement fund being posted back in a few weeks.

Hopefully I won't get back a nugget of purest green.

Hugo - good film, thought it was better than the first too

Well, I won't be rising to your bait. I guess some people just like to dig through threads and start arguments, but you won't be getting a rise out of me, I'm sorry to say. I could talk about how, being human, opinions can change, but I don't particularly feel like engaging in what appears to be an attempt to start an argument. You'll have to get your entertainment elsewhere

 

[MadeIndescribable]

I'd bet money right now that "not that much CGI" still amounts to them working on most of his face in every shot. It's almost standard now to tweak the make-ups in post. (Such as Crossbone's burnt face in Civil War.) Regardless, looked pretty good but (maybe it varies depending on face style) not quite as good as Pym in Ant-Man to my eye.

And it'd wanna be better than Clu and Tarkin. Those were both full CG replacements, as opposed to a 'youthening' of the real person's face.

Ummmm no way that was make up. They even have a credit for Young Ego in the credits........I'm thinking our version of not that much and their version are not the same.

Apparently it was 90% make up, only 10% CGI.

As for the young ego credit, the de aging was face only, they still needed a body to apply it to.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Also, need to see it again but i think Cara Delevigne was one of the gold ladies and lady gaga was a prostitute robot.

Well, this is my headcanon now...

 

[Relayer1]

I see why they did it with Yondu, but I thought it was a great shame that he won't be involved with his old team now it's back together.

Adam ? Didn't we already see his chrysalis in the previous one ?

 

[UssGlenn]

Adam ? Didn't we already see his chrysalis in the previous one ?

We saw an unidentified object that the production team called his chrysalis as an easter egg. But since it was never identified onscreen they are free to have a different origin for Adam.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

We saw an unidentified object that the production team called his chrysalis as an easter egg. But since it was never identified onscreen they are free to have a different origin for Adam.

I thought they said the opposite, i.e. that the chrysalis we saw was never intended to be Adam.

 

[Mage]

I kinda felt that there certainly was quite some character development for Drax, but very subtle.

There are people who've compared Drax to someone with a disorder in the autism-spectrum. That's a disorder that's basicly hardwired into the brain. It's not something you grow out of. Him not being able to understand non-literal language is something he can't help.
Him realising something was sarcasm, even though a bit to late, was actually pretty cool and showed how being part of this new family helped him become more than he was. There were other small moments where he could laugh about a little wordjoke.

So, considering he's the one character that is so hardwired, that small development actually made sense to me. If he'd been a completely different person because of everything that happened in the last 6 months (I recall reading somewhere Gunn said 6 months had passed) would have made no sense at all.

So yeah, each his own ofcourse, but to me, this subtle little development was good enough.

 

[Relayer1]

Was it only me that saw a fledgling romance with the 'repulsive' Mantis ?

 

[Gryffindorian]

The movie actually reminded me of an episode of FUTURAMA wherein Leela thought she met the last remaining member of her species, also believed to be a Cyclops. As it turned out, the shapeshifting alien guy turned out to be a creature who took the forms of other beings and had been married to multiple partners before, all of whom showed up at Leela's wedding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bicyclops_Built_for_Two

 

[Starbreaker]

I LOVED this. This was way better than Doctor Strange or Captain America: Civil War. I'm hoping they at least bring some of this crazy tone when Avengers: Infinity War is released. Baby Groot was awesome. My best friend's one year old kept asking where "Baby" was every time he was off screen. Even she connected to the movie!

I didn't read any spoilers going into this, so I thought it was pretty cool that they merged Ego with Quill's father. I was a little surprised they didn't throw a Ja'son joke in there.

 

[1001001]

Was it only me that saw a fledgling romance with the 'repulsive' Mantis ?

No, I called that right away.

Methinks the man doth protest too much.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I kinda felt that there certainly was quite some character development for Drax, but very subtle.

There are people who've compared Drax to someone with a disorder in the autism-spectrum. That's a disorder that's basicly hardwired into the brain. It's not something you grow out of. Him not being able to understand non-literal language is something he can't help.
Him realising something was sarcasm, even though a bit to late, was actually pretty cool and showed how being part of this new family helped him become more than he was. There were other small moments where he could laugh about a little wordjoke.

So, considering he's the one character that is so hardwired, that small development actually made sense to me. If he'd been a completely different person because of everything that happened in the last 6 months (I recall reading somewhere Gunn said 6 months had passed) would have made no sense at all.

So yeah, each his own of course, but to me, this subtle little development was good enough.

That's how I looked at it, too. Not every character is going to be able to have significant character growth, especially when the ensemble is so large and growing. I'm content with this level of subtle growth for Drax in this movie.

Was it only me that saw a fledgling romance with the 'repulsive' Mantis ?

No, I called that right away.

Methinks the man doth protest too much.

Same here.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, I saw "something" between Drax and Mantis as well. But it'd be an odd "something" given how childlike and naive she is.

 

[Beagleman]

Aren*t they both?

 

[Trekker4747]

Aren*t they both?

Eh, I'd argue Mantis vastly moreso. Drax is just dumb and mostly comes across that way due to his inability to grasp metaphors, sarcasm and the like as well as not knowing boundaries and is always blunt and frank. He otherwise seems... "normal."

(While the "hide" of animal is the same thickness inside or out, the inside is likely to be more vulnerable as it'd be different tissue. Though, really, if he could go inside the creature without harm to himself it'd be a better idea to start attacking organs and the like.)

But Mantis seemed child-like naive likely due to the sheltered life she lived during her time with Ego.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Mishmash of a film. Why Ego had to be downgraded to Kurt Russell's senseless "I must destroy everything for no logical reason" makes no sense and utterly robbed the comic version of its rich history and drive. Its a Guardians film, but a complex character was dumbed down just to sell--ultimately--a "you already had a family" plot.

Ayesha creating "Adam" holds no promise if the character will be as mishandled as Ego.

The Guardian films are so far removed from even a basic "same universe" feel of the other Marvel films, that one could simply ignore this series and not miss a beat of the other Marvel movies.

 

[LJones41]

I LOVED this. This was way better than Doctor Strange or Captain America: Civil War.

Yeah, I did like this film more than I did MCU's 2016 output. But it's not among my favorite in the franchise.