• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 |OT| Anyone can save the galaxy once - SPOILERS!

Replicant

Member
Just saw this tonight and while the movie was a lot of fun and the emotional moments worked surprisingly well, I really hated Baby Groot. Thankfully, other than the intro sequence making me dread that the movie would be utter shit, his "funny" antics weren't too bad, and one sequence with him actually worked.

The intro sequence was so disappointing. After the awesomeness of the intro sequence in the first one, I was just sitting there thinking "Meh song and I can't even see the action sequence well :("

Thank God, the film bounce back to greatness from midway to finish.
 

Kasper

Member
The intro sequence was so disappointing. After the awesomeness of the intro sequence in the first one, I was just sitting there thinking "Meh song and I can't even see the action sequence well :("

Thank God, the film bounce back to greatness from midway to finish.

Yep, once it really gets going, it stays strong.

For the intro sequence I would much have preferred to just see a bad-ass fight sequence to re-introduce the team to the audience rather than focusing on maximum Groot pandering.
 

Pachimari

Member
I thought the intro sequence was genius. I loved that we were basically all zoomed in on Baby Groot with the awesome music, and then all the action happened onfocused in the background, and sometimes characters would come to the foreground. What didn't work out so well was the length of this scene, so much that it got played out, and I would just sit there waiting for it to happen. In fact there was a lot of these smaller scenes that went on for too long in this movie, many times those involving Baby Groot.
 

TBiddy

Member
I was highly entertained, but I have to be honest. It felt mostly like a comedy, relegating Drax to be nothing but the clown. He didn't do any real fighting, except for the intro, where he also was relegated to being a funny half-wit.

Shortly after the movie, I was happy, since I laughed a lot, but looking back, it wasn't as good as I initially thought.
 
The big CG fights got a bit transformerish with how I just started zoning out waiting for them to end. Also the arrow continues to be laughably op as it can cut through anything including metal, rocks and constructs from a celestial while moving at infinity miles per hour and nobody ever shoots the guy controlling it even when they had shots.

Taserface gag fell super flat in my theater.

Thrilled to see Kurt on screen though. Man needs more work. Give me a Kurt Russell + Bruce Campbell movie.
 
The big CG fights got a bit transformerish with how I just started zoning out waiting for them to end. Also the arrow continues to be laughably op as it can cut through anything including metal, rocks and constructs from a celestial while moving at infinity miles per hour and nobody ever shoots the guy controlling it even when they had shots.
Another problem of the movie. There was never a real sense of danger, even in fighting a whole fleet, an army of ravagers or even a semi-god. But that's a problem in many MCU-movies. The villains often seem so powerless and goofy.
 
The guardians seems more durable and superhuman in this one compared to the first movie. I'm okay with it though because the guardians feeling underpowered is one of my few complaint about the first movie.

And I guess I can rationalize it in my head that they got power boost after making contact with infinity stone or something.
 

Gambit

Member
Am I the only one that was bothered by Yondu and Rocket gleefully murdering the Ravagers?

Nope, you were not. It really bothered me, even if there had just been a mutiny. It just didn't fit the lighthearted way they were playing the scene off.

Also, generally I think most scenes went on too long, including this one.

I enjoyed the film as a whole and it improved the characters, I guess, but I felt bored many times and thought 1 was clearly better. Better paced, better music, better jokes.

For some reason the film also felt a lot smaller.
 

Renpatsu

Member
The guardians seems more durable and superhuman in this one compared to the first movie. I'm okay with it though because the guardians feeling underpowered is one of my few complaint about the first movie.
You can tell that Gunn deliberately skews a lot of the physics towards more of a cartoon stylistically compared to the first film. It's really evident when the Ravagers confront Rocket in the forest, but the difference is noticeable throughout the action in the sequel.
 

DonMigs85

Member
The big CG fights got a bit transformerish with how I just started zoning out waiting for them to end. Also the arrow continues to be laughably op as it can cut through anything including metal, rocks and constructs from a celestial while moving at infinity miles per hour and nobody ever shoots the guy controlling it even when they had shots.

Taserface gag fell super flat in my theater.

Thrilled to see Kurt on screen though. Man needs more work. Give me a Kurt Russell + Bruce Campbell movie.

Sometimes I wonder if we're actually meant to think Rocket has a terrible sense of humor much of the time. Like the prosthetic leg bit from the first movie.
 

Rlan

Member
Also kind of conserned that Gamora, instead of being this huge badass, is basically just something for Quill to fall in love with. I want Guardians to be without some silly love plot, please.
 
Saw it yesterday. Freakin' loved it (and I didn't mean freakin'). Haven't seen a movie that revels in being what it is this much, since the first Guardians. Heck, there's so much humor in there, especially at the start, that it becomes a little too much at one point. Thankfully it sorta evens out by the end. The scene with the 700 jumps killed me. :lol

Also one of the first Marvel movies where I felt the villain was actually well done. Having there be such a personal connection to one of the protags definitely helped.

Someone above me made a point of the violence in the movie, and yeah, it felt a bit out of place at times. When Yondu was killing Ravagers by the truckloads, jeez, I sometimes felt it glorified death a bit too much.

Also, the Sovereign were kinda meh.

All in all, fantastic movie, easily on par with the first one for me. Will watch again.
 

Philippo

Member
First thing i did this morning was to play Father & Son, was a mistake because i almost cried.
I wish i could rewatch that funeral scene right now.
That shit was incredible, so touching and frankly the only "emotional" scene that actually made me feel something in all of Marvel's movieverse.
 

Renpatsu

Member
Also kind of conserned that Gamora, instead of being this huge badass, is basically just something for Quill to fall in love with. I want Guardians to be without some silly love plot, please.
This would be more of an issue if all of Gamora's character basically amounted to that single romantic plot point. However it's plainly obvious that she is the most competent and emotionally mature member of the crew and within the narrative her focus is primarily concerned with dealing with unresolved tensions with her sister, Nebula.

Edit:
Also, did you guys notice Jeff Goldblum's character from Ragnarok dancing in the credits? Kinda weird, why was he there? Did they do the shoots at the same time, was he in a scene that was cut?
The end credits looked like an encompassing celebration of 'Cosmic Marvel' as opposed to strictly pertaining to Guardians.
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Saw it yesterday. Freakin' loved it (and I didn't mean freakin'). Haven't seen a movie that revels in being what it is this much, since the first Guardians. Heck, there's so much humor in there, especially at the start, that it becomes a little too much at one point. Thankfully it sorta evens out by the end. The scene with the 700 jumps killed me. :lol

Also one of the first Marvel movies where I felt the villain was actually well done. Having there be such a personal connection to one of the protags definitely helped.

Yep, agree with everything here. I need a second viewing to see how I finally land on it, but it's definitely a strong sequel.

Also, did you guys notice Jeff Goldblum's character from Ragnarok dancing in the credits? Kinda weird, why was he there? Did they do the shoots at the same time, was he in a scene that was cut?
 

DonMigs85

Member
Yep, agree with everything here. I need a second viewing to see how I finally land on it, but it's definitely a strong sequel.

Also, did you guys notice Jeff Goldblum's character from Ragnarok dancing in the credits? Kinda weird, why was he there? Did they do the shoots at the same time, was he in a scene that was cut?
Wasn't that the Collector? Not sure tho
 
I just got back home from seeing this, phenomenal movie. Kept away from all news and reviews, only reading snippets and headlines that suggested this was in no way, shape or form better than the first one, and I couldn't understand where that thought comes from.

This movie is hilarious, manages to sneak a dose of something above pg-13 humor, it builds and solves mysteries from the first one while setting up new ones, the soundtrack though not as tight packed as the first one is still an integral part of the films storytelling, helping to enhance some emotional beats.

I loved that in between all the chaos we got to see character evolution and resolution for pretty much all the members of the Guardians, a little abusive on the whole 'our characters are super dicks but it's because a troubled past scenario' but still, clearly Gunn feels like this group of people he cared so much for deserve a proper closure leading towards Infinity War, making this movie feel despite its stake surprisingly emotional.

The stuff with Peter Quill, man, this guy is so amazing, his story has no right being as perfectly executed as it was, I was in tears with the whole Yondu thing, the crumbles Ego was leaving towards that big reveal and the shock of knowing he caused her mother's death feel pretty organic.

Rocket was the other highlight, he was handled with a lot more nuance than the rest, no speech required or a long reminder of his troubled past, but a quick sit down with Yondu was all he needed fully open his heart to the rest of the Guardians.

And Yondu man, Yondu is just, I get chills just thinking about it, I cannot even put in words how much I loved him, he's going to be remembered as one of the most memorable characters of the whole MCU when it's all set and done, mark my words.

I fucking love how this franchise has the ability to commit to a tone and be extremely recognizable (and influential) for it. Only two recent ones come to mind: Nolan's Batman and Raimi's Spider-Man. Now Gunn's Guardians.

I'm not even gonna bother to talk about Adam Fucking Warlock and some old school Guardians, (I hope a spinoff is coming) or the appearance of Uatus. Man, this movie had it all.

Third one, as per usual, won't probably be as good, but James, Sir, what a Space Opera you've given us.


Nope, you were not. It really bothered me, even if there had just been a mutiny. It just didn't fit the lighthearted way they were playing the scene off.

The whole point of that scene was to plant the seeds for an emotional bonding between two clearly disturbed and probably sociopathic individuals that have been severely misunderstood. I thought in that context it worked perfectly, like most of the movie.
 

Gambit

Member
The whole point of that scene was to plant the seeds for an emotional bonding between two clearly disturbed and probably sociopathic individuals that have been severely misunderstood. I thought in that context it worked perfectly, like most of the movie.

The bonding between Yondu and Rocket was done in the cell, and again later in the cockpit, and again at the end.

Yondu casually mass-murdering everyone in his crew except for Sean Gunn did not accomplish that any more.

But I can understand when people were not bothered by it.
 
Saw it tonight, and I really liked it. Enjoyed it just as much as the first, I don't agree with some of the negative reviews saying it is inferior to the first and just more of the same.

All the humor worked for me, as well as the more dramatic character moments. I really loved Yondu in this and his death really hit me right in the feels.
 

TBiddy

Member
You can tell that Gunn deliberately skews a lot of the physics towards more of a cartoon stylistically compared to the first film. It's really evident when the Ravagers confront Rocket in the forest, but the difference is noticeable throughout the action in the sequel.

I thought that was really odd. The whole "warping faces" thing was also weird. It's something I'd expect from a movie like The Mask or a childrens comedy.

I know GotG isn't a serious movie, per se, but I think it went way overboard trying to be fun.
 

Son Of D

Member
Just saw this tonight and while the movie was a lot of fun and the emotional moments worked surprisingly well, I really hated Baby Groot. Thankfully, other than the intro sequence making me dread that the movie would be utter shit, his "funny" antics weren't too bad, and one sequence with him actually worked.
Baby Groot did little for me as well. The intro sequence made me cautious as well, especially when Groot stood on one leg like Quill did in GotG1, since I was then expecting it to be a retread of the first film.
 

iFirez

Member
I've never been to a cinema showing with this much laughter. The film is hilarious and while it's second act does drag a little, it's an amazing, amazing film. I personally loved the intro and giggled through it entirely. The movie even made me cry towards the end -- what a monster this movie is!
 

AndersK

Member
Yeah, that was great. It's a hodgepodge of great moments and ideas, but i can see why certain reviews talk about throwing stuff at the wall - most of it sticks to me, but some does not.

- Definitely more attempts at being emotional, which i can see not working for everyone. I feel like the times they knew it was too cheesy it was undercut by some humor. Had a couple of scenes that hit me, and some that didn't. More tonal shifty than the first, but i don't think of it as a negative.

- I loved the way it was shot, or more specifically that it managed to keep the chaos of the trippy shit that was happening coherent and easy to follow. Its always great to see spetacle action not cut by an MDMA-.fiend. Easily the best looking TV show i've seen
ayyy

- Great opening scene. From the trailers it could've been a so so fight with no steaks, glad they made it interesting and sorta homagey to the first movie. Also great to see trailers mostly showed stuff fomr the first 1/3 of the movie.

- Just a fun fucking movie. Its true that the freshness of the first isn't present, but i think this shows that GotG don't need no Avengers-tie-inn to work as a self-contained thing.

- Yondu was greeeeat. Really nice to see him get more time. Kinda surprised he went, but i think it was done well and it fit with the overall themes of the film.

- Villain was good. Russell was a nice pick. The turn was telegraphed, but i was surprised by the extent of it. He worked because he got to interact quite a bit with the main crew, as opposed to Ronan.


I give it 4/5 end credit scenes.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I thought the intro sequence was genius. I loved that we were basically all zoomed in on Baby Groot with the awesome music, and then all the action happened onfocused in the background, and sometimes characters would come to the foreground. What didn't work out so well was the length of this scene, so much that it got played out, and I would just sit there waiting for it to happen. In fact there was a lot of these smaller scenes that went on for too long in this movie, many times those involving Baby Groot.

Yep, this is exactly my problem with the film. Jokes and scenes that go for too long, mostly involved Baby Groot.

Baby Groot did little for me as well. The intro sequence made me cautious as well, especially when Groot stood on one leg like Quill did in GotG1, since I was then expecting it to be a retread of the first film.

Yeah, honestly Baby Groot felt more like a pointless baggage.
 

duckroll

Member
Watched it. Liked it more than GotG1 and Doctor Strange. I think it's on par with Ant-Man as a surprisingly good character driven humor bomb of a comic book film. There were issues but it didn't really bother me because I liked the character arcs a lot, the focus on everyone bonding was great, and the end point was good pay off.

Random thoughts:

- I hate the baby Groot "thing" they're going for, it feels like a 2 hour Funko Pop ad. I get it, he's "cute", fuck off.

- Loved Mantis and Ego. Really liked Yondu. Nebula also surpassed my expectations.

- Some really weird tonal stuff throughout the film. I knew what they were going for, in that everyone in the film is a joker whether they are being serious, happy, sad, defensive, etc and you have to look beyond the jokes and one liners to tell how they really feel, but at the same time it means the humor in the film is so overloaded it feels exhausting and painful.

- There's some dark shit in the film that's just being softened by a gag, or quirky directing, or whatever else to distract people from seeing how fucked up it is. Noticed this constantly.

- Visuals were really good. The CG was definitely a bit too "CG" at times, but the art direction and the expansion of the various settings was really cool.

- Didn't really get the point of the Ravagers thing. It felt like this subplot that was part of a much larger thing, but a thing that hasn't really ever been formally introduced in the two films.

- Good music.
 
Nebula is a nice surprise, didn't like her much in the first movie, but man I like her backstory here, Thanos is really an asshole. arguably worse than Ego imo. at least Ego kinda want what he think is best for Quill. making him a god/immortal. he's just so out of touch and don't have the perspective of mortal.

Ego's final scene where he's pleading to Starlord to remove the bomb surprisingly make me feel sorry for Ego, even just for a little bit. it's also pretty fucked up that Quill basically just kill his own father.
 

Certinty

Member
That was great! Enjoyed it more than the first. Only real issue is how long the middle part drags out for.

Yondu, Nebula and especialy Baby Groot all killed it in this. Great decisions having the first two in this more and Baby Groot instead of his older self.
 
The only superhero movie sequel that Kurt Russel has to be in is a sequel to Sky High.

Just kidding. Got out of it a little bit ago and I really loved it. Super fun, engaging and I didn't feel any 'this isn't as good as the first one' thoughts.

I felt it played the 'emotional scene killed by a joke' gag a bit too much but other that no real complaints at all.
 

Strax

Member
GOTG 1 was a breath of fresh air to the MCU but this might be in my bottom 3 MCU films with Thor 2 and Ant-Man. It looks fantastic but it might be the most boring and uninteresting film I've seen since Ant-Man.

I'm so bummed out.
 

gerudoman

Member
If I had to describe the movie in just one word that would be irregular. Humour, CGI and pacing were all over the place, although the second half of the movie was definitely stronger. It was also nice to have some kind of meaningful emotional impact in a MCU movie for a change.
 

GAMEPROFF

Banned
When you go to the cinema, expect two hours of silly fun with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and suddenly
vaPZEuVEEPHxK.gif
all the fucking time.

Damn. So much better then the first one.


Fuck So many emotion bombs. And Nebula and Yondu stole the movie from everyone. So amazing. Much better then the first one and easily MCU Top 3
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Fuck So many emotion bombs. And Nebula and Yondu stole the movie from everyone.

First movie was a risk on its own focusing on B-list heroes and it turned out to be a success. With this one, they focused on the side characters of that first movie... turned out to be a success again. It's good that Gunn went with his gut and gave Rooker more screentime, it payed off. But you can't really call this a 'safe' sequel because of that, I had no idea the movie would flesh out those minor characters that much.
 
Just got back from viewing this. I wasn't huge fan of the first, I loved the chemistry the cast had (and still does) but thought the story was meh.

The new one is easily my favourite Marvel movie, and i'm even more excited by Thor The Dark World 2 later this year now because the Marvel + space + humour formula is a really good one.
 

Wollan

Member
Thought this was the best Marvel movie to date. Really, really funny with great balanced cast and it was surprisingly experimental for budget.
 

GAMEPROFF

Banned
I have really no idea what the writers were thinking while writing their reviews. Yeah, it has still the same humor, but the emotional part was done so well and there is no equivalent in the whole franchise

And damn, it was so beautiful to look at.

And shit guys. The Watchers were there.
 

AndersK

Member
I mean, its at 87 % and a 7,2 average. Thats good for the genre. The first couple of lukewarm reviews set the tone for the review thread.
 

Alienous

Member
I enjoyed that a lot not then the first movie, though I didn't like that one much at all.

GOTG2 has some great visuals and it fully accepted its stupidity (maybe a bit too much in the finale). And it even had some moments that could have made me tear up if I let it. And it felt like a creative movie first, and a Marvel movie second, which is a nice change of pace.

It's a shame that the best jokes were in that trailers (along with some of the worst, actually) - I would have loved to laugh out loud during the movie, but none of the jokes I hadn't heard warranted more than a chuckle.
 

Slayven

Member
Watched it. Liked it more than GotG1 and Doctor Strange. I think it's on par with Ant-Man as a surprisingly good character driven humor bomb of a comic book film. There were issues but it didn't really bother me because I liked the character arcs a lot, the focus on everyone bonding was great, and the end point was good pay off.

Random thoughts:

- I hate the baby Groot "thing" they're going for, it feels like a 2 hour Funko Pop ad. I get it, he's "cute", fuck off.

- Loved Mantis and Ego. Really liked Yondu. Nebula also surpassed my expectations.

- Some really weird tonal stuff throughout the film. I knew what they were going for, in that everyone in the film is a joker whether they are being serious, happy, sad, defensive, etc and you have to look beyond the jokes and one liners to tell how they really feel, but at the same time it means the humor in the film is so overloaded it feels exhausting and painful.

- There's some dark shit in the film that's just being softened by a gag, or quirky directing, or whatever else to distract people from seeing how fucked up it is. Noticed this constantly.

- Visuals were really good. The CG was definitely a bit too "CG" at times, but the art direction and the expansion of the various settings was really cool.

- Didn't really get the point of the Ravagers thing. It felt like this subplot that was part of a much larger thing, but a thing that hasn't really ever been formally introduced in the two films.

- Good music.

On a scale between Mudflap/Skids to Random Chinese Boxer, how would you rate it?
 

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Disappointed that Fox on the Run didn't make it to the movie proper. Hope it's not in a deleted scene that shouldn't have been deleted, like 'Magic' in the first movie
 

Alienous

Member
I was disappointed with the Gamora and Nebula sub-plot. It has a great core idea, and it also helps to sell Thanos as a prick, but it's a shame that it tended to bookend big, dumb, unrelated action scenes. The cave sequence with the big gun should have been replaced by an intimate sword fight, or something that didn't take away from the emotion of the conflict.

Even then it still managed to get me feeling for a character I've seen on screen for two Marvel movies and in no comic books more than basically any other Marvel movie character.
 
Top Bottom