There are two different ways to make a 3D movie. Either film in 3D using special cameras, or do it in Post Production by drawing around each element and artificially placing them in virtual 3D space. When the latter method is used there are supposed to be accommodations made for the depth of the characters, adding crude nose and chin and limb “bumps” to the cutouts so that they look appropriately deep, but that requires complicated animation to match, and in some instances is probably overlooked or poorly applied. (CGI, because it’s already 3D graphics or 2.5D, has that accurately covered)
I did enjoy it, but not as much as the Avengers. Probably only because the Villain in GOTG was so… bland. Maybe he’s more interesting in the comics, but here I didn’t really feel how threatening he was to be, based on how other characters reacted to him. I suppose they wanted to make him really serious to balance out the wackiness of the heroes, but he was so humourless it actually undermined his threat level for me.
I do feel very sorry for Pete’s grandfather. He lost his daughter and grandson on the same day. Probably blamed himself for his grandson’s disappearance.
Loved all the characters, especially Groot and Rocket. That scene (shown in the commercials) with Rocket firing the gun from Groot’s shoulder is awesome. Drax was cool, [del]Quill[/del] Starlord was a great mashup of Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds, and Gamora is good as the “straight man” displaying annoyance at the antics of the rest of them. And even under that green makeup and those scars, Zoe Saldana is still strikingly beautiful.
Thanos looked pretty great–I was worried he would look too goofy. Ronan was played well by Pace, though more characterization of him would have helped. Nebula was cool–though even after seeing the movie, I am still having trouble believing that was Karen Gillan (Doctor Who’s Amy Pond). I definitely want to see her again in the sequel.
If I had to rank this among other MCU movies, I’d probably still rank Avengers first, with maybe GotG tied for second with Captain America: The Winter Solder.
What amazes me is that they are managing to keep the quality at such a high level 10 movies in. Winter Soldier and GOTG coming out the same year and both are just kick-ass films, each in their own, very different ways.
I saw this movie yesterday at a matinee and really enjoyed it. I can’t offer any new insights into the movie, but I thought the David Bautista was really good in his role. I was amused by his inability to recognize metaphors and respected him going up against Ronen even though he took a pounding. Rocket and Groot were good as well but Dave stood out for me. Anyone else?
I saw the movie (in 3D, which added nothing but was the most convenient showing) and while I enjoyed the action and jokes, I found myself at times comparing it to The Avengers and cataloging the parallels between the rosters of heroes[SUP]*[/SUP] during some of the weaker moments. This may not be an entirely fair comparison; after all, The Avengers had the luxury of building upon the previously established characters from their own individual movies (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and to a lesser extend, The Incredible Hulk) and also had the glue of both Nick Fury and Agent Coulson to bring them together, but in Guardians the characterizations largely seemed shallow, inconsistent, and often patchy. For instance, we know a little about Drax’s motivation to kill Ronan but not why any of the other characters would seek to keep him around after he becomes a liability. Ditto for Groot, and to a lesser extent, Rocket (though at least we get some insight from his drunken outburst). Of course, Marvel was never going to create individual movies to tell the backstories of each of these characters the way it could for their A-list ensemble (nor would all of those backstories be particularly compelling in and over themselves) but a few minutes dedicated to each of the characters besides Quill and Gamora may have provided more depth.
I also struggled with taking Ronan seriously; for a creature which sought god-like powers, his scope of vengeance seemed pretty narrow. And there were a large number of narrative leaps in the storytelling which made the film jump in tone; unlike the Battle for New York in The Avengers (in which, despite the fact that two of the characters were essentially indestructible, I still felt had a good back-and-forth play between victory and defeat that made it seem much shorter than the almost half hour it consumed), the big battle scene in Guardians never really felt like any of the characters were in peril, even Groot, who despite Rocket’s emotional outburst, it was clear would return. And I never got a sense of why, other than money or fear that the entire galaxy would be destroyed, the characters would remain together; there was never any real growth that led to the supposed friendship. Of course, Rocket makes fun of that, but it still seemed to occur to move the plot along rather than the more organic fashion in The Avengers. And while the quirky pop-music-and-culture infused vibe was entertaining, the incidental music was pretty much completely forgettable.
All that being said, it was still a good entry in the Marvel continuity (albeit behind The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Iron Man I and III) and I look forward to a sequel which hopefully fleshes out the characters in more detail.
Stranger
*Peter Quill = Steve Rogers (Captain America)
*Gamora = Natasha Romanov (Black Widow)
*Rocket = Tony Stark (Iron Man)
*Groot = Bruce Banner (The Hulk)
*Drax = Thor
Adam Warlock’s cocoon was in the Collector’s…er…collection. And someone pointed out elsewhere that in the post-credits scene with our old buddy Howard, the exploded-open cocoon could be seen in the background. There’s no way that Infinity Gauntlet or Infinity Watch isn’t in the future for Phase Whatever, with four of the six Gems already having played parts in the movies and Thanos kicking around.
See? I’m the opposite of you.
I have no interest in the 3D since the added cost hasn’t been worth it for nearly every recent 3D movie I’ve seen.
However, despite not being interested in the 3D, I went to the IMAX 3D screening on opening night because of the crowd. I can always count on the opening night 3D crowd to be the most enthusiastic audience- so I join them. The fun audience makes for a better experience.
Four? I’m counting:
Tesseract - in Captain America and The Avengers
Aether - in Thor: The Dark World
Power Stone - in Guardians of the Galaxy
Which one am I missing?
So, it seems no one joins me in being disappointed by The Collector.
Asgard entrusted The Aether to his keeping. Asgard (while withholding moral judgements about his practices) considered his collection to be one of the most secure keepings in the entire universe. Not only does the place get blown up by a disgruntled employee, but it is housed amongst a den of thieves spaceport/mining colony. Asgard deemed this one of the safest keepings in the entire universe???
I was very disappointed to see The Collector undone so easily. I was looking forward to a much cooler character.
Saw it today and it was much better than I expected. One of the most fun movies I’ve seen in a very long time. As a comic nerd I could gripe about Nebula and Gamora a bit but I won’t. The only characterization I didn’t like was Ronan but that’s not a biggie either.
What really peeved me was the Nova Corps! I spent the whole movie hoping to see some kid named Richard Rider pop up or even in the stinger. It was also great to see Stan Lee pop back up.
…and when do they start selling Rocket Raccoon action figures, cause I need about ten!
As someone I saw it with said “I find it weird that the most emotional moment I’ve seen in movies for quite some time came from a CGI raccoon”.
I loved it but I might as well admit that I knew I would. I’m a Marvel guy, but not so much that I get uptight about changes from the “canon”. The only Marvel Studios movie so far that I didn’t really like was Iron Man 2 and even that was “ok”.
Saw it, loved it, but I’m mildly surprised no one has mentioned the two shots in at least one of the trailers that did not appear in the movie (or if they did, I missed them). One was Gamora getting dressed, pulling her shirt on. I was looking for that because I was with my nine year old son and I was wondering how sexualized the Quill-Gamora relationship would be (verdict: none). The second was John C. Riley saying to Glenn Close, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Did I blink and miss that?
I don’t think it’s uncommon for movies to add a couple of extra scenes to the trailer, to make the trailer narrative work.
The first trailer was the police lineup that introduced the characters, but in the movie they hadn’t even met Drax by that point, and they weren’t christened the Guardians until the end of the movie