I saw the film this morning. A matinee showing, not the midnight showing.
(Spoiler space)
I thought it not as fun as the first one. Certain scenes were leaden and ponderous, and could have done with being clipped - for instance the team shot scene near the end. Drax’s dialogue grated on me. I think it took itself a little too seriously. That said, the film was fun. As one reviewer said,
I missed all the stingers apart from the first - my bladder was bursting.
Yondu’s funeral seemed to be just an excuse for celebrity cameos.
Just back from it now. Really liked it, maybe not quite as much as the first, but much better than most other Marvel movies. They didn’t overdo baby Groot…and I really liked adolescent Groot. Loved the humour, and I thought it looked gorgeous, especially Ego’s planet. Plenty of great one liners. I think there are three stingers at the end, but the credits are entertaining enough to not make it a chore to sit through them.
It was always going to have something of an uphill slog. The first one had a fair amount of doubt surrounding it so it was a happy surprise (kind of like Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates of the Caribbean), and it was a fairly obscure Marvel property. GotG 2 doesn’t have the element of surprise that the first one did, and that’s hard to make up for.
So it goes in a different way. The first one was about creating friendships; this one’s about family and all the ways relationships can get tangled up.
The story takes a different path too: the first one was a pretty straight linear thing but in 2, there’s a split, with two groups of characters separating for a while before meeting up. It makes things more complex, in that the story has to keep two separate plots moving. I think it does it okay; it gives us some deeper layers to characters and slows down now and then to examine what’s happening. I don’t feel like that made the pace lag, because I like the variation and the chance to explore a little; others are going to disagree, fair enough.
Overall, lots of action, some kicks to the feels, some chances to slow down and get to know characters better. I enjoyed it a hell of a lot; as much as the first, if in a somewhat different way. We’re heading back to see it for the second time today.
Oh, and yeah, stay right to the end if you want to see all the credit scenes. I think the final count was four, and there are lots of little jokes in the credits themselves.
I think it was funnier than the first, but the plot wasn’t as good. The entire family thing at the end and the redemption of Yondu was really over played. Baby Groot was a riot. I had figured Ego had done in Star Lord’s mother, so that was no surprise.
As for the end Easter Eggs, I only saw the Adam (Warlock?) one. I saw in the excellent credits (hello, Electric Light Orchestra “Discovery” album!) Gamora’s dancing and Star Lord’s reaction, but that was it. (Wife’s bladder had reached the end of its limit.)
I really enjoyed it, at least as much as the first one (to be fair though, I didn’t see that one in the cinema). I’m also a sucker for heroic redemptions.
One question for those who have seen it. The Empire review states:
Any idea which scene that might refer to? I’m assuming it’s the scene where Yondu and Rocket massacre the mutineering Ravagers , but it didn’t seem that off to me.
I swear there have been more tears shed in these two Guardians movies than the rest of the MCU combined. It seems that the bigger the stakes, the more intimate the movie. And the stakes are even bigger this time around, what with the destruction of all life in the entire galaxy. The human mind can’t really comprehend that kind of scale, so the filmmakers wisely chose to focus the characters and their families. Peter and his father. Rocket and Groot. Gamora and Nebula. Drax and his missing family. The Guardians themselves as a family. It was really well done and never too maudlin.
For those that missed it, aside from all the end credit sequences, there was also a kick-ass disco version of the Guardians of the Galaxy theme music, with lyrics that I didn’t pay much attention to until I realized that it was narrating the story of the movie I just saw.
ETA: There was also the setup for the Guardians appearing in the next Avengers movie. Nebula wants to kill Thanos. So she’s going to pursue him to Earth and bring the rest of the Guardians along. I guess Drax also has some unfinished business with Thanos as well.
Just saw it – loved it, almost as much as the first one. Goofy as hell, in a good way. Very colorful, which has been rare in superhero movies, I think.
This was so good, incredibly funny and very sentimental at the same time. Whoever did the young Kurt Russell effect needs to do a special edition of Tron Legacy with a better Jeff Bridges. Six post credit scenes (yes I counted them) is just blatantly excessive and they need to cut that shit out.
I am wondering, though, so I’ll ask here in case anyone else caught it and knows what’s up. But during the scene where Ego’s earth-based Blob stuff is expanding, there’s a car that gets caught up and is juuust about to be swallowed up when the Blob stops.
In the car is a black lady with an older overweight guy driving. The guy looked made up to me - like wearing a fat suit and prosthetic face stuff to make him look fat.
I would have to see it again to be sure, but I’m almost positive I saw him again, dancing in one of the bubbles during the credits (wearing plaid flannel). I was whispering something to my wife and only caught for a second before he scrolled off screen, so I might be wrong.
Why?
I don’t understand all this animosity towards end credits and end credit tags. You pay to see the whole movie, so… see the whole movie!
(and before anyone brings up bladders, I’m a 55 year old male. If my bladder can make it through an entire film, from the opening credits to the end, then yours can too)
I just saw it and didn’t like it as much as I hoped I would. It was just OK. There were several groups of kids and teenagers in my row, and they didn’t laugh at all when the Microsoft Zune appeared. I think they were just too young to recognize it.
And what was the thing that the leader of the Sovereign revealed at the end?
That’s the Cocoon.
Way back in the original run of Fantastic Four, a group of scientists wanted to create a living being. They constructed this cocoon that created a being first called “Him” but eventually became the cosmic character, Adam Warlock.
Warlock had one of the five gemstones on his forehead. I’m guessing it’ll be the last of the five infinity stones that they’re finding in the films that will eventually become the Infinity Gauntlet
Thanks for that. I’m kind of envious of Stan Lee. It must be great fun to have cameos in all these films and to see so many big-budget films of your characters.
Saw it with my kids tonight, we all enjoyed it. And I’m so proud of my 12 year old - when Ego showed up she said “Dad, isn’t that Jack Burton?”
There’s 6 infinity stones, of which we’ve seen 5 so far - the tessaract/Space Stone (Captain America & The Avengers), the aether/Reality Stone (Thor 2), the orb/Power Stone (GOTG), Loki’s staff/Mind Stone (Age of Ultron), and the Eye of Agamotto/Time Stone (Dr. Strange). Adam Warlock has the Soul Stone.
He was talking to Watchers, right? I thought it was hilariously subtle - Stan has so many stories that even the Watchers get bored with him.
