Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (2017)

[Gopher]

The most singular and loving Marvel effort in years. It's weirder, funnier, and more emotional than the first movie, filled with compositions that blend the loads of previsualization with gorgeous angles and production design, and builds on the first's weaknesses (Yondu, Nebula, Gamora, Rocket) in surprising ways. Haven't rewatched a Marvel film in theaters since Avengers but I'll come back for this one. 

[Cmasterclay]

As someone who has been a very vocal critic of the MCU, this was really great. Top three of the MCU along with the first and CW/IM1. The fact that it isn't either a burdensome origin story or a tie-in with a bunch of skybeam orbs for the next ten movies allows them to tell a self-contained story with probably the best character arcs and dynamics of any MCU ever. It's a bottle episode to some, but to me that's the best thing that could have possibly happened. It is way more visually inventive and creatively staged than 90 percent of modern blockbusters, too. It rocks. It has two big problems: too many of the jokes fall flat (famously huge turds exchange is just the fucking death of comedy - that's Bayformers level) and land in the wrong place, even though it is seriously funny at times. And like every MCU movie outside CW, and pretty much every major blockbuster, it turns into a final act of "Racing against time to press some button while killing nameless CGI baddies" that is mostly a chore. But at least this one has better character moments and has a real payoff with Yondu. Definitely worth checking out, coming from an MCU skeptic. 

[Kalo]

Too tired to review but.. 

[baumer]

On 07/05/2017 at 5:19 PM, Gopher said:

The most singular and loving Marvel effort in years. It's weirder, funnier, and more emotional than the first movie, filled with compositions that blend the loads of previsualization with gorgeous angles and production design, and builds on the first's weaknesses (Yondu, Nebula, Gamora, Rocket) in surprising ways. Haven't rewatched a Marvel film in theaters since Avengers but I'll come back for this one. 

 

Yep, feel the same.  Haven't watched any MCU movie twice since Avengers.  I will this time.  

 

Damn buddy...we agree again.  Crazy.

[AniNate]

Really enjoyed G1, but I didn't like this much. The second act straight up sucks with a boring daddy issue plot that goes nowhere with a disappointingly unoriginal resolution, and the humor attempts fell a lot more into the crass/mean camp that the first film was so skilled at avoiding. Some nice visuals though and in general I don't think Marvel's production design crews get the recognition they deserve.

Edited May 9, 2017 by tribefan695

[Valonqar]

I didn't like visuals (too much generic CGI that blurred into a giant mess like every MCU movie ever) but character moments were top notch especially the last ten minutes. That's how you do a sequel. I wish they toned down CGI shit but they did right with character development. Action highlight - Yondu laying waste with his whistling arrow. I hope MCU starts to trust the audience more and dial down unnecessary, overlong, cartoonish action scenes where you can't see WTF is going on cause splosions, flying debris, energy snakes, all at once, ugh. Yondu scene worked cause it's simple and effective.

 

Yondu, Drax and Rocket were MVPs. beautiful ending.

 

Trailers:

 

The Mummy - groans 

Spiderman - someoen said "this looks so stupid", no laughs at jokes

TLJ - I think the audience started to nod off, lol

Thor 3 - laughs at the right places

Edited May 10, 2017 by Valonqar

[RobinHood26]

Back again with another Cinema Sesh - fun hour long discussion  http://cinemasesh.libsyn.com/guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-2 

 

 

If your bored or on a train or doing laundry haha, thanks. 

 

 

 

[somebody85]

On 5/6/2017 at 8:34 PM, rukaio101 said:

Imma disagree on a lot of that. While I agree it is best to 'Show, don't tell' in most circumstances, you're missing the fact that the act of telling itself can be used to show a lot of things. Take Nebula's speech, for example. The way she delivers it, cold but intense, in one long uninterrupted monologue, works to show her current character, her repressed and precise fury towards Gamora, as well as forcing the audience to focus on the story harder by removing all other distractions. It creates much more emotional intensity in that scene than a random flashback would. Plus there's the whole 'what you don't see is more effective than what you do.' What we, the audience, are made to imagine Nebula would've gone through is significantly more effective than just outright showing it. 

 

As for the other examples, they're either scenes that, frankly, aren't important enough to justify dedicating an entire flashback to (Peter's father/David Hasselhoff stuff), would require significantly far too much time to set up to actually work emotionally (Rocket's past/Drax's family) or is already fairly well-established from what we've been shown in character dynamics in previous scenes/movies (Yondu + Peter).

 

And even then, pretty much all those scenes work great on their own regardless. The David Hasselhoff story works because it establishes both current-day Quill/Gamora's opinions towards the matter (Gamora finds it sweet (showing her support towards Quill finding his father), Quill finds it embarrassing (showing his hesistance, skepticism and hurt for not having a dad)). It's subtle, subdued character work and makes it more meaningful when the two switch positions partway through the film. Rocket's past isn't just about his character being explained to us, it's about making sense of his previous actions and shedding a new light on them. We were already shown plenty of examples of him being an ass and pushing people away. The scene with Yondu forces Rocket to directly confront his issues and serves to make us look at those established moments in a different way. Drax's story about his daughter is made to create a mood of deep, peaceful melancholy and his relatively subdued tone in the scene (along with Mantis's reaction) works great to establish that. (Honestly I was more convinced/affected by his mood there than his revenge rampages in the first movie)

 

Don't get me wrong, the movie isn't perfect and stuff like Nebula's speech could've been worked into a little better, but I'm still of the opinion that some of those scenes were among the best in the movie, despite not directly 'showing' things.

You bring up some great points and I can completely see where you're coming from. And I do like certain dialogue like that but I guess I'm more of a visuals guy when it comes to like impact or tragedy.

I agree there probably wasn't enough to justify having an entire flashback for the David Hasselhoff gag, I just wanted to see more of Peters past. I think seeing him as a kid being left with just a picture would have been moving. But that's not really the tone of these movies, so I understand.

[TheMovieman]

Loved the first one. Thought this one was... okay. It was a tad too long to the point I didn't bother sticking around for all 5 post credit scenes (got through 3). IDK, I wasn't as emotionally impacted like some were. It also felt the CGI was a bit overwhelming at the end. I'll definitely check it out again once its released on Blu-ray, however. But not again in the theater.

***¼/*****, (B-, 6.7/10, 2.75/4)

Edited May 10, 2017 by TheMovieman

[Kvikk Lunsj]

7 hours ago, TheMovieman said:

Loved the first one. Thought this one was... okay. It was a tad too long to the point I didn't bother sticking around for all 5 post credit scenes (got through 3). IDK, I wasn't as emotionally impacted like some were. It also felt the CGI was a bit overwhelming at the end. I'll definitely check it out again once its released on Blu-ray, however. But not again in the theater.

***¼/*****, (B-, 6.7/10, 2.75/4)

Agreed with this. 

I thought this lacked the charm of the first one. Having the team split really hurt the film. I did not care for baby groot. He served no purpose.  Some of jokes were a miss. Chris Prat and Bradley Cooper have the best characters and make the film 

3/5 

[Kalo]

I loved the first Guardians of the Galaxy. in fact, aside from the Captain America Sequels, it is my favorite MCU film. so I actually didn't expect GOTG 2 to match that film.

But it did...

 

In my opinion, GOTG vol 2, takes things that worked in the first film and expands on them, most for the better, some for the worst. but in the end we are given a more character driven, and emotionally satisfying film this time around.

 

What I like about Vol 2, is how it takes all the characters we love and puts them on thier own journeys. they are not always together this time, they are split in mostly pairs. Star-Lord and Ego, Yondu, Rocket and Baby Groot, Gamora and Nebula, Drax and Meredith, my favorites, being the dynamic between Star-Lord getting to know his father Ego, and Yondu, Rocket trio.

All these characters are kind of at odds with each other, and the both have to figure out how to look past their differences, and some of them getting pretty satisfying archs. the best being the Character of Yondu, who I didn't even like in the first film, yet he may just be the best part about the movie. Michael Rooker, is given so much more to work with this time and he does an expert job of making Yondu a sympathetic character.

 

Chris Pratt possibly gives the best dramatic performance I have seen from him, and Kurt Russell, well I don't want to spoiler the movie, but he is great and has a really interesting character to work with.

The plot is perhaps not as tight this time around, but at the end of the day it is the characters that drive this movie, and it pays off in spades.

I have to mention the visuals as well as the art dirction which was well, quite frankly out of this world, a gorgeous film to look at. and we finally have an MCU film that has a bright poppy color saturation, it isn't all faded grey here!

 

there a couple things that don't work, alot of the humor, while funner, drags on too long and feels forced, that's not to say there isn't some great humor, but it seems to be a staple of marvel that that have to write in a certain amount of humor and quite often all of it is not that funny and sometimes detracts from a scene that could have had a more emtional impact without it.

Is it the best superhero film ever made? maybe not, but at the end of the day it is a very good film, that kind of reminds me of Spider-Man 2 of how it keeps the focuses on the characters and how they have to deal with everything that goes on around them. and it did really exceed my expectations.

 

Another excellent film from Marvel and one of my favorite MCU films so far, right up there with the first Guardians!

[TalismanRing]

I liked it much more than the first one.  A solid B.

 

A+ for young Kurt Russell

A for the visuals - colorful and very inventive

A for the opening.  Loved the chaos going on in back of Baby Groot

B+ for the characters  - Groot, Rocket, Yondu, Nebula & Gamora stood out for me - and I thought Nebula was terrible in the first.  Drax & Mantis also good.  Unfortunately, Peter was the weak link here though I liked him more in this one.

B for the action.  Best action scene was Yondu taking down the Ravagers

B-  for the villains  (B+ for Ego, B- for the rogue Ravagers and C- for the Golden people, though I loved the blue carpet bit )

B-   for dialogue (the earnest dialogue was mostly a lead brick and some clunkers with the jokes)

C+ for the shaggy plot

C- for Stallone (what happened to his nose? It's moved further off center than ever before)

D- for the turd joke

F For David Hasslehoff overuse. Once was more than enough and the use at Yondu's funeral was awful

 

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by TalismanRing

[Vanilla]

A lot of fun. About even with the first if not slight above it. 

 

9/10

[Goffe]

1 hour ago, TalismanRing said:

B-  for the villains  (B+ for Ego, B- for the rogue Ravagers and C- for the Golden people, though I loved the blue carpet bit )

 

Are the golden people really the villains here? our heroes stole what they were paid to protect, the batteries seemed fairly important to them.

[Mulder]

9/10. I liked it more then the original by a decent amount. A lot more emotional, a better mix of dark and light, and I thought the humor worked better here. Loved the character arcs here as well.

[TalismanRing]

1 hour ago, Goffe said:

Are the golden people really the villains here? our heroes stole what they were paid to protect, the batteries seemed fairly important to them.

 

You're right, they're more antagonists than villains.

 

I wondered why in the end battle they didn't try to talk to them and tell them what was happening with Ego and those ships might have helped defeat him instead of being an obstacle.

[The Panda]

Saw it, and easily the best Marvel film since the first one (which is the best Marvel film).  I probably prefer the first one to this, as the arc of this is a little less fluid, but there's a lot going for Vol 2.  It's vivid, fun, hilarious and has a lot of heart.

 

A-/B+

Edited May 16, 2017 by The Panda

[John Marston]

thought the first was only OK but really liked this one a lot. Got some feelings in the end when Yondu died. Also Kurt Russell is the man. 

[John Marston]

also in high school my friend was the only one I knew that had a Zune. He sent me a message last weekend gushing about how awesome it was in this movie lol

[Eric Atreides]

First off, screw the Internet for spoiling the "Mary Poppins" joke. In context the line was so hilariously badass and it sucks I didn't hear it firsthand.

 

Outside of that, everything else was rad. Some of the jokes sucked, but everything else was fun, emotional, and all that other good stuff. Whoever wrote that Zune joke needs an Oscar. Don't know what else to say.