I really enjoyed watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It was super fun, even if the story and jokes were a bit alllllll over the place. But the humor at the core of the movie really held it all together. I dare you to not have fun watching. Vol. 2 knew what people liked from the first movie and brought a lot of it back, like:
Adorable baby Groot (so cute I cried a little bit and I am not ashamed)
Awesome throwback soundtrack
Drax being a weird alien who doesn’t understand things like societal norms
Yondu and his bada** arrow
Bonus: We get a Stan Lee cameo in this one!
I did really enjoy Guardians 2. There were so many different levels of jokes in this movie, and just the amount of humor packed into the movie made for a really entertaining ride. One minute, you’d be laughing really hard at a visual gag that even your kids could enjoy and crack up at. The next, you’re drying your eyes because this movie decided to touch on some pretty heavy themes of family.
(Also, Baby Groot is legitimately just SO cute and has such a cute little voice — that Vin Diesel does himself with very little processing! — and I cried on the inside during a scene where people are being really mean to him. That being said, his cuteness is what kept him alive to see that scene out, and I’m happy for that.)
The second scene, where we see the Guardians fighting a giant alien together, is a pretty good tone-setter for the rest of the film. We have the Guardians working together(ish) to fight a monster. We have a dancing Baby Groot. We see some great dynamics between the Guardians. We have a lot of action going on.
It’s worth mentioning as well that Kurt Russell was pretty great as Ego, and apparently his de-aging for the scenes in the 80s was mostly makeup and very minimal CG! What the heck!!
There are 5 sting scenes before, during, and after the credits, so stick around if you want to see them. Be prepared to laugh, cry, and be a little confused maybe, sure. More spoiler-y type comments after the trailer.
Note: I’ll be using a few abbreviations in this review. They can be found above the movie poster in parentheses.
Another note: This is going to be a long review. Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle.
Last note: This review is not particularly refined, but I wanted to have thoughts up here while the movie was still fresh in my mind.
Remember how excited I was to see the second Avengers movie last year? How I had been waiting since the release of the first film with such eager anticipation… What I didn’t mention was how predictably disappointed I was, I think. Even after the original Avengers, I knew the second one wouldn’t live up to the hype. Still, I was super duper hyped, maybe the most hyped I’ve been for a movie in a long time.
UNTIL Disney/Marvel announced Phase Three. And then I knew that I was just mega-super-ultra excited for Captain America: Civil War (CACW) for a couple of primary reasons (to simplify my excitement for you all):
Captain America is my favorite Avenger (not least because I love Chris Evans) and I’ve loved his movies.
Captain America: Winter Soldier (CAWS) was intensely good, and I was really glad to see that the Russo Brothers, who gifted us with that great movie, were returning for this movie because-
I was so tired of Joss Whedon for Age of Ultron (AOU) and trust the Russo Brothers to do better than Whedon did with his second chance.
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was first established, one of the most prominent comic book storylines that I heard about was the Civil War storyline, so I was thrilled that they were going to bring it to the MCU.
TL;DR This was definitely better than Age of Ultron and was a lot of fun to watch. Me being me, of course, this movie was not perfect, and I’ll talk about that. As per usual, this review will have spoilers below the trailer; before the trailer, there may be information from previous Marvel films and promotional materials.
I have a lot of complaints, but I want to talk about what I really loved about this movie!
Spider-Man was great. I’ll admit that I was one of the people who was upset when Andrew Garfield was replaced. I love him as an actor, and I liked his portrayal of Peter Parker. (I liked Tobey McGuire’s, too, until that last movie… which wasn’t his fault, but I mean…) However, I thought it made a lot of sense to cast an actual teenager to play teenage Peter Parker. I will admit, also, that I was pretty biased against Tom Holland being cast, I think because the photos that I saw of him were of a really young Holland, young teens for sure. I thought that Marvel had gone a bit far on the younger casting, and was not sure how I felt about essentially a middle school child being Spider-Man. But Holland was great! You really get this sense of Peter being a high schooler, nervous around the other Avengers, nervous about his Aunt May finding out he’s Spider-Man, just… nails that teenage nervousness. He’s still pretty charismatic but in that Peter Parker way. One of my big issues with Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Peter Parker was that I was not convinced that an “awkward geek” would be as charming as Andrew Garfield was.
As John Boyega said, saying “Hey everyone” can be really addicting.
I also liked that the suit we see in the trailer is provided by Tony Stark, because honestly, I never bought the story that Peter Parker made his suit on his own.
Black Panther was great. Oh man, I think that T’challa’s first (hero) appearance was almost more anticipated than Spider-Man’s, at least by the people at my screening, judging by the applause and cheers for each character. While I do wish there was a little more depth to his character in this movie, I know he is getting his own stand-alone film really soon, so I was happy for the characterization that we got in CACW. Black Panther is such a great character, and I think really needed in the MCU. As a prince, he brings this dignity to the Avengers that Thor doesn’t quite bring because T’challa took his mantle more seriously than Thor did initially, and that’s because being the Black Panther is not a superpower that was thrust upon him. It is a royal duty that he had to earn.
Chadwick Boseman is fantastic~
It was funny! I laughed a lot watching this, and I didn’t feel burdened by an obligation to laugh like I did with AOU. (Looking at those one-line zingers, Joss…) Marvel movies are always really funny, especially because they cast some great comedians to play our heroes, and sometimes I take that for granted, so I wanted to be sure to let you guys know that I got lots of giggles and chuckles in while watching.
Obviously, seeing so many Avengers on screen, at once, interacting with each other was amazing. There’s a lot of great banter because, again, half our characters are pretty snarky. Sam (Falcon) and Bucky (Winter Soldier) bickering as the two of Steve’s (Captain America’s) best friends. “I hate you,” Sam says pretty directly to Bucky. “We’re still friends, right?” “Depends on how hard you hit me.” Natasha (Black Widow) and Clint (Hawkeye), who are no longer romantically-linked (maybe) are questioning if they are still BSF – best spies forever – given that they stand on opposite sides of the Civil War.
Before this review gets too long, though, I do need to talk about some of my beef with this movie…Read More »
In case you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of the first Avengers film and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole.
Also in case you didn’t hear, this teaser trailer was leaked 2 days ago and Marvel had the greatest response to the incident.
If you don’t understand the reference, check out Captain America, Captain America: Winter Soldier, or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Marvel fandom has been in absolute uproar. I mean, you thought we were excited about Guardians of the Galaxy?
Okay, yes, we were excited for GotG. But that was for a comic franchise that most movies-only fans like myself weren’t familiar with at all.
This is the AVENGERS. Everyone fell in love with them 2 years ago. (I may have seen the movie 3 times in theaters.) (Not on purpose, but just because people kept spontaneously deciding to see it and I wasn’t going to be that spoilsport who went “No no no we can’t I saw it already”.) (But I digress.) We love the characters and we love the cast. OH how we love the cast.
So. The new trailer is out. Release date is May 1, 2015. Here is a quick list of things that got me SUPER excited in this trailer:
The deliciously dark cover of “I’ve Got No Strings” from Pinocchio. Disney, as a movie powerhouse, knows that their audience looooves these dark and somber covers of songs in trailers. (See: Maleficent with “Once Upon a Dream” ) In fact, all of Hollywood knows this. (See: The Social Network with “Creep” or, heck, even Fifty Shades of Grey uses an intense version of “Crazy in Love”).
James Spader’s voicework as our new villain, Ultron, is flippin’ fantastic
Marvel Studios’ take on Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver. If you watched the sting scene at the end of the credits for Captain America: Winter Soldier, you would’ve seen that Hydra has the twins. It’s also interesting because we’ve seen Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but these are two different studios, so… the joke in the fandom is that AOU (Age of Ultron) won’t be able to talk about mutants. Which is what they are. But… Marvel Studios doesn’t have the rights to “mutant” because Fox does? (In the sting scene, they’re referred to as “miracles”.)
By the way, I am liking what I see with Elizabeth Olsen? I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen any of her work before.
Hulkbuster! The Hulk is a fairly important in the first film but it seems like he’ll be important in this one as well with how often he features in this trailer.
Also, one of the best things about the first film I think we’ll be seeing here: the Avengers clashing and having to work together
With all the talk of Civil War, the fandom is definitely abuzz about the clashing of the Avengers and the conflicts that will be exposed in this film that the previous films have been building up to. (I’m not familiar with the comics, but essentially, the Civil War arc sets Avengers against each other on the debate as to whether superheroes/mutants/whatever need to be registered.)
Doubly also, a Hulk + Iron Man fight means that the Science Bros fandom will go bananas.
Hoping that Hawkeye gets more screentime in this one! Although he wasn’t featured much in the trailer.
Also hoping for some Black Widow story here, since Marvel keeps hedging on her own independent movie…
Some folks think this will be a Natasha Romanoff backstory sequence?
Possible Steve Rogers flashback?
Y’all know I love me some Cap.
SHIRTLESS THOR?
Because in the midst of half the world getting wrecked, we still need some at least one shirtless Chris to appease the fans
Andy Serkis as not-Gollum!
Rumored by comic fans to be playing Ulysses Klaw?
MUCH MUCH MORE
Sorry, guys. I started getting sucked into all the great information out here about this teaser trailer, all courtesy of the wonderful Marvel comics universe fans out there.
Are you excited for this movie?
Were you excited when you saw this teaser trailer?
How many times did you watch it??? I watched it no fewer than 10 times. No fewer than 3 times in a row.
Sip of Starrshine 