Baby Groot briefly transforms the Galaxy (and the Marvel action machine) into one big dance floor
Film Features The Marvel Moment
Like lots of superhero sequels, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 basically begins with a flurry of action. The Guardians, those mismatched intergalactic goofballs for hire, have gathered on a giant helipad to protect some giant glowing batteries from a giant, toothy monster that wants to feed off their energy. The banter, though, is light, and the stakes don’t feel particularly high—something Rocket (Bradley Cooper) seems to acknowledge with a literal wink, while expending the precious final seconds of battle prep time hooking up the sound system. When the beast does show up, writer-director James Gunn doesn’t play the ensuing fight for thrills, exactly. Hell, he barely gives us the fight at all. Instead, his focus locks onto sentient sapling Groot (Vin Diesel), button-cute after the events of the first Guardians Of The Galaxy, as he cuts an oblivious rug to the diegetic bounce of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky”—a dance number that unfolds over a single, CGI-abetted take, as the rest of the Guardians dart in and out of frame behind him, playing warrior while he just plays.
It’s a good gag. Gunn, though, isn’t just goofing on—and subverting—the very idea of a spectacular opening set piece. He’s also announcing, right from the jump, where his priorities really lie. Guardians 2, like the space-opera mega-hit that came before it, immediately establishes itself as something outside the box: less a superhero movie than a surrogate-family sitcom posing as one, with a whole jukebox musical worth of classic-rock needle drops. The original Guardians came clean about that early, too, with the irresistible sight of Starlord (Chris Pratt) strutting and swaying through a space temple to the strains of “Come And Get Your Love.” But sticking the expensive CGI combat in the literal background, as baby Groot makes like the sashaying 3D infant of the world’s first viral video in the foreground, sends a clear message: Guardians 2 is going to be a party. Hope you brought your dancing shoes.
Maybe Marvel, too, was sending a message with this elaborately choreographed joke of an opening credits sequence. Fifteen films into its grand design, was the MCU finally becoming a place where directors could truly exert their authorial personality? “House style” is the mostly pejorative term critics started using to describe the visual, sonic, and narrative uniformity of these movies. It has, perhaps, been overstated—it’s not like Captain America: The First Avenger looks exactly like the other installments in Marvel’s Phase One, and there’s no denying that Joss Whedon brings some signature zing and snap to the dialogue in his Avengers films. All the same, when it becomes difficult to distinguish between a Jon Favreau film and a Kenneth Branagh one, it’s obvious that a certain template for success has been implemented. Guardians 2, perhaps more than any MCU entry before it, suggested that this template could be bent—that a filmmaker, especially a director working from their own script, could smuggle some distinctive style and preoccupations into these supposedly assembly-line entertainments.
This should not be overstated either. The second Guardians remains a Marvel movie, for better or worse—there’s an overlong fireworks-display of an action finale and everything! But its creator’s sensibilities are all over it: in the Looney Tunes slapstick, in the Tarantino-goes-to-space musical detours, in the weirdly sentimental climax. (For a guy who got his start at Troma, Gunn sure does have a soft side.) And in a sense, the film kicked off a whole year of admirably (if only marginally) off-model Marvel tentpoles, anticipating the John Hughes coming-of-age hijinks of Spider-Man: Homecoming, the dry Kiwi buddy comedy of Thor: Ragnarok, and the operatic, largely self-contained Afrofuturist spectacle of Black Panther. No one outside of the Disney offices knows exactly what the MCU is going to look like after Endgame brings this particular chapter of blockbuster movie history to a dramatic close. But with Gunn officially returning to the Galaxy, it seems safe to bet it will involve some boogieing.
188 Comments
Dug this way more than the first one. Better villain, better gags, better moments.
People apparently have a bone of contention for this movie which kinda bums me out but ah well. For all its flaws it’s a movie that still brings a smile to my face in so many moments and it’ll forever be one of my favorite sequels.
I liked this when it came out…but I didn’t truly appreciate it until I saw the Lindsay Ellis video on it.The film puts family front and center (whether it be Gamora and Nebula, Peter and Ego, the Guardians and Groot, Peter and Yondu, or Yondu and Stallone’s character) and really emphasizes how complex and loving a family can be, even if being completely dysfunctional. It’s a film largely about opening up and showing vulnerability at the expense of one’s ego (ALMOST LIKE THAT’S THE BAD GUY’S NAME) and how family can help you do that.Anyway, check out the video if you haven’t. Even if you didn’t like it, you’ll at least maybe appreciate it a bit more.
Thanks for putting this up. Lindsay Ellis is amazing, and this is one of my faves of hers (check out also her trilogy of videos on The Hobbit).
Thank you! I’ve been collecting retrospectives on the MCU for a while.
This is really good, thanks
She is FANTASTIC. I’ve watched maybe a dozen of her videos and never failed to be entertained, learn something and, think afterwards.She’s one of maybe 10 English-speaking Youtubers that seem to actually know things and apply them to something besides video games or lip kits.
I came to Lindsay during her time as the Nostalgia Chick, and I have to say this. I am so glad she left Channel Awesome and started making videos just as herself. It’s really clear looking at her current stuff compared to her earlier work, that fitting herself into Doug’s style was holding her back. Once she embraced her own style she became so much more awesome.
I didn’t truly appreciate it until I saw the Lindsay Ellis video on it.
I was about to Google the name and then was like, “let me scroll down a little bit farther…there it is!” 🙂 Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to check this out and the Hobbit one 3rd Time Now mentions below.
Damn. That was good. And just watching those clips of Yondu’s sacrifice and funeral still get those waterworks going. Love this movie.
GOTG2 has the rare distinction of possessing both a mediocre ending and a great one. The big action climax ending is your classic shrug-inducing superhero movie fight, a couple of CGI beings weightlessly punching each other for what seems to be an eternity. You can see Gunn trying his damndest to turn it into something more – Pac-Man! – but he never really succeeds.But the actual narrative ending of the movie, with the Guardians in their ship, watching Yondu’s Ravager funeral…it’s sublime. There’s no reason on Earth watching a CGI raccoon observe the fireworks funeral of a frenemy like Yondu should be so affecting, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t. It’s basically the entire Guardians franchise condensed in a single scene – it shouldn’t even come close to working, but it somehow manages to magically cohere into something wonderful.
I love how the first movie ends by telling us that Yondu kept Quill instead of returning him to his father…and the sequel show us that this kidnapping was, inarguably, the noblest thing he’d ever done. The movie shows us that Yondu wasn’t a *good* dad, but he knew he was the only parent Quill was going to have, and he really did try his best.
The use of Cat Stevens’ “Father and Son” really works to a degree even beyond that of the other well-chosen musical moments in both films.
it’s one of the best songs Gunn has featured in either film, but its placement in this particular scene kind of bothers me. the scene is clearly meant to eulogise Yondu and establish him as being Peter’s real father figure, but the song’s lyrics are about a father and son with a bad relationship who don’t get along. it’s a great moment on the surface that doesn’t really hold up subtextually
I mean *gestures vaguely at the totality of Quill and Yondu’s fractious relationship* it does fit.
maybe it does, but I don’t think the movie plays the final scene that way at all. it isn’t interested in the complexities of Quill and Yondu’s relationship, it just wants to be a big sad funeral scene for a character who’s been redeemed. I know I’m nitpicking here but
But that’s exactly the relationship Peter and Yondu had up until just minutes before Yondu’s death. The song concludes with
“All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore itIf they were right, I’d agree, but it’s them you know not me
Now there’s a way and I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go”I think that works really well.
Isn’t that Quill and Yondu, though?Yondu loved Quill, and did the best he could, but they had a “rocky relationship” that more than eclipsed Toph and Aang’s.At the end of the day, though, Yondu *was* Quill’s daddy.
psst, nobody actually pays attention to song lyrics outside of the main chorus
To each her/his own, but I cringe when I hear “Father and Son” in movies – it’s been so covered, and overplayed, and is so on the nose, I wish it would just go into semi-permanent retirement for a while (not trying to be a curmudgeon . . . it IS a good song). In fact, one of the things that bothered me most about GotG2 was how on the nose the music was and how hard it leaned on music for narrative beats. It seems like there’s a strain of movie these days that wears its “cooler than you thought it could be” music choices on its sleeve, and it’s starting to seem, even in good movies, like a cheap play for audience love, like a wink wink version of Name that Tune.
They could have used The Flaming Lips’ ‘Fight Test’ instead.
The series soundtrack hasn’t made it into the 2000’s. Give them 2 more films.
I know you’re sort of joking because of the plagiarism, and I know it wouldn’t fit the universe’s whole “stuck in the ‘70s” aesthetic, but I think that would’ve been pretty kick-ass.
Vol. 2 has deeper flaws than most MCU movies – splitting the ensemble in two for the entire second act removes the interplay that was the highlight of the first Guardians, and it saps a lot of Chris Pratt’s natural charisma by forcing him largely into a comic foil role. But the moments where it hits are incredibly effective, and it all averages out to a movie that has consistently grown in my esteem every time I look at it.
I’ll firmly take V2 over the original, and I don’t care who knows it.
To me, Vol 2 is a better movie overall than the original, especially in the context when viewed with Infinity War.It explores more complex themes, it’s action sequences are very well done, it’s villain has more motivation than the original, and its characters feel more lived in.But it doesn’t have the same sense of wonder that comes from meeting the characters for the first time and feeling like you’re inside on the secret of them being shown to the world.I think Soider-Man 2 is the clearest example of this (though in retrospect many people now consider it superior to the original), but Deadpool 2 and even The Dark World fall into this category.Obviously there are also those superhero sequels that clearly improve on the first chapter (The Dark Knight, The Winter Soldier, X2)
I actually cried. Did not expect that to happen when I decided to start watching the movie.
I think this movie is the all-time cinematic winner for “unexpected good cry”.
The whole Yondu self-sacrifice is great, too. Everything from ‘I’m Mary Poppins, y’all!’ to his giving Quill the space suit is such a great send-off for that character. Gunn did Michael Rooker so well.
I feel the same way, I start to rewatch it and I think it’s Meh but then I start to think it’s great and then back to Meh.
I just rewatched it today, it’s a little better on the second watch. The Sovereign is 3/4 of the way there. But I could give a shit about Sylvester Stallone and his crew. The more they indicate that they’ll be in part 3 the more I’m thinking “Please God, no.”
Not to mention seeing Kraglin, a guy who, by all rights, should barely be on the audience’s radar, lose his shit in mourning joy to see the fireworks. It’s very emotionally potent.
God, Kraglin. He joins the mutiny because he has a valid question (“Why *do* you stick up for Quill no matter what happens?”), betrays them when he gets his answer, and is thrilled to see Quill redeemed. He has less than 10 lines or 5 minutes of screen time, and he still has a more complete character arc than anyone in a Snyder DC movie.
Sean Gunn is the MVP of the Guardians franchise. Kraglin, the Rocket stand-in, he does a ton. And he gets to shoot Drax in the arm with Yondu’s arrow in one of the credits scenes, too.Drax’s anguished screams will never not make me laugh. Ever.“Ahh, my nipples! AAAAAAAAAH!”
YES! That’s the moment I lose it every single time.
I love GOTG2 but I feel like you could cut out the Sovereign after the initial acts (read: out of the finale) and not lose anything narratively. I think it was just one plate too many in an otherwise resonate and awesome finale (that fucking build-up with Peter tapping his god powers to “The Chain”)
Except then you lose Kraglin’s warning to Yondu just as the Sovereign reappear: “Uh, captain? You remember that Ayesha chick?”
I get the waterworks when Kraglin sees the Ravager ships firing off the light show and he does the Ravager solute. The escape scene for Yondu and Rocket is sublime comeuppance with some great sight gags, but also visually impressive.
Why did Yondu get that crazy big funeral, though? I ask that question as it relates to the world of the film – afterall, Ravagers are killed left and right throughout and no one bats an eye. It is also a question for the MCU – many people “better” than Yondu have died in these movies, and none of them get the same amount of post-mortem celebration as Yondu. I was confused and un-manipulated by this ending.
Most dead Ravagers didn’t die saving the universe.
And Yondu’s a Captain.
What’s most important about that scene is that it’s actually a really great merging of style and theme. The gag is that the most unimportant action is being foregrounded, while what would usually be the big action climax is happening either offscreen or in the background. But then Gunn turns that right back around and shows every single other member of the Guardians having a parenting moment of sorts with Baby Groot. Gamora stops fighting to say hi and warns him to watch out, Drax makes him stop dancing briefly, and Rocket forces him to spit out a bug.Which means that it’s actually a very clever foreshadowing of the ultimate themes of the movie: that family is not determined by blood, but by who looks out for you when the chips are down, and that even a collection of self-described a-holes who aren’t always paying attention can nevertheless do some good work at parenting. Parenting, then, is more complex and nuanced a topic than you might think. And it’s all there in the very first scene.
“He may’ve been yer father, boy, but he wasn’t yer daddy.”
That scene still gets to me *sniff*
My dad who is by no means a movie goer at all, fell in love with GotG on a flight to Europe. When 2 came out he saw it in theaters before I did. That scene hit him hard enough to make him cry. (A former Army Major, St Judes Hospital Anesthesiologist and Vietnam vet.) he’s my step father and despite never showing it, that was his biggest fear. Even with reassurance, it sometimes still hits him.
The best line Gunn has ever written.
And then they have Thanos as a counterpoint, who was horrible to both daughter and step-daughter, yet thought he was doing the right thing.
Well said. A little bit of foreshadowing to the subtext of Tony Stark and Peter Parker’s relationship there, too, methinks. That’s something I hope gets expanded on at some point (even if I can’t imagine that shoehorning Iron Man into a European study abroad trip would work that great in the very next outing). Marvel comics always had that “our heroes are heroes, but also family” thing going on, whether explicit or not, but without the X-Men (and the Fantastic Four) to hammer the point the MCU hasn’t had as much opportunity to explore that.
I honestly am not a fan of how the MCU glues Spider-Man to Tony Stark’s hip. It’s egregious in Homecoming because it feels like Peter’s whole world revolves around Stark.
I think it works – Peter is still in the process of learning when to shut up and listen vs. when to break the rules and tear shit up. Having those object lessons brought home (Oh, crap, I really fucked this up!) in a way that doesn’t reveal his identity to the world (or the police) is much easier to do believably with Stark in the picture. It also gives Tony room to show some growth (“How can I be a better male role model than my dad was?”). If they minimized Iron Man’s involvement, you either have to reduce the stakes of (e.g.) the ferry battle or you have to grossly raise the vigilante/cops are hunting him factor (or else kill off/hospitalize one of Parker’s classmates). None of those options works as well as having Tony show up as super-dad to fix things and explain sternly how Peter fucked up. Yes, it’s definitely a narrative departure from the comics, but it’s one that works for me.
I get what you’re saying, but he is using Stark tech (it’s a lot more believable that Stark provides his slick-looking Spidey suit than that Peter whipped it up himself in his bedroom, genius that he may be), and he is still just a high school kid. It’s a lot more realistic that Stark would keep very close tabs on him instead of saying “Okay, kid, here’s your special suit, now be careful and don’t get killed. I’ll see ya around, maybe. Laters!” I predict in the next movie Peter will have a lot more autonomy.
The Stark involvement bothers me. Peter is supposed to be scrappy and down-on-his luck but still enough of a genius to make his own web fluid. MCU Spidey is still like that to some degree, but he’s got a huge safety net with all the magic science of Tony Stark and now Nick Fury.
I hear ya. In the MCU movies he made his own web shooters, which Stark later provided improved versions of, right? In The Amazing Spider-Man didn’t he order his web fluid from some company that developed a special liquid adhesive or something like that? That bugged me, but I didn’t like much of anything about those movies. My absolute favorite version of Peter making his own web shooters was the Ultimate series, in which his dead parents were scientists, and Peter discovered his dad’s notes for the work he had been doing in developing this liquid adhesive stuff that he hadn’t been able to get quite right, and Peter took that work and followed the logic, applied his own scientific ability, and figured out how to make it work. It shows his brilliance, but it’s more realistic than if he just came up with it out of whole cloth.
Raimi’s organic web shooters will always bother me. Not only is there no narrative advantage to that, but it makes the science-whiz part of his character basically superfluous.
But we also saw the consequences of Peter abusing their trust in him when Tony took the suit away and he was forced back to his homemade costume.
In Disney+ news have you heard they’re doing a Phineas & Ferb movie? It’s been kinda surreal seeing Prof. DOOF in Milo Murohy’s Law in season 2 also- his presence has side-lined The Kavendish & Dakota b-plot at times which has been a little disconcerting even if it is the same voiceactors (aka the creators)
…he *did* invent his own web fluid, and took down Vulture without the suit.What more do you need?
I loved that, but then he got the Stark suit right back. In Infinity War he’s basically Iron Man (sorry, Iron Spider). I know Spidey has always had ties to all the super groups in the Marvel universe, but he was always fundamentally an indie hero with real-world problems as big as his comic-book problems. Instead, MCU Spider-Man feels like a sidekick working at the pleasure of the Avengers.
Eh. He explicitly says he’s gonna focus on being a “Friendly, Neighborhood Spider-Man” at the end of Homecoming, rather than joining the Avengers.I think it’s very apt, given his age and his place in the greater universe, that he defers to the other Avengers when he helps out with “big league” stuff like IW, specifically because he’s “fundamentally an indie hero with real-world problems as big as his comic-book problems.”I also think it makes sense that he does get involved, despite being out of his depth, because if he can help someone, he will.
We see him in Homecoming making his own web fluid, but he has to steal the ingredients from school. What is he gonna steal that he could make the full Spidey suit out of?
People’s hearts any time he’s onscreen (it certainly explains all the red colouring in the suit).
“I predict in the next movie Peter will have a lot more autonomy” What with Tony being dead and all…
It’s really not too dissimilar to his fanboy-ish reactions to Cap in the comics, or even his relationship with Stark during the Civil War event.
One of the first things Spidey did in the comics was try and ingrain himself with the Fantastic Four, so for me it feels pretty on-brand.
Eh. The entire point of Homecoming is that Peter *doesn’t* need Stark to be a hero – that he was a hero before getting the suit (he even invented the webshooters without Stark), and that he stops the Vulture without it.Like, the central thesis of Pete’s arc is “If you’re nothing without the suit, you shouldn’t have it.”
“You know what our PG-13, blockbuster action movie needs? A central theme of people dealing with their traumatic childhoods!” But damned if they didn’t make it work.
I agree with everything you said, but it also really, really feels like the entire point of that sequence was to highlight how cute baby Groot is, in order to sell toys.
All Mr. Blue Sky does for me is being me flashbacks to Love & Monsters, the worst episode of Doctor Who ever made.
I’ll see your Love & Monsters and raise you In the Forest of the Night.
Fear Her.
The Creature from the Pit.
Kill the Moon
Ah, Kill the Moon. The most serious, thought-provoking, Big-Issue-Dealing episode of television involving the moon being a giant egg ever created.
yeah it’s absolutely Fear Her. there have been many bad episodes of that show but Fear Her holds the dubious honour of being a) boring as all fuck, b) dealing with issues far too serious for its tone or context and c) making no sense whatsoever
Does it end with The Doctor consigning a woman to spend eternity as an immortal, blow job dispensing severed head without her consent and it’s treated as a happy ending?
No, but it’s a completely and thoroughly stupidly written episode.I remember Love & Monsters being at least enjoyable up until the last 10 mins or so.
How they gonna do Shirley Henderson like that!?
No, but it does tell kids to not take their meds because they’re better off without them.The Zygon two-parter the next season with its weird unintentional(?) anti-immigrant messaging is also a strong contender.
ELO cannot be held responsible for the crimes of others.Also, The Twin Dilemma.
I have this weird thing where I can hear a song 1,000 times on the radio or someplace and like it just fine, but when I hear it used in a really great way in a tv show or movie, I all of a sudden fall in love with it. Tiny Dancer and Misty Mountain Hop from Almost Famous are good examples of this phenomenon. The soundtracks to the Guardians movies are pretty much filled wall-to-wall with songs like that. I fucking LOVE Mr. Blue Sky ever since this came out.
This movie did that for me too, but with “Father and Son” rather than “Mr. Blue Sky.”
The Vol. 2 soundtrack is so, so good. Far better than the first.
Come and Get your Love is by far my favorite song from both movies. I’m undecided on which one I prefer overall though.
The first movie brought that song back from the dead in a lot of different ways. I’ve heard it in stuff like detergent commercials fairly recently.
And what I love about the GOTG soundtracks, as opposed to say – ugh – Suicide Squad, Gunn doesn’t go for the most obvious musical choices, but really finds some nice deep cuts. And when he does pick a relatively notable classic, like “Brandy”, he finds a way to twist it for his own narrative means. Seriously, Ego really ruined that song for me now!
Absolutely. Just like Tarantino, he does the homework on his soundtracks and makes every song fit like a glove.
Person of Interest was that way for me. I think it’s the combination of hearing it and seeing it fit so well with whatever is going on that just nails it.
That Johnny Cash cover, eh?
Not so much actually. I’ve heard that cover in so many places I’m kind of immune to it unless I’m watching the music video for it. Moby’s cover of New Dawn Fades, Cat Power singing New York, any of the UNKLE and Massive Attack songs or my favorite Radio Head song (exit music for a film.) are used SO WELL in Person of Interest. It’s one of my favorite aspects of film and tv and they do it so well. I bought Digitalism’s “Miami Showdown” based off of the hallway scene with Reese alone.I was just talking to someone about the fact that PoI could have used more Johnny Cash. I could see a Reese scene with “The Man Comes Around.”
The Logan trailer’s got nothing on that shit!
It’s definitely preferable to a song being forever destroyed by a million repeats on a TV advert.
Kurt fucking Russell
Jack fricking Burton.
MacReady fucking…
who?
Only he didn’t say ‘frickin’.
Stuntman Mike.Who’s Stuntman Mike?He’s a stuntman.
Zap Rowsdower!
MITCHELL
Between this and the Fast series, I’m glad he’s back in high-profile works again. Who doesn’t love Kurt Russell?!This was probably his best work since “Miracle”
He should be in everything
Gabriel “don’t flatter yourself” Cash.
Snake no-adjective-necessary Plissken
Santa Fucking Claus.
Frederic Fucking Chopin…
Ah yes, the movie where the bad guy would have won had he not chosen to reveal he gave Peter’s mom cancer moments before his victory.
His ego got the best of him.
To be fair, his name is literally Ego.
People say things that might seem totally innocuous to them but yet totally convince you that they’re utter trash all the time.
As an example, I overhead a coworker last week taking about how he regularly checks the drudge report. Innocuous to him, trash to me!
Ego totally would’ve won if he’d just waited a few hundred years for Peter’s friends to all die and for him to grow detached from his humanity. And Ego was billions of years old, he should’ve had SOME patience by then.But on the other hand, look at his reaction in the ‘catch’ scene. That’s not simple happiness, he’s been through this thousands or millions of times, desperate for a child that inherited his abilities.
“Groot, get out of the way, you’re going to get hurt!” *waves* “Hi!”I just kind of love Zoe Saldana.
No “kind of” for me, she’s lovely and badass, and also the only real Hollywood star with my surname.
Wait. “Zoe Up” is her real name?
IT DOESN’T SAY THAT ON HER WIKI PAGE.
Her angrily screaming “I don’t know what Cheers is!” is my favourite line delivery of the film.
Baby Groot.(doo doo doo-doot doo-doo)Baby Groot. (doo doo doo-doot doo-doo) Baby Groot.(doo doo doo-doot doo-doo)Baby Groot![I’m so, so sorry.]
God. Dammit.
Don’t beat yourself up, it was already in my head.
For my money, this movie had two of my favorite MCU things ever:-The “Come a Little Bit Closer” sequence, which is incredible.-The gag where there’s a dramatic moment and out of nowhere, Nebula gets konked by some random falling object ruining the moment.
I think you’re thinking of Mantis getting clonked there, but yeah, both of those were great.
“Mantis, look out!” – Drax, ten seconds after the fact
D’oh! You’re right. and I can’t edit it now…stupidity is preserved forever…
……MANTIS LOOK OUT!
Any other movie, the pirate captain would have won back his crew’s respect after the mutiny; Yondu just kills them all. And blows up the ship.
I love the bit during the jailbreak/escape where the lights go out, and Yondu’s arrow is just flying around killing people and leaving a neon pink glow in its wake. It’s got such a great ‘80s look to it. I remember putting my hands on my head during that whole sequence, just thinking, ‘Holy shit, James.’So good.
It’s also one of the most vicious scenes in all of Marvel. I couldn’t believe that they let him get away that. In a way, even more so than the opening, this is the scene that made me feel like individual directors would be able to start to add something of their own style to a Marvel film.
It’s pretty cartoonish violence, but yes, you’re correct. Let’s not forget that a baby tree apparently bit or cut off someone’s thumb in this movie and then kept it as a souvenir. Fascinating stuff.
The best part was how Yondu was so brutal and vicious that it earned Rocket’s respect.“You maniac!”
The movie that finally got my mom appreciating the MCU. ‘I like that Groot boy!’I absolutely prefer this one to the first. The entire jailbreak sequence from beginning to end with Yondu, Rocket and Groot is one of my favorite bits from this entire franchise. Gorgeous shots, the perfect song, everything. And not just the amazing extended slo-mo shot of the trio, either – I mean everything from when Yondu and Rocket are trying to tell Baby Groot what they need from the Ravagers’ quarters so they can escape works like gangbusters. Tiny little Groot dragging in a big-ass desk had me roaring.So very glad James Gunn is back. So very, very glad.
What this movie lacked in GOTG1’s “new car” smell, it more than made up for it with a lot of affecting character work and development. I fully expected the movie to be more of a Chris Pratt Show given his jump in star power from when the first was in production, so I’m glad Gunn not only kept it a real ensemble, but even adding arcs for Ego, Nebula, Mantis, even Kraglin!
And he made family the theme of the film as a whole without having to resort to having Vin Diesel say the word ‘FAMILY’ over and over again like other film franchises seem to think they need to do to get their point across. And Vin was standing right there the whole time, too. Well, sort of.
We are Groot.
The Guardianses and Deadpools are really what make the MCU worth it for me. Unless they start stinking out loud for several sequels in a row I’m not about to miss any of them, whereas the best I can muster for anything with Captain America or Thor in it is a big ol’ shrug.
best I can muster for anything with Captain America or Thor in it is a big ol’ shrugThat’s too bad, because Ragnarok was one of the most enjoyable MCU films and Winter Soldier was one of the best.
I think the only one I’ve seen with Cap America was actually Winter Soldier and .. yeah, that specifically made me decide I didn’t need to see any other Cap-Am ones. It was kind of a snooze.
I’ve got to disagree. Winter Soldier had one of the best plot twists of any MCU film, as well as some of the most hard-hitting action sequences. It was anything but boring.
Expect absolutely no one to agree with you on that. Fair warning.
I mean, hardcore Marvel fans, sure. I don’t know anyone else who can still be persuaded to give a crap about the MCU. I had to beg to get people to go see Guardians 2 with me.
Infinity War made over $2 billion and endgame is expected to be bigger. You had to beg people to go with you because you suck, not the MCU.
Yes, yes. People want to go see a different movie because I’m the problem. Surely it can’t be that most of the people I know are tired of the standard-issue superhero movies after four a year every year since time immemorial.
I kind of agree with them on Winter Soldier – although maybe my problem was that it had been hyped a ton for me and I didn’t think it lived up to it. Generally, though, I think I just prefer these movies when they’re fun and zippy instead of dark and political.
He’s disagreeing with you, that was the entire point. I’m disagreeing with you, too.
I thought that until Ragnarok which just ruled.
I adore Vin Diesel. If he wants to be a tree – that’s Just Fine 😉
Such a fantastic scene. When Gamora stops to say ‘hi,’ man, that gets me everytime. Zoe Saldana is such a great actress that it almost feels like she’s ‘breaking’ and saying ‘hi’ to an actual baby. It’s incredible.
Also great in the movie: Mantis. She is so sweet and naive. When Drax calls her ugly and then he follows-up by saying it’s good, because then you KNOW people like you for who you truly are… it makes me cry.
(Also funny, considering Pom Klementieff is anything but ugly. But I guess the ship needed a Britta.)
The scene where Drax is remininiscing about his family and Mantis reads his thoughts is sublime.
Mantis (or Pom, for that matter) don’t get a fraction of the love they deserve. She was responsible for three of the biggest laughs in Infinity War for me (out-of-focus “mean face” in the background, “You did it again just now!” and “Kick names, take ass”). Her line delivery is uniformly perfect.
The sight of the last of Tony Stark’s will to live draining away when she said that was truly an amazing thing to behold.
Lukewarm take: the dancing is kind of bad and doesn’t go with the music. But it’s cute, so that’s cool.
I’ll see your lukewarm take and raise you a hot take: this scene was bad and I hated it. Also, the movie as a whole was mediocre.
Yeah, it reminded me of live action films where kids are “dancing” at a party to silence and then they throw in a song with a different tempo during post-production.
He’s a child. Children aren’t exactly Bob Fosse.
It’s strange – while the first film flows better, I prefer the themes of this sequel, and probably marginally consider it the better flick.
Hell, I’d argue that the reason people prefer the first is because it’s, quite literally, the *exact* “Marvel formula” that the same people alway complain about…but in space.GotG2 is smarter, riskier and more melancholy than the original.
Plus Kurt Russell as Ego is an understated gem.
That’s certainly a great scene, but for my money, Yondu’s funeral is that movie’s standout scene. Watched it after Stan Lee died, and the tears flew. “Fare thee well, old friend.”
When the pan paused on the troll doll Peter had put in the orb that Yondu had kept on his dash, that’s when my waterworks started.
Guardians Vol 2 is a great movie, but lets be honest, the best thing about it isn’t even in the film proper
I liked the (idea of the) Sovereign a lot but oh well.
Now that some time has passed, and the GotG hype has calmed down, this video has even more of a “Marvel actually let Gunn spend money to put this out? What in the hell?” LOL
This is going to sound like some sort of lame stab at “hot take” cred, but this is probably my least favourite MCU film – barring maybe Hulk. Yes, I’ll watch IM2 and Dark World more regularly than this. It’s got its moments, to be sure – including the above scene – the cast is great, and it looks cool. But it’s so long, and the ending is soooo long, and the “I just want to play catch with my dad cuz I’m gen x and he abandoned me” trope is so overplayed (and I say this as a gen-xer who never played catch with his dad cuz he abandoned me). Once you wipe away the witty banter and Rocket, it’s just so much blah to me. I didn’t want to feel this way. I freaking love the MCU, and I LOVE the first Guardians. But I’ve given this a few goes because I want to like it, and it just never lands.
The plot kind of stalls when they meet Ego, and take far too long to realize his true nature. The chemistry between Pratt and Russell is too weak to carry the film in that span of time.
The opening scene (and a good bit of the movie, to my recollection) is very, “Remember these zany guys? Wait til you see what zaniness they get into next! 150% more zaniness this time around!”It wasn’t a *bad* movie by any stretch, but it’s definitely not in my Marvel top-5 or -10.
The movie is much more enjoyable when you FF through any scenes with Ego.
I disagree – even Hulk is better than this. (imho Ultron is resoundingly the worst MCU film, then GotG2.)
Can’t necessarily diagree, but also can’t necessarily think of many more scenes from this movie that are worth highlighting. Sure, it has its good points (anything involving Rocket and/or Yondu just hits the bullseye again and again), but Baby Groot, Drax’s shitty “humour”, and pretty much everything with Quill, quickly became a thing of diminishing returns as Gunn went back to the same well over and over and over again.There a really good film somewhere in GotG 2, it’s just trapped beneath layers of lazy, lowest-common-denominator writing and directing.
but also can’t necessarily think of many more scenes from this movie that are worth highlighting.I can.
This movie moves very quickly, and does not seem to last long.
Spider-Man: Homecoming had better be the car ride to prom. The brilliance of the twist and tension throughout that journey, proved that it’s still possible to surprise fans.
yeah that’s the only part of Homecoming I liked. I have high hopes for FFH but Homecoming was a snooze even compared to AATW and especially compared to Ragnarok-BP-IW (which is the MCU’s highwater mark)
I’m gonna be really goddamn annoyed if it ends up being the scene where Tony saves the day, scolds Peter, and makes him hand over the suit and the title is like “Spider-Man: Homecoming reminds us that Tony Stark is the patriarch of the Avengers” or something like that.
I am Groot?
These two movies made you really give a shit about a guy named Yondu, who has a magical whistle-arrow of death, crazy blue skin, and little to no connection to the greater MCU outside of his relationship with Quill. I mean, just think about that. I cried at his frickin’ funeral and he had, what, 2 hours of screen time max?
So with the exception of maybe the beginning of ‘Incredibles 2′, Groot’s big dance number is basically the most dangerous game of pass the baby ever played.I also dig how Gamora says to Quill before the fight that the reason she’s got guns now is because she won’t be able to kill the beast with a sword, but then proceeds to do exactly that when Drax jumps down its throat.
Specifically when her gun runs out of ammo, she does a “fuck this” sigh, and whips the sword back out.
The opening sequence was so great. I thought it played well on a few levels:1) It gave a nice break from the usual routine for anyone who follows all of the Marvel films, re-establishing the GotG tone.2) It echoed the first GotG’s opener.3) It gave the visual effects team a fun workout.As for the rest of the film, overall I dug it. It was hit and miss, though. Drax’s excessive laughing was a little overbearing. The Sovereign arc felt more like a third wheel to the main story, along with the remote drone battle at the end.But aside from those, the amount of thought Gunn put into the film was fantastic. He took a few risks with the humor, and while some fell flat for me, the underlying sense that he was bold enough to go for it in the first place was admirable, when you take into account that millions of $ were invested.
The Sovereign it seems to me are mostly setup for vol. 3.
Gives a reason to create Adam Warlock and send him after the Guardians.
I feel like GotG2 has some good stuff (Yondu’s arrow scene, Gamora and Nebula reuniting, Yondu’s final sacrifice) that never quite coheres into a full movie. The whole section of them just hanging at Ego’s felt like the movie stopping for a rest. Also, from the moment Mantis said “He is thinking of his progeny”, I guessed most of the twist, so waiting for it to arrive was like waiting to get to the fireworks factory.
I’m astounded by the lack of Mary Poppins in this article.
The amazing thing about this movie is how it makes Yondu Udonta such a big character. This was a character that only die hard Marvel Comics fans knew about before 2014. Hell, I had never even heard of him before these movies. And, not only did he get one of the best badass moments in the franchise when he just destroys his mutinous crew with that whistle controlled arrow, but also gives him such an emotional death and sendoff. This character went from obscurity to having everyone cry over his death that it’s astounding.
It absolutely blows my mind every time I watch this movie that Karen Gillan is underneath all that Nebula makeup. She’s a completely different person.Another great moment – when Nebula plugs herself into the ship that she and Yondu are on, and Yondu tells her ‘This is gonna hurt!’ Her quick, sexy-whispered response is ‘Promises, promises’, and his sly smile at it just cracks me up. It’s a funny moment that’s a bit naughty, and it also reaffirms my theory that James Gunn is into BDSM.
Or Gillan is. 😮
Perhaps (fapping noises), but Gunn wrote it, not Gillan.
If you’re a purist, “sentient” means having senses, as in a turtle feeling pain if you crush it, or a cat feeling afraid, and so forth. The technically correct word for “thinking” is “sapient.” Thus, strictly, it should have been “sapient sapling Groot” who was dancing. But it’s not really a joke when people insist on using the wrong auteur theory to analyze movies. The director as such is about the execution. Only the editor competes with the director in their importance to execution. Saying it’s all about the execution assumes the creative parts can be bought, the script, the score, the set and costume designs, the FX. There is nothing “weirdly sentimental” about the end of Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s just sentimental, period.
Apparently any time Vin Diesel voices a cartoon I end the movie in tears.I hope he never stops.
Loved the first one, but just couldn’t get into the second. And I can’t really point to a reason why other than it’s too long.
For my money the best scene from this movie (and one I haven’t seen anyone else touch on) is after they crash the pods, they’re around the fire, and Mantis asks Drax earnestly if she can pet his animal. He nods in response, and the pause while she stretches out her hand to Rocket’s head just looms larger with each passing nanosecond: you know exactly what kind of hilarity will ensue, and you have a few seconds to revel in anticipation. The comedic timing is so completely flawless, I love it.The rest of the movie is just fine for me.
I’m just glad someone over at Disney woke up and said “Wait, we’re gonna lose a guy who made some of our most inventive films because some wannabe nazis don’t like he doesn’t kiss Trump’s ass? What?! Rehire that man right now!”
I still don’t know my entire feelings on this film. I think I have to say it’s probably better than the first one when taken by the parts that work SO WELL, though I think the ending battle and all the shoehorning in of Adam Warlock’s origin doesn’t really work. I think it’s probably some of the best acting and natural chemistry of all the MCU films. I can believe these folk are a “family”, warts and all. I love how Kurt Russell slowly drops his mask of being a terrible, absentee father and Rooker really really turns in some great work as Yondu. The humor lightens the mood but isn’t the centerpiece like it is in Thor:Ragnarok (which I like, but it’s almost always picking comedy over pathos, to it’s sometimes detriment). And if you grew up with a crappy parent, the whole “He may’ve been yer father, boy, but he wasn’t yer daddy” is unexpectedly heartfelt for a space action comedy superhero film.
There are parts I want to skip more than the first one, but 2 is the better overall movie. I hope this political crap doesn’t change Gunn’s instincts for the 3rd one.