Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Discussion Thread

[Dave]

I haven't replied yet because although I liked it, I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, and yet I couldn't say why. After thinking for a week I should have a more balanced view. The first film was novel, the second was expected. That is always going to be a hard act to follow. Sequels are rarely as good as the first film, and in most cases there is a law of diminishing returns. However, I think that @EJDeBrun may have a valid point: there was simply too much going on. Normally, I'd see all that character development as a positive, and I want to like it, but here there was so much going on that I think I'd need to see it again to follow it all.

 

[AlexH]

I enjoyed it much more than the first one, which seemed to be trying too hard to be funny, whereas Volume 2 seemed much more natural. I thought it was the best Stan Lee cameo and the

Spoiler: ?

David Hasselhoff

cameo was also brilliant.

 

[Cli-Fi]

I enjoyed the movie, but I think the first one was better *le gasp!* To talk about it in movie terms: I think the A story was fine, a bit thin and weak, but the characters were strong enough. The B story was meh. Really heavy handed even though I get how it ties together with the A story. (I also think the ending to the B story was unnecessary) I think the C story was actually quite good! But I think the D story definitely distracted from EVERYTHING and should have been saved for the third movie. I mean REALLY REALLY should have just left it. Would have been so much better without!

Spoiler

A story: Quill/Ego storyline - Father and Son relationship discovery and resolution

B story: Yondu/Rocket storyline - Yondu's life choices (history with Quill) and effect on Rocket's ongoing life choices

C story: Gamora/Nebula storyline - Past choices and affects of sisterhood (learning to speak/face truthes)

D story: Gamora/Quill storyline - Romance/love desires.

For Technical purposes:

E story: Drax/Mantis storyline - meeting and friendship developments.

I'm also making effort to be vague in the spoiler section.

Would also like to point out that things weren't balanced in terms of villainy. And it irked me a lot.

This is a pretty good breakdown. I agree the C Story was the best, The Quill/Ego/Yondu story was pretty good but Rocket wasn't really needed that much and we still don't know much about his backstory. I didn't like Mantis.

Ego was a terrible villain, and I've just come to accept that Marvel has crappy type-cast villains. They claim Thanos will change it all. We'll see about that...

 

[Cli-Fi]

I haven't replied yet because although I liked it, I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, and yet I couldn't say why. After thinking for a week I should have a more balanced view. The first film was novel, the second was expected. That is always going to be a hard act to follow. Sequels are rarely as good as the first film, and in most cases there is a law of diminishing returns. However, I think that @EJDeBrun may have a valid point: there was simply too much going on. Normally, I'd see all that character development as a positive, and I want to like it, but here there was so much going on that I think I'd need to see it again to follow it all.

Hmm. Odd. I didn't find it hard to follow at all, maybe a few unnecessary bits here and there but it's definitely not as confusing as the latest X-Men films.

 

[AlexH]

I didn't find it hard to follow either, and I'm one of those people who can find things hard to follow.

 

[Dave]

Maybe not, too hard to follow, but more, I've forgotten it already. However, a film you need to see more than once is probably a positive thing. Otherwise, you are saying that it is boring. I think that I just had far too high expectations for this.

 

[J Riff]

But, Groot stays small, so the sequel, where he is alll growned up again, will be better. Baby Groot is cute, but unable to smash stuff up and save everyone. And the blue-skin guy is a now an official Gaurdian, so they are a superhero team, is there a saturday morning cartoon series yet?

 

[EJDeBrun]

There's a Theme Park Ride and cameos in other Marvel universe products (comics and books etc)

But to elaborate. The villain was weak, and weak villains = weak story. (and there were too many of them!) And the film was confused as to what it was trying to say. The gags were repetitive (same joke told in different ways)

The first film was charming. It had a more grounded feel to it. More relatable characters. I still think Vol. 2 does a great job with character driven action (especially with Drax in the last scenes) and that's where it's strong. The problem is that what the characters are trying to say with their action isn't very clear. Or just plain forced and therefore shortchanged. (story pacing was atrocious)

I feel like this was a very typical sequel effort. And fell into the same pitfalls a lot of other sequels fall into. Not sure who's fault that would be (though I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the director. Gunn was given a lot of free reign). Because the first film wass successful, there were a lot of expectations. Gunn, like most filmmakers, responded by thinking he had to give his audience the same feeling with a PLUS. This is why we get a lot of stories that try to cram too much in. Or are repetitive. (The Force Awakens anyone? Though a very far into the future, generational sequel.)

But I personally feel the way to make a successful second film is to do something unexpected along the expected story thread. Like The Empire Strikes Back. It's still Luke, Leia, Han vs Vader and the Empire. But what happens to them is very unexpected. And it definitely does not fall under the heading of "Same Day of Saving the Universe from a Death Star as Usual") kind of storyline. It was still a battle with the Empire, but a different kind of battle. (This is George Lucas's area of strength. For all the issues with Episodes 1-3, they tried to have different storylines. How successful that was is a discussion for another time) So Empire made a successful sequel. Because it dared to go off the beaten path but still be logical in its story. It wasn't a PLUS. It was a NEXT LEVEL.

Sorry about the random rant. I was really looking forward to this but ultimately it was disappointing and that's just too plain bad. Hopefully they rectify this and Vol. 3 will be much better.

 

[Cli-Fi]

But, Groot stays small, so the sequel, where he is alll growned up again, will be better. Baby Groot is cute, but unable to smash stuff up and save everyone. And the blue-skin guy is a now an official Gaurdian, so they are a superhero team, is there a saturday morning cartoon series yet?

Whoever is behind the marketing of Baby Groot is a freakin' genius.

 

[EJDeBrun]

Whoever is behind the marketing of Baby Groot is a freakin' genius.

I'm not sure it took a genius to figure out how to exploit that. And it was a great sequence from the last film.

 

[Cli-Fi]

I'm not sure it took a genius to figure out how to exploit that. And it was a great sequence from the last film.

The advertisements that had him in it all over the internet and namely geico were some of the best cinematic advertising I have seen since the Star Wars prequels came out.

 

[EJDeBrun]

The advertisements that had him in it all over the internet and namely geico were some of the best cinematic advertising I have seen since the Star Wars prequels came out.

I agree 100%. I just don't think it was a hard decision to make on Disney/Marvel's part. He sold pretty well after the first movie was released.

 

[Cli-Fi]

I agree 100%. I just don't think it was a hard decision to make on Disney/Marvel's part. He sold pretty well after the first movie was released.

Yup it was akin to having Darth Maul's face on a mug.

 

[EJDeBrun]

Yup it was akin to having Darth Maul's face on a mug.

Darth Maul/Donald Duck mash up was using the Force to predict the future! (so off topic)

https://www.geekalerts.com/u/Star-Wars-Donald-Duck-Darth-Maul-Mug.jpg

 

[Cli-Fi]

Darth Maul/Donald Duck mash up was using the Force to predict the future! (so off topic)

Howard the duck was there before Darth Maul though.

 

[AlexH]

The first film was charming. It had a more grounded feel to it. More relatable characters. I still think Vol. 2 does a great job with character driven action (especially with Drax in the last scenes) and that's where it's strong. The problem is that what the characters are trying to say with their action isn't very clear. Or just plain forced and therefore shortchanged. (story pacing was atrocious)

Interestingly, I found the first film to be less charming. I can't remember specific examples, but it seemed to be too smart-ass at times. Maybe it's because I'd got to know the characters better by Volume 2.

Maybe not, too hard to follow, but more, I've forgotten it already. However, a film you need to see more than once is probably a positive thing. Otherwise, you are saying that it is boring. I think that I just had far too high expectations for this.

That's not the case for me either. I only tend to watch films once. A lot of (if not most of) my favourites, I've only seen once. I've been re-watching some Studio Ghibli films recently as I'm going to see the composer of some of the soundtracks perform, and my thoughts (whether positive or indifferent) on the films haven't changed - which has surprised me in a way as it's at least 10 years since I saw most of them.

 

[Amelia Faulkner]

Interestingly, I found the first film to be less charming. I can't remember specific examples, but it seemed to be too smart-ass at times. Maybe it's because I'd got to know the characters better by Volume 2.

I think (actually, I hope) that the world is tiring of Badass Guy main characters who one-liner their way through everything.

 

[AlexH]

I think (actually, I hope) that the world is tiring of Badass Guy main characters who one-liner their way through everything.

Yeah, it can get annoying when it's overdone. I may only let Deadpool get away with it.

Not only the one-liners, but I remember The Fault in Our Stars (the film) dragging, as one of the main characters was too 'perfect' - always saying and doing exactly the right thing etc. - seemingly without a single flaw.

 

[J Riff]

Dudpile. I draw the line at Marvel comic movies, the comics were more fun. Gaurdians 3 will have teenage Groot? Then back to an adult, then Grampaw Groot. Then his own mini-series and hey let's bring in some cuzzins, the whole forest, why not? What about shrubs, don't they get to talk and have adventures too?

 

[EJDeBrun]

You're talking a LOTR Ent Mashup. Considering Disney has an interest in the LOTR franchise, I'm surprised they aren't planning that cross over already.