Guardians of the Galaxy

Hey fellow duders, I just saw this movie last night, and I thought it was absolutely fantastic, can't recommend it enough. For me i was right on par with Captain America 2 which has been my favorite Marvel film thus far even though I'm an Iron Man fan at heart. It had a lot of great action and humor in it. Definitely a lot of Sci- Fi ( although thats pretty obvious). My favorite character was definitely Rocket Raccoon(Bradley Cooper) although the main cast all did phenominal jobs. Has anyone else seen it yet, if so what are your thoughts about it?

Absolutely awesome film, and hell yeah Rocket Raccoon was the best character in my book.

Might be my favorite of the Marvel films, really enjoyed it being a more Sci-Fi, more goofy version of the Avengers. I didn't have any knowledge of Guardians of the Galaxy before this movie, but I'm a fan now.

I'm not much for the marvel movie adaptations, but something about this not taking it self too seriously felt different enough for me to really like it.

Some parts are still suuuper corny in a way that only comic book movies seem to get, but the good stuff shined through these small parts.

The licensed music felt really badly placed in the movie though, are there references to these in the comics?

And Gamora's green face could've really been toned down, that body of Zoe Saldana did not deserve that. Nice Mass Effect like booty shots though.

That ''dance off'' at the end was something else. What a great movie.

I totally agree, this and captain america 2 are the best of the bunch, both awesome movies.

For film nerds only: Did you catch the Lloyd Kaufman cameo? Even more impressive did you recognize Nathan Fillion? Hint both appear during the prison scene.

I have to say for a wrestler, Dave Baustita was surprisingly good! I wouldn't put him on The Rock's level but he is miles ahead of Hulk Hogan. Let's say he has Rowdy Roddy Piper levels of acting talent if you have only seen The Hot Rod in They Live and Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

I love the way the way the main characters and even Michael Rooker's character react anytime there is exposition. It seemed like a not so subtle jab at the boring expositions scenes from The Thor movies.

@bartok: I only caught eye of Kaufmann, and I've only seen him in a AVGN episode. Hard to forget that kind of cartoonish face.

I was also surprised how good Bautista actually was.

Well the hype had to be for something. Anyways, despite the fact that I was skeptical, I have to admit that this was worth every single second, what a ride.

I loved every single character, and I know that whole misfits coming together shtick has been done a lot of times, but they really made it work here. I also adore how diverse the cast was too, sure they might be outlaws in many ways but they were still so diverse and cool. It was hard picking a favorite(didn't stop me though). I have to give the movie credit for something else as well, IT KNEW what it wanted to be, which might sound trivial, but it's really not. Unlike thor 2 and Iron Man 3, the movie had a very clear tone and it used it in all the right moments. It's the second Marvel Phase 2 movie to pull this off, the first being the Winter Soldier. The movie managed to find a common ground between Drama and comedy, which for some reason some marvel movies failed to do. Guardians of the Galaxy didn't make me sigh or cringe, it managed to make me laugh, feel worried, and excited. However, there was one, huge problem. Much like Thor 2, the villain was just a face, or a witless brick. Ronin in general is a cool (and sometimes fun villain), as proved by the Avengers EHM cartoon and the most recent Fantastic Four Cartoon. He can be menacing, cool, and exciting at the same time, but the movie doesn't give him much time. I wouldn't be as mad if I didn't know that the writers had the capability to make Ronin more than just a face to punch. They gave Groot( my favorite character in the movie), a guy who can say 3 words, a go lucky and cheerful personality. His expressions, actions, and tone managed to show that he was a loyal friend and a brave hero. They can do that, why couldn't they make Ronin an actual character? And not just another guy who introduces a Power Gem for Thanos.

That being said, I loved the action, the characters, the music, and pretty much everything else In Guardians of the galaxy.

4/5

@theacidskull: Got to agree that the big bad villain was just generic evil dude like the Dark Elf from Thor 2 which I thought was a waste of Chris Eccleston's talents. If only Michael Rooker could have lent him an ounce of his charisma.

The Marvel Universe movies have a hard time making good villains. They succeeded with Loki and Winter Solider but that is it. The Marvel movies need a fun villain played by an actor who isn't afraid to chew the scenery. Think Alfred Molina or Willem Dafoe anytime they play villains.

edit - I'll give a spoiler on where Nathan Fillion is in Guardians. He voices the big blue alien prisoner that Groot sticks his fingers in his nose.

I'm a lazy ass so here's just a copy-paste from what I wrote in @finaldasa s movie preview topic last monday:

So yeah, I saw Guardians today at the local press screening. Since it continues the long line of Marvel films I see but don't write proper reviews of because I have nothing interesting to say about them, I'll be brief and mention that it's... good? It's definitely the most auteuristic Marvel has ever gotten, as Gunn's more schlock/camp inspired sense of humor truly shines through the entire film. That being said it still retains that big-ass Marvel look with polished CGI (I kid you not, during the end credits there's about two screenfuls of CGI artists back to back) and action that looks very messy and has plenty of one-liners. The best part about the film, aside from the part where they gave a Troma-protege a huge budget and let him run with it, are the actors. As a seminal wrestling fan I would've never imagined to say a good word about Dave Bautista but this might be the role he was born to play. Most of all all the actors play so well together with the exception of Glenn Close, who... well. Remember how Anthony Hopkins was in the Thor-movies and he had this character he had to play? Well, Close doesn't have one. But the interaction especially between the five main dudes is just great fun when their dialogue isn't pure exposition (about a third). All this being said, I do feel the film relies way too much on action when you take notion of the gold it has in it's hands when the group just talks together. Here's hoping the sequel has less explosions and more tight, stupid negotiations and dance-off distractions.

PS. Lloyd Kaufman has a cameo that lasts under a second but it made me the happiest man on Earth because for that half a second, Kaufman was also clearly the happiest man on Earth. He deserves it.

Yeah, agreed. Loki wasn't powerful( he got his ass kicked a lot lol) but he had a certain charm, like, no matter what you threw at him he still stood up and looked at you with his evil, I-am-better-than-you-type grin. Even though you knew that he was dick you still like him, and at times you actually felt bad that he always got the short end of the stick. Marvel needs to focus on villains.

As a comic fan: No.

@corruptedevil said:

@guanophobic said:

And Gamora's green face could've really been toned down, that body of Zoe Saldana did not deserve that. Nice Mass Effect like booty shots though.

As a comic fan: No.

That looks wonderful.

This looks horrible.

Huh...so she's actually wearing clothes now. What's next..Starfire in a business suit?

@guanophobic: i agree that Saldana has the wrong face shape for it, which makes me wish Olivia Wilde had taken the role

@vierastalo: I have nothing against her, she just looks bad in face paint. *shrug*

Serious spoilery question--is Ronan killed at the end of the film? Or just subdued? He's a favorite Marvel character of mine and I would hate to see him just be window-dressing like Malekith in Thor: The Dark World.

You know that some people are more fit to a role than others, right?

Bah, who am I kidding? Stay angry, man! It's always the right answer to everything.

She is pregnant and Zoe Saldana can act circles around her. Who gives a shit that she didn't wear skin tight clothing or her face wasn't as round?

See for yourself

@corruptedevil: I said nothing about her "face shape", I said they should've toned down the green.

@guanophobic: ZOE SALDANA IS AN ANGEL!!!!

Drax was a great surprised, good on Bautista but he had a really good script to work with. Ths film was solid all around but the end credits scene was insane, I thought they wouldn't dare do that again :P

Yeah, haven't seen the movie, but the make-up on her and Batista looks bad. It doesn't look like they have a different skin tone. It just looks like a ton of make-up dabbed on.

Wish I could! Won't get a chance to hit the box office for it before it passes through.

@aegon: I think it has more to do with the actual pictures released for the film, because in the actual film they both look fine, they're paint and designs weren't jarring or anything because its a film with a lot of aliens.

Totally agree, also actually seeing Ronin's skin up close early on in the movie actually looked really believable

I haven't seen the movie, but I wanted to plug James Gunn. He did two other films that I really, really like, Dawn of the Dead (remake with Sarah Polley) and Slither (w Nathan Fillion). He also wrote for Lollipop Chainsaw, which is really weird. I don't doubt the movie is sick, given his other films.

There was no Bautista Bomb, but that's OK. Movie was awesome.

Chris Pratt looked like Ashton Kutcher and the guy who played Iceman in the X-Men films offspring. Kind of weirded me out. Love the fact the movie did not take itself serious.

We definitely need to plug more James Gunn. Like i previously said on this topic, the man is one of the best writers Troma has ever popped out into the world. Just look at this majestic scene from Tromeo and Juliet:

WHADDATWIST BUH GAWD.

Why do people always walk away from these comic movies like they're the next fucking Citizen Kane? This was probably some of the most fun I've had watching one in several years, but there were still a bunch of weird problems. I wonder if one of these Disney-side Marvel movies will ever have a villain as interesting as their hero? Do they just not give a shit? Is Disney forcing them to keep it semi-family friendly and afraid that if they put any amount of work into a tragic, evil character that parents will want to walk their children out? Loki is the closest they've gotten to earning a memorable threat, and even that was kind of poorly handled in The Avengers. Sorry, just saying "this guy can blow up a planet by touching it" doesn't make them an interesting threat. Just makes it a shitty episode of Dragon Ball Z.

Like what even fucking happened to that blue, evil woman (Nebula, I think)? She was the closest thing they had to an interesting threat and I don't even remember her actually dying. She like jumped ship and hijacked that fighter, then took off? What? I assume they're keeping her for later on?

Looks like a fun movie. If you (anyone) had to describe it to another superhero movie... would the closest be Hellboy 2? That's the vibes I got from the trailer and I can only hope it's as good as that movie.

Amazing movie!

It's so good. So much fun, just had a great time the entire way through. Doesn't take itself too seriously but just serious enough to give it some stakes. Great characters, Rocket was goddamn perfect, loved Groot. Everyone was great, even Dave Bautista, who I was sorta iffy on going in. Definitely seeing it again as soon as I can. Between this and Cap 2, Marvel's knocking it out of the park.

Goddamn you all for having seen this movie already. DAMN YOU ALL TO KNOWHERE.

@hatking: it definitely has it's flaws. Ronin was a weak villain, he barely had any personality. At least Loki was cool in his own way, he wasn't powerful, but the fact that he kept getting up with that evil grin on his face after he was battered had it's particular charm. Malethith, Killian, and Ronin were all lame ass villains.

It may be awesome, but I really can't care about it seeing it at all. It's filled with a bunch of characters I have no affiliation with, the casting choices seem really odd, and the tone of the trailers has kinda turned me off to the whole thing. It's strange because I've never felt actively repelled (as in disinterested, not disgusted) by a movie like this before.

After seeing the movie I got more of a slightly less serious Serenity vibe. It would not have been out of place to have seen Nathan Fillion dressed up in his Firefly outfit as a member of Yondu's crew.

Speaking of which, Micheal Rooker does a damn good job in this movie.

I dunno. wasn't as funny as I was expecting. I guess I might've been spoiled in some way, since most of the good jokes were in the trailers. But even then, a lot of the comedy was very bland and predictable (drax was especially flat). It also suffered a bit from its quasi-origin story concept. Origin stories in movies are usually pretty good, but since this one focuses on the crew and not the characters there was a lot of rushing through character introductions.

Why do you guys keep calling the bad guy Ronin? It's Ronan, isn't it?

Unless Robert De Niro was somewhere in the film and I missed it.

I saw it back to back with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes a few nights ago. My god that was an amazing experience.

You know I have read quite a few opinions about GotG but nobody described it as the next Citizen Kane. In fact the general consensus seems to be that it's a really fun action blockbuster but not much more than that. So I really don't get where you're coming from.

And as far as the villian not taking centre stand, they had to establish 4 heroes and make you care about them in the space of 2 hours, something it took The Avengers maybe 5ish movies to do. The Guardians where the film, it was about them, it was the right choice from Gunn and it was a fantastic movie.

I'm not really interested in it for some reason. The only character I know is Rocket Racoon and that's only from MvC3. A friend of mine saw it and had nothing but praise though so I guess its pretty good, I'll probably catch it on DVD

It's like The Fifth Element but instead of Leeloo there is Groot.

@thunderstorm101: I don't think the idea that 'this part was done well, so let's ignore this other part' really validates having a terrible character for a villain. There are movies out there that have great group dynamics and still manage to create an interesting, established threat. It's not like they spent two hours diving into the back stories of the main characters. You don't really get much of where they came from other than some dialogue and exposition. I think they were handled well, but it wouldn't have taken more than an extra scene or two, and some decent acting/writing, to make the major villain as equally interesting. They managed it with Nebula, and she was barely on screen.

@altairre: That was hyperbole. But the first thing my co-worker said about it yesterday morning after joking about me skipping the midnight showing, "I can't think of a single bad thing to say about this movie." And I heard similar sentiments after Captain America 2, The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, and so on. I'm not trying to be a dick, people are entitled to like any film. In fact, I probably liked this more than any comic film I've seen in a long time, certainly from Disney/Marvel. I just look at my Facebook feed or threads like this, see six posts in a row that are in the vein of "holy shit, just saw Guardians, best movie this year, go see it now," and can't help but wonder if people actually give a shit about anything beyond smarmy white dudes and cool looking gadgets.

@hatking: There's a difference between ignoring a movies faults and a movie being strong enough in other areas that you forgive it's faults. I'd agree Ronan was the weakest part of the movie, but the fact that people are so hyped over the movie speaks to how good everything else about it is. There's definitely nothing wrong with taking a more critical look at something but that goes both ways. If people only cared about smarmy white dudes and gadgets then every Iron Man would be the Best Move Ever and so far there's only one of those has been really great.

I dont think the villain aspect was done poorly, its just the movie wasn't about that, it wasn't your typical Heroes defeat the bad guy movie, of course that's what happened but unlike most comic based films it wasn't the driving force behind it, GOTG probably did more for Thanos tbh, No they didnt dive into the back story of all the characters, they clearly didnt have the time to do so but they did touch on some things that might be expanded on in the future, things like teasing rockets implants when he was changing in the prison , but the movie was about those 4 people and throwing them together. I think the reaction to the film is partly due to it feeling like a breath of fresh air in the genre, it was a genuinely funny film which they could of fucked up soooo easily, it almost gives me hope for a good deadpool film because its gonna be so easy to fuck that up as well. It was different, it was weird, it had dance off for a boss fight. It wasnt a master piece but it was damn good fun :)