So Today I bring you guys my super late review to Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and Vol. 2. Now I must say that these flicks really captured the spirit of the source material and ran with it, just adding a ton of things to it in a way that actually impacted the Guardian of the Galaxy comic book series in a positive way especial after the first movie came out. James Gunn has embraced the scale, the bizarre, the absurdity, the adventure and the dangers of Marvel's cosmic universe, the man has done his homework the level of detail and his love for really obscure characters has created a fascinating world chucked full of Easter Eggs and fan service, that what's I'm going to focus on in this double review and breakdown.
SPOILERS
Now I mashed these two reviews because I am a freaking lazy fuck and I'm going to center on the growth of the characters from one movie to the other, but I'm not going to analyze the plot directly but there will be a ton of spoilers.
Characters:
Heroes:
• Starlord / Peter Quill (Chris Pratt): I love the characterization of Starlord in both movies even though he's pretty Deadpoolish, with his wit, sarcasm and pop culture references being very present, which are not as present in the comic until this movie came out, at least at this level. In the first flick Starlord bands together a motley crue of space rejects, that ends up evolving into a high dysfunctional family/space hero team, filling the void that Quill had ever since he lost his mother to cancer and never met his father. After surviving ticking off Ronin the accuser and squabbling with his foster father Yondu and his ravagers, both over the same the reason, an intergalactic relic that turns out to be an infinity stone/gem. In the second flick, Starlord meets his father which turns out to be Ego the Living Planet and discover his place in the universe. It just fantastic to see this character development in both movies.
• Gomora (Zoe Zaldana): Surprisingly these movies made me care for Gomora, humanizing her, she isn't just a fighting/killing machine, she has issues. In the first flick, she breaks away from the control of her foster father Thanos, not wanting to be his assassin anymore and discovering the beauties of friendship with Guardians, while trying not to be killed by her sister Nebula. In the second flick we get into some deep cuts into the relationship that Gamora had with Nebula, all the messed up stuff Thanos made them do. At the end of this movie, we have Nebula and Gamora resolving their differences.
• Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista): These movies also made me care for Drax, just like Gamora he was just an unstoppable fighting machine. The way he is written in both of these movies is incredible, the way he can't understand the context in language and his certain level of innocence just made this character my favorite and funny as hell. Especial in the second flick he establishes a very funny and profound relationship with Mantis that I just loved. And I really hope in the third movie it would dive in more into his backstory.
• Groot (Vin Diesel): He's actually just like he is in the comics, but baby Groot in the second movie almost steals the show.
• Rocket (Bradley Cooper): Rocket is also pretty much like in the comic, even though the director is able to make you care for him more because he's always trying to hide his softer side by being an asshole most of the time. In the progression of both movies, we get a Rocket that matures emotionally, to care for his friends and not be such a dick. You know I've recently realized the Rock actually take the same role that Pip the Troll did in the Infinity Watch team that played the same role that the Guardian did back in the 90's
• Mantis (Pom Klementieff) Joins the team in the second flick and I love her interactions with Drax. They did a fantastic job making me care for a character that in the comics is pretty uninteresting.
• Kraglin ( Sean Gunn): Character shows potential for the third flick.
Antagonist:
• Yondu Odonata (Michael Rooker): The director James Gunn did something incredible he made one of Marvel lamest characters, Yondu into one of the coolest characters in the MCU. Yondu in the first movie is Quill's foster father and leader of a group of intergalactic mercenaries/pirates called the Ravagers. Yondu had commissioned Starlord to retrieve a relic for a client but Peter goes A-wall. So Yondu puts a bounty on Starlord's head and sets the Ravager out to capture him, but when the shit hit the fan with Ronin Yondu sides with the Guardians of the Galaxy to save the Nova Corps home world. Now in the second flick, we discover that Yondu had always protected Peter Quill, from his father Ego. Ego had commissioned the Ravagers to kidnap Peter Quill from Earth and bring the boy to him, but Yondu hid the boy when he found out what Ego had planned for him.
Villains:
• Ronin the Accuser (Lee Pace): This dude is the villain for the first flick and even though he hell-bent on destroying the Nova Corps home planet using an infinity gem that he had taken from Starlord. Sadly this villain is still as one-dimensional as he is in the comics.
• Nebula (Karen Gillan): Nebula sort of sucked in the first movie, not much to her other than that she wants to take Gamora down for her daddy Thanos. But in the second flick, she gets a ton of character development, we discover how Thanos used to torture both girls and pit them against each other. They actually made me care for this character that I've never given a shit about.
• Korath ( Djimon Housou): This minion of Ronin from the first movie looks nothing like the character.
• Thanos (Josh Brolin): Marvel Please deliver with Infinity War.
• Ayesha and the Sovereign: Villains in the second flick, they played it safe in not calling these aliens the Sovereign and not the Universal Church, but I loved the Arcade drones and how they set up the creation of Adam Warlock.
• Taserface ( Chris Sullivan): I was totally surprised that this character actually existed in the Guardians of the Galaxy lore, my hat goes off to Gunn for digging up this obscure character from the 90's series. I just loved his faceoff with Rocket.
• Ego ( Kurt Russell): I never liked this villain, he seemed super stupid, but Gunn actually made this character work and does fuse this villain with an elder of the galaxy called the Gardener, and that was a nice detail. Him being the father of Peter and what he had planned for his own son, made him into the total d-bag villain so I loved to see him be clobbered by Peter. I liked they didn't go for the comic version of Starlords dad, which is a pretty uninteresting character.
Sporting Cast:
The Collector (Benicio Del Toro): Del Toro actually made this bland character interesting, even though his basic function in the first movie is for the exposition of what the Infinity stones are. Thanks to his role it impacted the comic book character and is much cooler now.
Issue Summary:
Repercussions and Lasting effects:
• The franchise seems to have affected the tone of the Third Thor movie Ragnarok.
• Adam Warlock is coming.
• Old School Guardian for the third flick?¿?¿
The Bad:
• Ronin was as one-dimensional as you can get with a villain, he was pretty bland.
NO Silver Surfer fuck you FOX
The Good:
• Both soundtracks with some really interesting tracks Gunn did a fantastic job putting both sound tracks together, I discovered and rediscovered a shit ton bands.
• The Color and Detail of this universe, even with the over saturation of FX and CGI in movies nowadays, both these movies impressed me especially the second move that just takes things up to another level of craziness.
• The characterization of all of the Guardians and Yondu is just fantastic, I loved how they reworked Yondu powers.
• Ego was a ballsy but fantastic choice for a villain in the second flick.
• We get the classic Guardians of the Galaxy lineup being lead by Starhawk Stallone, fuck yeah life is good.
• Stan Lee works with the Watchers!
• These movies have a shit ton of heart.
Rating Vol I: 9 out of 10 VolII: 9.5 please bring Major Victory and Cormo on the team for the third flick.
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