What I'm Watching: Guardians of the Galaxy - For reals

Okay, but seriously. ;D

Insert the usual blah blah blah about how I'm a huge comics nerd, and been watching Marvel and DC movies for ages, reading the comics, etc etc...

Now that we have that out of the way, what did I think of THIS Marvel movie?

It felt a little like the Marvel movies were stumbling a bit after Avengers.  The next wave of flicks were busy picking up the pieces, which is fine, and it felt like they were struggling to A) figure out what to do with those pieces in a post-Avengers MCU (I am looking at you too, SHIELD), and B) struggling to get out of the shadow of the greatness of Avengers.

Iron Man 3 was the worst of the bunch, Thor 2 was enjoyable but took awhile to start to get the gears rolling, and Cap 2 was when things really started falling back into place, with only a few minor hiccups.  Cap 3 also helped get the wheels back on Agents of SHIELD and help them out.

Guardians of the Galaxy though...  MAN it was a breath of fresh air.  It's not tied down by the new status quo, what with being set way WAY off of Earth and with no regard for its continuity.  Mostly.  Okay, there's the Infinity Gems...Stones and Thanos (THANOS!) but there's no real major plot connection, since we're off on our own objectives here.

It's almost like starting off in our own separate universe and doing our own thing, with no regard for anything else.  The awesome part there is that this DOES tie in, and will dovetail back into the plots of the wider MCU in a BIG way later on down the road.  But it was so good to not have to deal with all the baggage of the invasion for a change, and just have an adventure.

And WHAT an adventure.  In a lot of ways, this blew a lot of the other movies out of the water.  It was gigantic in scope, we traveled all across the galaxy, there was space battles aplenty, humour, fun, a LOT of heart and seriousness too...and the balancing act actually worked for a change.  That can be hard to pull off.

It did take me quite awhile to warm up to things, as Peter Quill's antics were just kinda silly and goofy at times, and took me out of the moment too often.  It seemed more like I was watching Chris Pratt and not the character.  But once we started getting the band together, things settled down, and the character found a good balance with everyone else to play off of.

It feels like everyone got their moment, even the villains, and even the best Marvel movies struggle with that at times.  I'm very possibly forgetting some things, but all the main characters had a moment to shine, and there's quite a lot of cast members to try and pull that stunt off with.  A lesson learned from Avengers, where you could argue it was everyone's story in one way or another.  Even if it was TOTALLY Black Widow's story.

My initial feeling was that the use of classic rock tunes and such wasn't going to work, or be overdone, but they also managed to pull that off mostly well.  The moment that really made it work was Quill's struggle to get his tape back when he was imprisoned.  When you realise how precious those tapes are to him, the only solid things he has from his mother, literally his memories of her in his hands, that's when the music usage really clicks.  It may be one of the best soundtracks of any movie in a long, long time.

One of the things that bugged me though was Yondu.  And that's strictly because I am an old-school Guardians of the Galaxy fan.  That guy was not MY Yondu.  But damn if Michael Rooker didn't make me enjoy his role, once again.  If it had been a unique character, or one more closely connected to the sort of character they wanted, I'd be less grumpy.  As such, I don't hold this against the movie, it just made me pout and sulk.  Although I *did* get a huge nerdgasm seeing him use (an adaptation of) Yondu's whistle-controlled arrows.

I was quite pleased, and surprised, at how good Bautista was as Drax.  The trailers seemed like they were going for the strong silent type, and playing towards the "He's a wrestler, he can't act" thing, but I am pleased to say that they gave his character dialogue, a story, and a lot of heart.   AND punching, so everyone's happy.  I only wish he'd been a little closer to the comics version, but they kept the heart of his character and motivations, while not sticking to the precise details, and that's fine.

One of my biggest fears, and I made no secret of this online, was also with the trailers.  They were messing with the timeline of things so much, and making it sound like they were already called "The Guardians of the Galaxy" when they were this band of thieves and brigands, and it really put my teeth on edge, because it made zero sense.  Again, I am happy to say that the ACTUAL MOVIE did not go that route, and got the evolution of these characters right, so that by the time anyone calls them the Guardians of the Galaxy, they've *earned* it, and most of the movie has long since gone through everything the trailer showed.  I was pretty sure the movie would go that route, but the trailer was just presenting a wrong picture at times, and it made me concerned.  Having the movie knock each and every one of those concerns away also surely helps with my enjoyment of the movie.

And then there's Thanos.  What can I say about Thanos?  THANOSTHANOSTHANOS!!

I talked about, in my Avengers review, those moments on screen where you stop and realise, "Oh man, oh wow, I am watching a movie with Thor and Cap and Iron Man and Hulk all together and oh my gods Hulk just punched Thor and am I seeing this and AAAHHHH!!!"

Thanos was that, in this movie.

I never thought I'd see the day when Thanos would be on screen.  AND BEING THANOS.  I have like...zero complaints.  They nailed the character, the personality, and Josh Brolin's voice WAS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.

Sigh.  Good times.

And I haven't even *touched* on the effects yet.  Rocket and Groot were freakin' seamless, I think.  The only moment that may have given me pause was when Groot put his hand on Drax's back.  Or vice versa, I forget which way that went.  Either way.  They nailed a talking raccoon, and a gigantic tree, and the spaceships, and space, and the battles...  Man, what a special effects extravaganza that was, that doesn't let the effects run away and end up making the movie all style and no substance.  The movie has plenty of substance, and the effects are largely a means to tell the story.

Oh, and um, one minor plot quibble.  Why would Peter wait TWENTY SIX YEARS to open his mom's final gift?  You get the impression he'd read the letter before (And it's where he got the name Star-Lord from, hence his *INSISTENCE* on using it, no matter how dopey everyone else felt it was)...but he never opened the gift?  It seems like one of those forced touching final moments crafted soley by the hand of the movie makers, and with no regard for human logic.

There's surely some other plot holes (Like I could bitch about the vaccuum of space a bit, but they hand-waved that...okayishly), as are wont to happen in big blockbuster films, scifi films, AND space films, and this movie is all three.  But the movie is so filled with fun, and joy, and action and manages to be big and bombastic while still having heart *coughcoughMichaelBaycough* that I can forgive it the few moments where the plot got away from it.  If you give me a good ride, you can drop the ball on a few logical inconsistencies, I always say.

I seriously think Guardians may well be my favourite Marvel movie since Avengers, and that's saying a lot.

Now, I always felt like Guardians was a bit of a test case scenario.  This always felt like a movie where Marvel was saying, "Okay, let's throw the absolute craziest ideas at the screen, go completely off the book of the current MCU, shoot off into space, and see how this works!" with the idea of, if the audience can embrace this level of insanity and coolness and bizarre comicbook nonsense...then they can handle damned near anything.  Well, Marvel?  Guardians is pretty much a success with a huge opening weekend.  We will watch anything you give us and accept whatever it is, in all it's comic glory.  So give us a Black Widow, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther movies, already.  Guardians has shown you we are down for anything, and you gotta do something about the diversity.

The movie may not be perfect, and may have it's share of flaws, but by damn if it isn't some of the most fun I've had in a theatre in awhile.

I want this movie to become the 21st Century's Star Wars, for this generation.

What I'm Watching: Guardians of the Galaxy

I am Groot!  I am Groot.  I am GROOT!

I am Groot.  I am Groot.  I am Groot.  I am Groot?

I am Groot.  I *am* Groot.  I am Groot.  *I* am Groot.

I am Groot??

I AM GROOT!!

I am Groot, I am Groot, I am Groot.  I am Groot.

IamGrootIamGrootIamGroot.

I am Groot!

I am Groot.  I am Groot.  I am Groot!

I am Groot.

(Seriously though, I'll be back with a REAL review later.  But I had to.)

What I'm Watching: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Welcome back, Triskelions!

And boy, is that ever an appropriate nickname for all my fans.  All two of you!

ANYways, yeah!  I saw Captain America 2 tonight, if that isn't super clear by now.  This should be NO surprise to anyone.  I love superhero movies more than I love horror movies, I just chose to make a site about those other ones.

But I still talk about the former, so here we go, watch out and don't trip over the spoilers!

The plot finds Cap still trying to adjust to this new time, and honestly?  He's doing a pretty good job of it.  They don't hammer the man out of time stuff at all.  Most of that comes from his moral compass and how he feels America should be, and that is the absolutely correct way to go with that.  Don't spend half the movie making jokes about what the internets is and such, but show him as the great man, the great patriot, he is, and disappointed in what the country he loves became while he wasn't looking.

I really, really liked Cap 2.  Anyone who's talked to me enough knows that I still say the original Cap flick is my favourite of the Marvel movies most days, and that holds true today.  Which isn't a bad thing for Cap 2, that's a high bar to leap over.

I can't say I outright LOVED Cap 2, though.  It is hard to put my finger on precisely what, if anything is wrong with it.  It's a perfectly solid movie, it's very much more comicbook action, but I think, much like Iron Man 3, after the spectacle of Avengers, it has a lot to live up to.

And Cap 2 has even more to pull off, since while it IS pretty good, it's still not up to the gigantic superheroic spectacle of the other films.  I almost don't want to say it's more grounded, more real world, because we still have a dude that was frozen in ice for 70 years, gigantic flying fortresses, and the like, but you get my meaning, I hope!

I really love this being more of a political thriller, because that makes this really its own thing.  The fact that this ISN'T a big superhero spectacular movie is in its favour, truth be told.  That's the brilliance of the comics, and it helps to have each movie with its own flavour to have each one stand out amongst the crowd.  And going the political route definitely helps Cap stand out from an INCREASINGLY crowded crop of superhero movies, as well as being a perfect fit for Captain America.  Duh.  The comics did it for decades, so of course the movies should follow suit.

I especially like that the world wasn't *really* at stake this time out.  Sure, it was in its way, with our freedoms being in grave danger, and a large number of the population being firmly in the villains' crosshairs, but the stakes here are WAY different than an alien invasion trying to destroy everything.  There was very little 'destroy the world' type stuff, and that is SO refreshing in a blockbuster movie.  This is more about the fight for the soul of the country and the world, than anything else.

The biggest problem for me, is that Emily VanCamp was *criminally* underused in this movie.  I really hope this is more setup for future films, because it feels almost like a waste here, and I can only imagine there's deleted scenes.  Still, Emily is such a good actress, that even with what little she had, she still brought SUCH weight to the role, that it felt more than what was there.  Again, I hope I'm making sense here. ;)

They managed to do a very solid adaptation of the Winter Soldier ideas from the comics, and almost everything worked in the remade context of the MCU, which is always good.  The thing I missed the most though, is that they have firmly established that Black Widow was born in 1984 and doesn't have a lengthy history of being a Russian spy, part of which would have involved spending time with the Winter Soldier.  I liked the movies neither confirming nor denying Natasha's age, and losing out on such tidbits of her past just feels like a missed opportunity to me.  I would've loved to have seen some flashbacks with the pair of them.

Speaking of Black Widow, man.  While there's a strong argument to be made for Avengers being her story, Nat was given SO much to do in this movie.  I can't even call her 'the breakout star' of this movie, since Scarlett has done such a great job already in the MCU, but this movie really let us spend time with the Black Widow, REALLY get to know her beyond kicking ass, and it was great to have.

A lot of the characters were well served, from Fury, to Nat, to Falcon and Maria Hill.  Even Peggy Carter got some great moments.  Even some of the lesser characters and cameos got some great moments.  And oh MAN was it *awesome* to see Jenny Agutter in action!  Sorry, the Logan's Run fan in me is showing.

Falcon was an absolute treat, by the way.  Anthony Mackie's joy at playing this part is evident in every moment he's on screen.  He was introduced perfectly at the start of the film, and ever so slowly brought into the circle of chaos around Cap.  It was also a great contrast with Cap's own circumstances, and also great to show how some things never change in wartime.  The pair may be separated by half a century, but they bond over shared circumstances in completely different wars.  It worked SO well, and the friendly banter between them was exactly what I'd expected from the comics coming to the screen.

As you can see, I have a LOT of positive things to say about the movie, and not a lot of negatives.  It really is a matter of just not being as explodey as other movies, but it's also not trying to be.  And at the same time, I love that about this movie!  I'd still give it a giant yay, and of course if you're a fan of the Marvel movies, you are going to see this.

So yeah, that's my chaotic mishmash of a review. ;)  I think this will be more important in what it causes other movies, and Agents of SHIELD to do, in light of its events, than anything within itself.  This was a similar issue I had with Cap 1, in that it felt a lot like putting the pieces into place, and not quite complete in its own right.

Now that I know what to expect from the movie, what its tone is, what it's striving for, I'm sure it will grow and grow on me with later viewings.

Gaaah, and I didn't even mention how cool Batroc was!  As a huge Batroc fan (I know it's weird, shut up!) it was such a blast to see him, even briefly, on screen.  And the fights in general were great!  The action was really well choreographed, and gah, I could go on about every little detail as it comes to me, but I'm gonna jump out now.

What I'm Watching: Thor - The Dark World

HAVE AT THEE!

Yep, it's no surprise that I rushed out to see Thor: The Dark World.  Longtime readers know I'm a comic geek, and know I was more than a little miffed at being unable to see the first one in theatres due to a lack of 2D showings near me.  Fortunately, my local theatres have wised up since then, and I could see The Dark World on opening day.

So, how's the sequel?

Pretty freakin' good.  If you enjoyed the first Thor movie, you should enjoy this one.  If you didn't enjoy the first Thor movie, I think this one has a little better balance of elements and it's worth giving another try, although I understand why you might want to wait on that count.

This movie focuses more on Asgard and the other nine realms than Midgard, which I know was a large complaint people had with the first movie.  A lot of the humour is still there though, and everyone's voice feels spot on.  Every line was exactly what I wanted it to be, for the most part.

Thor 2 picks up pretty much right where Avengers left off, dropping Loki off at his father's throne, to receive his punishment for the events he caused in the first movie and Avengers.  From there, we slowly build to a convergence of the nine realms, and the return of Malekith, his dark elves, and the Aether, an otherworldly force akin to the Tesseract.

"These artifacts may sometimes manifest themselves as stones..."

Jane Foster is pulled back into the story, literally, when she stumbles upon the interdimensional hiding place of the Aether, frees it, and becomes an object of desire for the returned Malekith's plots.

Oh, so much of this movie I enjoyed.  I loved how they slowly brought Malekith's look towards the comics design.  I loved Algrim's disguise echoing that of his comics look as Kurse.  I'm sure it will be divisive amongst fans, but I also enjoyed making the Asgardian weapons a little more scifi, even if that does make them seem a bit lightsabre-ish at times.  It added a bit of magic to their culture, by way of Clark's Law.  And making the Dark Elves even more scifi seemed to make sense to me, although it's hard to explain why.

Hemsworth is great as Thor.  You can really see the growth the character has made over these three movies.  He has grown into someone whom is worthy to wield Mjolnir.

"Meowmeow!"

I am so glad that Darcy returned.  She's great comic relief, she's a great standin for the audience, making a lot of the quips we may want to make ourselves.  I wish there had been more of her, but at the same time, I feared the movie was going to leave her, Eric, and Midgard itself entirely behind once Thor and Jane went to Asgard, and I am so glad to be proven wrong and they were all present in the climax.  That was handled rather well, although at times I think the placement of scenes and the editing didn't quite work.  The storyline on Earth just doesn't flow as well as I would have liked, and the order felt off at times.  I suspect these scenes were bounced all around the story for pacing, and things got a bit jumbled along the way.

The use of every Asgardian in the plot was great.  They each had their role to play.  Except for Hogun.  That was a really weird ommision from the storyline, and almost baffling.  I suspect actor availability, so that's a shame, but the rest of the Warriors Three were used to great effect, Sif had good stuff to do, and even Frigga got a lot to work with, even if her role was cut a bit too short.  What she was there for, she was good in.

Loki is Loki.  His mischievousness was well handled, even toying with audience expectations at times, and I like he was even given a bit of redemption.  While it doesn't excuse his past actions, it is a reminder that he is NOT all evil, and he is a complex, multi-faceted character.  Even if his own agenda does get in the way of that from time to time.  I absolutely loved his little scene of shapeshifting with Thor, and his use of a cameo was brilliant and pitch perfect.

Christopher Eccleston brought more gravitas to Malekith than he would have otherwise had, and in lesser hands, the role would not have been as much, and as it is, there's not much there.  The performance definitely helped elevate it, though.  I hope we get to see some of the deleted scenes that would have fleshed out his otherwise purely villianous character.  Much like Frigga's scenes from the first one got left behind, and they really helped boost her role, which was a shame.

I don't think the movie, the Asgardian portions obviously, felt quite as epic as the first movie, and I can't quite place my finger on why?  I'd wager it has something to do with Kenneth Brannagh and his Shakespearean training really nailing that over the top, amazing, crazy and yet down to Earth familial relations of the Asgardians.  Which isn't to say Alan Taylor did a bad job, I thought he still knocked this out of the park, but the first one just had a different feel to it that worked just that little bit better.

I really can't say if I like this or the first Thor better.  They each have their ups and downs, and I'd probably rank them pretty equally.  I'd say this storyline probably thrilled me more, but I think the first one was handled better, overall.

So, for the most part, Thor: The Dark World is just as enjoyable as the original, and I'd personally rank it higher than Iron Man 3, out of the Phase 2 movies.  It hit all the right notes, for me.  I'm sure there's more flaws, but I was most pleased with what I got.

"One down, five to go."