firecat

Guardians of the Galaxy

Favorite line: "Never call me a thesaurus."

It took me a while to get into this movie because I wasn't familiar with the characters, and some parts of it bugged me so much that overall I didn't like it, but it had quite a few good moments and a couple of good characters. It's possible I'll like it better the second time around. So this will just be a list of stuff I liked and didn't like.

I could not stand the Starlord character, who is way too much of a Han Solo ripoff, and the actor was way too clean-cut to pull off a Han Solo ripoff.

In general I thought the 1980s tribute angle was too heavy-handed. "Senator, I knew Star Wars. Star Wars was a friend of mind. Senator, you're no Star Wars." (Yes, I acknowledge that Star Wars is more sexist than this movie.)

There were people of color in the movie but (except for Korath, played by Djimon Hounsou) they were almost all hidden behind strange colors of makeup (Zoe Saldana in green makeup, and a couple of extras who were a really bizarre fakey red color).

There were several kick-ass female characters and definitely one female character who could just as well have been a male character (possibly two, depending on how you look at it—the OH and I disagreed about whether Nebula would have worked as a male character; I thought she wouldn't have because I thought sister rivalry was an important part of Gamora's story line, and the OH thought it would have worked as rivalry between brother and sister).

There were too many shots of Zoe Saldana's thigh gap.

I did not like the semi-cybernetic sarcastic Rocket Raccoon, even though I really wanted to.

I did like the raccoon's sidekick, a mostly sentient tree that could only say three words (I, am, Groot) but said them in such a way that everyone could understand they really meant "The tachyon particles have overloaded the dilithium crystal Captain." (Groot is voiced by Vin Diesel. Who knew he was such a great voice actor? Not me).

I REALLY liked Drax, a cuddly, gorgeous, muscular guy with chest tattoos, a tendency to misunderstand idioms, and a big vocabulary. The guy playing Drax looked familiar to me but I guess I haven't seen him before; he's a Filipino/Greek professional wrestler and martial artist. Drax strongly read as queer to me.

The bad guys were cardboard cutouts. To understand what the deal was with Ronan, the guy they are chasing for most of the movie, I had to look him up on Wikipedia afterward. "A Kree radical [who] continues to fight an ancient war between his people and the Xandarians. Ronan has struck a bargain with the Machiavellian Thanos to retrieve a mysterious artifact, and in exchange Xandar will finally be eradicated." WHO CARES? [other than people who were already following the comics]

A 1970s-80s mix tape featured as a tie-in throughout the movie and it felt too heavy-handed (I kept contrasting it with how the TV show Life on Mars, the British version, worked in 70s music—that felt very organic and it worked well for me).

It was VERY COOL that they played almost all of "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways, though.

I don't usually like the movie reviewer Andrew O'Hehir, because he's a self-righteous curmudgeon about a lot of movies I enjoy, but I like this line from his review: "If this franchise really takes off, I’ll be tapping my toes impatiently for the Drax-Groot spinoff movie."

Aaaaand this was the second movie I saw in the theater in two weeks that featured Hubble telescope images. (The other one was Lucy.) I guess the Hubble telescope is the biggest actor in movies today.

Crossposts: http://firecat.livejournal.com/841092.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

senmut

I actually fell in love with Vin because of his voice work first. The rest of my love came later. (The Iron Giant, if you wish to know what work)

The problematic sexism of this one has been deconstructed nicely in so many posts that I have chosen to leave it as a potential Red Box watch instead of a must-own-for-MCU-Collection. (The Hulk is also not being owned. I despise Norton for irrational depths, and actually enjoyed the Eric Bana version years before it)

From:

jazzfish

Chiming in to second both The Iron Giant and the Eric Bana / Ang Lee Hulk movie from a decade a go.

From:

firecat

I have seen The Iron Giant and The Hulk and I like Vin a lot...I just didn't think of him as a voice actor.

From:

worlds_of_smoke

Huh. I didn't know Dave Bautista was Filipino/Greek. I was pleasantly surprised by his performance. I had read on tumblr that his reaction to getting the role was to break down crying and immediately schedule acting classes and it showed. Granted, Drax's characterization meant that there was a bit of leeway if he couldn't act, but I don't think he did too badly.

I was also impressed with Karen Gillan. If I hadn't known it was her as Nebula, I'm pretty sure I would've never guessed it!

But, overall, the whole film was underwhelming. I'm not sure why, though. Maybe it was partially because there wasn't any build-up to the group movie - there was no Drax The Destroyer or Rocket and Groot movie, for example. That meant that there was no real lead-in to the movie and no way to go in super excited about the characters.

From:

firecat

break down crying and immediately schedule acting classes and it showed.

I heard that too. <3

there wasn't any build-up to the group movie

Yeah, and the shift from "these are bad guys" to "these are good guys" was confusing to me because I didn't know who the characters were.

From:

worlds_of_smoke

That makes sense. It's hard to accept a turn like that when you're not invested in the characters in the first place.

From:

snippy

I came out of the movie thinking I'd seen all the necessary backstory to connect with the characters; it was mostly direct conversational exposition, and it worked for me. I realy liked the way Rocket Raccoon showed his friendship and attachment to Groot; I identified with his sarcasm as a cover for pain (I mean, I didn't ask to be made the way I am either, and I sometimes use sarcasm to cover pain-and it doesn't work well, it alienates people, just like Rocket's sarcasm).

I also really identified with Peter Quill's overconfidence, use of music and dance to help his moods, and determination to figure out the right way to protect himself and his friends-again, partly because I feel like I share his childhood.

And I want a *working* *musical* baby dancing Groot toy. I can't believe they didn't foresee the demand for this product; I think they would sell hundreds of thousands of them at a price up to about $30.

From:

firecat

I came out of the movie thinking I'd seen all the necessary backstory to connect with the characters

I feel that way too, which is why I think I'd like it better on a second viewing.

I realy liked the way Rocket Raccoon showed his friendship and attachment to Groot; I identified with his sarcasm as a cover for pain (I mean, I didn't ask to be made the way I am either, and I sometimes use sarcasm to cover pain-and it doesn't work well, it alienates people, just like Rocket's sarcasm).

I agree with all that, which is why I wanted to like the character. But for me he was too predictable.

I also really identified with Peter Quill's overconfidence, use of music and dance to help his moods, and determination to figure out the right way to protect himself and his friends-again, partly because I feel like I share his childhood.

That's really interesting.

*working* *musical* baby dancing Groot toy

YES!

From:

selki

My boyfriend had read ALL of the comics (over the years), prepped me for the movie, and reminded me about stuff while we were waiting in line to be let in (in an endearing excited way). I might have picked up enough for it to work for me on its own, but his sharing the background with me helped.

I remember a therapist, good in other ways, being a little ... less than engaged ... with an idea for self-treatment I had, of putting together a kind of cheer-up mix tape for myself. I know there WERE some issues I needed to grapple with, but sometimes I just need a little positive distraction, and music can do that for me, you know? And dance can help me too, though I'm more likely to stick with it when I actually make it to a dance, than just at home dancing with myself. I think it's the social contact (including touch) that helps me too, along with the music and movement, since I live by myself.

From:

firecat

I have made music mixes a number of times to deal with stuff going on with me, so I do get that they can be meaningful.

How odd that your therapist didn't like the idea.

From:

gridlore

They did explain the whole motivation for Ronan a couple of times, and it was pretty clear. They discussed the peace treaty, how Ronan was a fanatic, and why he needed the Infinity Gem. It was all right there.

A queer vibe of Drax? The guy who has devoted his entire existence to avenging his slain wife and family? Again, mentioned more than a few times in the film.

I have to ask, did you actually listen to what was being said?