Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3

We finally made the effort to see the latest Guardians movie, and sat in a small theater in the back of the complex with three other people. People who didn’t stay through the credits after the movie! We were astounded to find ourselves alone at the very end scene, which was mildly amusing but not illuminating or promising.

I don’t know what the makers were thinking when they chose the original movie one mix tape, but I’m sure they were astounded with its enthusiastic reception. Star Lord, who was taken from Earth when he was eight years old, grew up listening to a good old fashion cassette mix tape of cool music from that era. It made an awesome soundtrack for his initial adventures, because they were kitschy cool like his character. In the second movie the new mix tape was not so awesome because the songs were meant to be those chosen by a besotted young woman in love. Third time around the makers missed the boat entirely.  A couple of the songs were good but most of them are forgettable and kinda slapped onto a scene that may or may not be enhanced by the tune or the words. Maybe it’s the different era the songs are drawn from, but it was a weak showing.

Guardians has been known for being the funniest and more edgy Marvel movies with a great bad guy to combat. Even knowing it was coming I was shocked to hear the F word. They also tend to have a really strong theme. For the second time it’s family and love and how those things aren’t always rosy and sweet.  For a movie that is about the strength of love, there was only the occasional tender character moment, even the funny ones in the middle of a fire fight. During a fight scene has always showcased a lot of the best humorous moments in this franchise, but it was hit or miss here. There were some dramatic scenes that are supposed to be important for the characters, but they were just enough too long to maintain the dramatic tension.

The movie as a whole is way too long, so it shouldn’t surprise that the dramatic character scenes were draggy. I would totally be into having a copy of the director’s cut, if it had about a half hour removed to make the story flow. Who knows if that problem is because it’s Marvel, or if it’s because this may be the last of the Guardian movies. I would expect to see some of the characters show up in other places in the Marvel universe, but probably not as the core group. Because of the mid credits scene, I would be completely down with that. It’s a brilliant scene that made me sneer at what the early leavers missed. Suckers!

I don’t want to say I didn’t like the movie, because there are some funny spots, like when Quill gives Nebula a look at one point. That was LOL funny, and a great example of the writers drawing on deep character development to create a solid laugh from just a look. I had a lot of feels throughout the movie, especially during the scene with Dax, Nebula and Pom. I did get misty. It was heavy. I also very much love the mid credit scene which gave me a signature laughing while tearing up moment. (And will we see that on streaming, or will it be too reduced to watch?) But the good stuff was too spaced out, making the moments not land as well as they should.

Absolutely see this movie even if you are even a little bit of a Marvel or Guardians fan. Just be aware it’s not the best of the bunch. Even being the weakest of the three movies, it’s hands down a much better film that not a couple of the other Marvel movies.

LINKS:

• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – Marvel.com
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – Disney
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – IMDB
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – Wikipedia

CFR: In Addition

Oh wow. So glad Mildred sent this and I got to read it. I am, as you may know, an absolute Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fanatic, so of course I saw, and did enjoy this movie. Now for the review.

GotG 3 suffers from what I call “sequelitis.” Sequelitis happens when a movie is so good, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, Frozen, etc., that of course they have to make a sequel. Fans want more and producers want more money. So they make the sequel and they will tell the world they are going to make it “bigger” and “better.” That’s when you no, uh-oh, it won’t be as good.

Why?

Because what audiences love about a movie is usually the character interaction and the formula that was used to make the movie so fun. So what happens is the sequel has more action, less character time, and shorter scenes so you once again are denied character interaction and building of plot that made the first so good. Also a sequel suffering from sequelitities often does not move the story along or make much sense.

Now Frozen 2 was just as good as Frozen. That’s because the producer/writers let the characters tell them the story. Ah, character and character interaction driven. So it was good. It was also a continuation of the character story. It made sense. I have every faith Frozen 3 will be satisfying as well.

Now Guardians 2 was as good as Guardians 1. This was because it was focused on the characters and the time spent on the characters in each scene let you enjoy them. Both movies were character driven and just pure fun.

Guardians 3, well I felt it had sequelitis. It jumped around, scenes and shots on characters were short, and I didn’t get to see them all interact with each other. It felt choppy. I still enjoyed it, but choppy. The music for me was not as catchy as the first two but that I think is due to the film focusing on Rocket and not Star Lord.

And now for my big cringe about the movie which has nothing to do with the quality of the movie. This is all about me.

The movie has been getting lots of love from PETA because it shows the absolute barbarity and horror of animal testing. Good. I hope people are awakened to this horrific practice and take action. However, watching those animals – and yes I KNOW they were CGI – being tortured and suffering in pain was more than I could take. Much, much, more. I felt myself cringing in my seat, covering my eyes and ears, and wanting to leave the theater so I didn’t have to see that horror.

I was also very and deeply disappointed in the movie at the end rescue scene. The movie had spent time showing the pain of these animals and how they should not have been treated so badly. Then our heroes, OUR HEROES, do NOTHING to rescue the animals from the ship! Yes they MUST rescue those children but they needed to go through the ship and rescue everyone and everything and that included the animals.

Rocket, having to explain that to his “family” utterly disgusted me and made me really not care about any of them, and I had for many years. Also I was disgusted when as they are rescuing the animals someone said “I thought we were only rescuing the higher life forms” and some one responded “Me too.”

WHAT THE FRAK!!!??????

The only response should have been: “We are”. I was so made I almost walked out.

* END SPOILERS *

Due to the animal cruelty I will not see this movie ever again. I can’t. It is too painful. However, I do think it was ok and I’m glad that some of our characters found resolution on many of their story arcs. I also really enjoyed Rocket’s character arc and am glad he found his leadership role in the end. Thumbs up to Rocket and Nebula’s friendship being shown as important to both of them. Good.

Finally, I must say that cruelty to animals makes me want to have John Wick levels skills. Yeah.