Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

[Ryujin]

I'm a comic book expert. I've owned a comic store for 30 years. I have an encyclopedic knowledge. The only reason I knew much about most of the characters used in the first movie was because they had a very successful launch a few years before the film (which is what inspired the film in the first place, though they used a slightly different mix of characters).

Even that comic launch was specifically done because the publisher of Marvel (or perhaps he was editor-in-chief at the time, whatever) didn't like "space" characters, he only thought that "street" characters were cool, and a pair of British comic writers (Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning) essentially "bet" him that they could make a cool space book, even with totally obscure space characters.

They won.

The NAME, Guardians of the Galaxy had been previously successfully used (in the 90's, relaunching an obscure 70's team) for a group of characters from the 30th century (copying the Legion of Superheroes from DC, but that may be too deep a dive for this story). They sold well for a little while during the 90's boom, but tanked back into obscurity (IMO where they belong). THOSE characters were used in the film for inspiration for the Ravagers (including Yondu, though Rooker is a very very different character).

At any rate, I could go on, but I don't want to nerd out too deeply.

Feel free to nerd out, as far as I'm concerned. I barely remembered Guardians from their first title and they were definitely a different kettle of fish, from what came later. The comics boom of the '90s, that saw the creation of additional comics companies like Image ("Spawn") and Wildstorm ("WildC.A.T.S.") was big enough that some even got movie or cartoon adaptations. It was followed by an as-spectacular bust. It's good to see folks like you still out there, making a living.

 

[Stalker0]

I'd say this is the best of the recent MCU by a good amount. The biggest thing is....it has HEART. It hits you in the feels, and gives us some actual character development (heck even Drax got some), outrageous!

Its the best recent MCU at balancing action, comedy, and drama.... ensure that I get excited, that I laugh, and I cry all in good measures.

I will say its quite violent, I'm curious if some parents are going to uncomfortable showing their kids some of this stuff.

To me the best line of the movie:

Spoiler

Nebula: "What they did to Rocket was worse than what Thanos did to me"

They have done a lot to show us the pain that Nebula has been through and what Thanos did to her. So for her to say that....I mean that literally tells you everything you need to know.

I have my nitpicks of course, the number 1 being:

Spoiler

Ok I can understand Rocket not killing the High Evolutionary, its his way of letting go of the anger and pain. I can respect that. But please god tell me one of the other guardians takes him out! He is a genocidal maniac, they killed so many others in their pursuit of him, please god tell me they finish the job. If they don't its pure comic book stupidity. I was just waiting for Gamora to be like "fine I'll do it" and finish the job, or something.

But yeah overall I was quite happy.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Really suprised that MCU was able to take an unknown throwaway product with a giant tree and a talking raccoon and turn it into a much loved franchise with an emotionally impactful resolution.

I don't think that's on the MCU so much as on James Gunn, who has also made one of the worst comic book heroes, the Peacemaker, into the center of one of the best bits of non-comics superhero media.

 

[Zardnaar]

Beano, Dandy and 2000AD where the big three British comics, and about the only ones readily available where I grew up.

I was familiar with Spiderman, Hulk, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman through TV shows rather than comics.

Beano, Buster and Whizzer and Chips here along with Commando, Battle and War Comics. And Disney. Actung Panzer was more relevant than men in tights.

Batman (1989) I didn't recognize the logo. Didn't see the bat saw golden tonsils lol.

Watched most of the MCU on Disney+, liked GotG. Otherwise CNM are a bit meh. Liked Dark Knight trilogy, Batman 1989 and Blade 1&2.

 

[Tonguez]

I have my nitpicks of course, the number 1 being:

Spoiler

Ok I can understand Rocket not killing the High Evolutionary, its his way of letting go of the anger and pain. I can respect that. But please god tell me one of the other guardians takes him out! He is a genocidal maniac, they killed so many others in their pursuit of him, please god tell me they finish the job. If they don't its pure comic book stupidity. I was just waiting for Gamora to be like "fine I'll do it" and finish the job, or something.

But yeah overall I was quite happy.

Spoiler

well Gamora did stab him after the team beat him, then they left him on an exploding ship so he’s probably dead

still no body for evidence - I did wonder if they’d bring him back and put him in his Red Armor form

 

[pukunui]

Spoiler

well Gamora did stab him after the team beat him, then they left him on an exploding ship so he’s probably dead

still no body for evidence - I did wonder if they’d bring him back and put him in his Red Armor form

To paraphrase Luke Skywalker, in the multiverse, no one's ever really gone. Even if we do see someone definitively die on screen, a variant of that character can always show up. If we ever see Wanda again, I expect it will be the non-Scarlet Witch mum variant from Multiverse of Madness. Heck, even Tony and Nat could return. There must be universes where they didn't make the ultimate sacrifice.

 

[payn]

Just got back and enjoyed the other two movies a lot more than this one.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I'm trying not to go into too much detail in case anyone's here before seeing the film, but there's a fight scene in a hallway that's up there with some of the best action sequences in Marvel, there's a bit that's among the funniest, and the Rocket backstory is some of the more emotional stuff they've done.

I liked the movie and the backstory, but that hallway fight went on forever (with no consequences to the protagonists!) and I just wanted it to end.

I enjoyed the movie, but... there were a lot of fridge logic moments that didn't make sense, and unlike the first Guardians of the Galaxy which I enjoyed specifically because it didn't run by comic book logic, this one definitely did. Various characters forgot about equipment in order to create drama (Rocket's aero-rigs and Peter's helmet + rocketboots are essential space gear but got ignored TWICE), various characters varied wildly from scene to scene in their physical strength and durability (a character who is fragile in one scene is invulnerable in another), the whole movie relied on Adam Warlock holding the Idiot Ball (why didn't he just take Rocket away instead of smashing him through a wall and then ignoring him to fight Nebula et al.?).

Ultimately I think the movie's greatest and most comic-bookish sin is that it pulled too many punches. Things that should have mattered enormously, that should have carried a lot of emotional weight, didn't. You can't watch Star Wars: A New Hope without realizing that you just watched a movie where billions of people got murdered when their planet blew up. But Guardians 3's tone expects you to forget about billions(?) of people dying because hundreds of animals like those from which the people were made got saved. They expect you to forget about presumably thousands of casualties on Knowhere from the hundreds or thousands of murderbots that attacked it (unless they all miserably failed at their murder mission?), just because Kraglin killed a dozen of the murderbots with the arrow and an assist from the dog.

I enjoyed the movie, but I can't help feeling like its unintended Broken Aesop (Broken Aesop - TV Tropes) is: Only Some Lives Matter. It doesn't sit well with me.

Also Gamora was inexplicably much more of a murderous murdering murderer than at the start of Guardians 1, even though Peter's acquisition of the orb is the same time period she came from. This Gamora would have just stabbed Peter in the chest and taken the Orb away from him instead of trying to steal it, and Rocket and Groot would have been left trying to collect bounty on a corpse. The Guardians would never have gone to prison and teamed up.

 

[payn]

I liked the movie and the backstory, but that hallway fight went on forever (with no consequences to the protagonists!) and I just wanted it to end.

I enjoyed the movie, but... there were a lot of fridge logic moments that didn't make sense, and unlike the first Guardians of the Galaxy which I enjoyed specifically because it didn't run by comic book logic, this one definitely did. Various characters forgot about equipment in order to create drama (Rocket's aero-rigs and Peter's helmet + rocketboots are essential space gear but got ignored TWICE), various characters varied wildly from scene to scene in their physical strength and durability (a character who is fragile in one scene is invulnerable in another), the whole movie relied on Adam Warlock holding the Idiot Ball (why didn't he just take Rocket away instead of smashing him through a wall and then ignoring him to fight Nebula et al.?).

Ultimately I think the movie's greatest and most comic-bookish sin is that it pulled too many punches. Things that should have mattered enormously, that should have carried a lot of emotional weight, didn't. You can't watch Star Wars: A New Hope without realizing that you just watched a movie where billions of people got murdered when their planet blew up. But Guardians 3's tone expects you to forget about billions(?) of people dying because hundreds of animals like those from which the people were made got saved. They expect you to forget about presumably thousands of casualties on Knowhere from the hundreds or thousands of murderbots that attacked it (unless they all miserably failed at their murder mission?), just because Kraglin killed a dozen of the murderbots with the arrow and an assist from the dog.

I enjoyed the movie, but I can't help feeling like its unintended Broken Aesop (Broken Aesop - TV Tropes) is: Only Some Lives Matter. It doesn't sit well with me.

Also Gamora was inexplicably much more of a murderous murdering murderer than at the start of Guardians 1, even though Peter's acquisition of the orb is the same time period she came from. This Gamora would have just stabbed Peter in the chest and taken the Orb away from him instead of trying to steal it, and Rocket and Groot would have been left trying to collect bounty on a corpse. The Guardians would never have gone to prison and teamed up.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on why 3 felt a bit off, but you cover it well here.

 

[Stalker0]

the whole movie relied on Adam Warlock holding the Idiot Ball (why didn't he just take Rocket away instead of smashing him through a wall and then ignoring him to fight Nebula et al.?).

Because the character is an idiot, that was pretty well established. He's naive, a child in many ways. While I can accept that some people don't like this portrayal of Adam Warlock....to me the naive, child-like character not having good strategy made perfect sense.

I also think they were pretty consistent with his durability....in that he didn't actually have a lot of it. That part was interesting, we are used to characters with Super Strength also having super durability. And while Adam was clearly more durable than a human, he was no Thor in terms of taking a punch. He was in effect a glass cannon.