Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

[rmontro]

47 minutes ago, johntfs said:

Pretty much that's true.  With a cast like that you make The Godfather or A Few Good Men or something else that wins Best Everything at the Oscars.  You don't make fucking Iron Man 2.

I take your point, but I thoroughly enjoyed Iron Man 2, so I have no complaints.  As far as I'm concerned, the more good actors, the better.

[festivus]

I get to go see the movie again on Monday with the hubs, I've already seen it once with the kids. I've been listening to the soundtrack nonstop. That song they made up featuring David Hasselhoff, the one that sounds like the Star Wars disco song by Meco, Thomas Dolby, Rockwell and the Eddie Murphy's Boogie in Your Butt song got together and made a baby? Y'all, I love it. So cheesy and good. 

[Emily Thrace]

On 2017-05-07 at 3:50 PM, starri said:

I thought Zoe Saldana, who I like, even if she's not the most charismatic actress, was a lot more open this time.  Possibly because Gamora actually got stuff to do.

And the scenes between Gamora and Nebula were so CLOSE to passing the Bechdel test.

The movie as whole does pass the Bechdel test though. From one of the first scenes when Gamora talks to the Golden leader woman about payment and they produce Nebula. Three women talking about business not men.

[Scarlett45]

On 5/8/2017 at 7:01 PM, Traveller519 said:

Before Rocket's need for "family" was overtly fleshed out by Yondu, I liked the little things we saw. Obviously we saw in Volume 1 how much he cares about Groot, but the impact Peter's music had on him also served as a nice framing device for the music in the film. Before the opening battle, he's the one rigging up the music, which he tries to pass off as something he's doing because Peter likes it. Then prior to the Ravager escape, he asks them to put on some of Peter's music. The Rocket of a year ago (in the movie's timeline) wouldn't have gone to such lengths, but it's obvious how much Peter's music has influenced him.

These are very thoughtful points. 

[tennisgurl]

Saw the movie a second time, and I actually liked it even more the second time, because there is so much foreshadowing for what happens in the end.

The scene where Peter creates the ball of energy and Ego is super excited seems heartwarming the first time, but the second time, its clear he's not just happy, its ecstatic. Because one of his kids finally has his powers and he can destroy the universe, not because of any actual fatherly affection. There is also the scene where Peter says how he made "millions of mistakes, but Peter wasn't one of them" which, again, seems sweet at first, but is actually a reference to his countless children who he murdered when they didn't inherit his powers. Really, all of his scenes are quite creepy at a second viewing. Granted, even the first time I figured he was bad news, but I didn't realize how bad until the ending.

There is also the scene where Drax and Mantis are talking about his daughter and she touches him and starts crying after feeling his grief for his child. Immediately after, she starts to tell him the truth about Ego and his evil plans. I think one of the things that made her finally admit what was going on and try to warn them was feeling how a good father feels about the death of his child, and not the unfeeling, selfish reaction of Ego.

I also really liked the scene between Peter and Gamora when they're in the woods trying to decide if they should go with Ego to see if he's for real. I just really loved when she was like "Don't worry, if your dad turns out to be evil, we can just shot him a million times until he's dead" in just the sweetest tone possible. Awwwww.

[rmontro]

On 5/17/2017 at 10:15 AM, rmontro said:

I was VERY surprised to see the characters that were talking with Stan Lee, because I would have assumed those rights would have gone to Fox with the Fantastic Four.  Loved seeing them though.  Wish they would have had the courage to show Galactus in Rise of the Silver Surfer.

I was listening to the Marvel Movie News podcast, and they said that Fox owned Uatu, The Watcher.  So if they would have just used ONE Watcher, then it would have been a violation.  But since they used three, they were okay.  Not sure that makes sense, but whatever.  They said that similarly, Marvel can use Skrulls, they just can't use the Super-Skrull.

[Bruinsfan]

Interesting, so the specific characters that first appeared in the FF book go with that franchise's film rights, but the races they belong to are still fair game? I assume that would apply to mutants as well if the MCU had chosen to use the concept without any of the famous X-Men characters being available.

[Lugal]

1 hour ago, rmontro said:

I was listening to the Marvel Movie News podcast, and they said that Fox owned Uatu, The Watcher.  So if they would have just used ONE Watcher, then it would have been a violation.  But since they used three, they were okay.  Not sure that makes sense, but whatever.  They said that similarly, Marvel can use Skrulls, they just can't use the Super-Skrull.

Legal hairsplitting.  Where would we be without it?

[Morrigan2575]

On 6/2/2017 at 6:19 PM, Bruinsfan said:

Interesting, so the specific characters that first appeared in the FF book go with that franchise's film rights, but the races they belong to are still fair game? I assume that would apply to mutants as well if the MCU had chosen to use the concept without any of the famous X-Men characters being available.

Interesting. Thanks

[Captain Carrot]

On 6/2/2017 at 6:19 PM, Bruinsfan said:

Interesting, so the specific characters that first appeared in the FF book go with that franchise's film rights, but the races they belong to are still fair game? I assume that would apply to mutants as well if the MCU had chosen to use the concept without any of the famous X-Men characters being available.

For a while any new character like Ms. Marvel was an inhuman instead of a mutant due to the movie rights situation. So, my guess is that it's an (at best) ambiguous situation on who owns the movie rights on any non X-Men mutant. 

[rmontro]

On 6/2/2017 at 6:19 PM, Bruinsfan said:

Interesting, so the specific characters that first appeared in the FF book go with that franchise's film rights, but the races they belong to are still fair game? I assume that would apply to mutants as well if the MCU had chosen to use the concept without any of the famous X-Men characters being available.

I'm sure I've heard that Fox owns the rights to the word "mutant", so the MCU can't use mutants.  

Like Captain Carrot alluded to, Marvel has directed that any new characters are debuted in books OUTSIDE the X-Men world so that they can keep control of the movie characters (I think specifically mutant characters are an exception).  What if the next big sensation debuted in the X-Men?  Fox would own the movie rights and Marvel would be banging their heads against the wall.  By the way, Marvel also cancelled the Fantastic Four comic book, a little over a year ago.

[Hanahope]

Finally saw this over the weekend,  It was very fun and I can't wait to see it again.

One part i found a fun was seeing a young Kurt Russell with such long hair (great CGI). I remember seeing him in movies when I was a child during that time frame, but he always had short hair, probably because they were Disney movies.

[Lugal]

28 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

One part i found a fun was seeing a young Kurt Russell with such long hair (great CGI)

Most of that was practical.

[rmontro]

Anyone ever talk about box office around here?  I'm kind of curious to see if this movie can limp to $400,000 domestic.  Think it will get there?  Should be close.

There was some talk before it was released that it might hit $1 billion worldwide, but that definitely looks out of the picture now.

[Morrigan2575]

On 6/12/2017 at 11:08 AM, Lugal said:

Most of that was practical.

If I read that right, most of it was makeup and maybe some camera/filter work, plus a little CGI touch up?

That's kind of cool and probably helped that Kurt Russell aged really well, still a very good looking guy.

5 hours ago, rmontro said:

Anyone ever talk about box office around here?  I'm kind of curious to see if this movie can limp to $400,000 domestic.  Think it will get there?  Should be close.

There was some talk before it was released that it might hit $1 billion worldwide, but that definitely looks out of the picture now.

I don't think it'll hit 400 Million domestic, looks like it'll top out at less than $875 Million. I thought it would break 900 Million but, seems like it'll fall short.

Of course, I'll be very happy to be wrong about where it finally ends up.

Edited June 16, 2017 by Morrigan2575

[Which Tyler]

7 hours ago, rmontro said:

Anyone ever talk about box office around here?  I'm kind of curious to see if this movie can limp to $400,000 domestic.  Think it will get there?  Should be close.

There was some talk before it was released that it might hit $1 billion worldwide, but that definitely looks out of the picture now.

It's not something I'm personally interested in, but there's a thread devoted to the box office, updated most weeks:

[rmontro]

On 6/16/2017 at 7:49 AM, Morrigan2575 said:

I don't think it'll hit 400 Million domestic, looks like it'll top out at less than $875 Million. I thought it would break 900 Million but, seems like it'll fall short.

By weekend's end, the sequel has taken in $374 million domestic.  It's been out for 6 1/2 weeks.

The original Guardians had taken in $305 million by the end of 6 1/2 weeks, and ended up tacking on nearly another $28 million before it was done.  

Another $28 million would put the sequel at $402 million, and its pace is ahead of its predecessor.  So now I think it will get to 400 million, but of course there are no guarantees.

[rmontro]

Well, it appears I was wrong.  Right now the sequel seems to be lagging far behind the pace of the original, so I have to say that right now it looks extremely unlikely that it will reach $400 million domestically.  Guess you were right, Morrigan2575.

[starri]

I assume you can pay by check on money order, but no COD.

[Lantern7]

Comic-Con International is almost halfway done. Cosplay is in full effect, including crossover cosplay.

[Morrigan2575]

Now I need a Yondu/Merle cosplay photo

[rmontro]

I almost can't believe that GOTG Jams thing is real.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 5/18/2017 at 9:33 AM, frenchtoast said:

Yes! I was unspoiled, didn't know he was the villain, but kudos to Kurt Russell because despite the charisma and sympathy, my alarm bells were still pinging pretty much immediately. (Mantis's body language exiting the ship certainly helped with that)

I finally saw this, since I was able to see it at the cheap theatre at a morning showing for $3.50 and it was crazy fun. I agree though that it was pretty obvious that Ego was the villain since they had gotten pretty deep into the movie without a big badguy being introduced.

Ego's planted looked amazing though and the My Sweet Lord scene was beautiful. Speaking of songs when they used The Chain at the end it was probably one of the best "Hell Yeah!" moment in the MCU in a long time.

[thuganomics85]

And here's "Guardians Inferno" in all of it's glory!

 

Greatest thing ever?  Or.... nah, I don't care what anyone says: this is the greatest thing ever!!  

Spoiler

During his wrestling days, if someone told me that Dave Batista would end up dancing in an 80's style music video with plastic angel wings, I never would have believed them.

[Morrigan2575]

Stan the Man!

Was that Chris Pratt at the very end (taking off the robot helmet)?

I caught, Dave, Zoe, Karen and i think Pom Klementieff. Also the guy that played Yondu's 2nd in command. Who was the Keyboard guy with the Soul Patch? Was that Michael Rooker?

[VCRTracking]

On 8/6/2017 at 3:17 PM, Morrigan2575 said:

Was that Chris Pratt at the very end (taking off the robot helmet)?

I caught, Dave, Zoe, Karen and i think Pom Klementieff. Also the guy that played Yondu's 2nd in command. Who was the Keyboard guy with the Soul Patch? Was that Michael Rooker?

Yes that was Chris Pratt and Michael Rooker. Also Yondu's 2nd in command is Sean Gunn, director James' brother and who I'll always think of as Kirk from Gilmore Girls. James Gunn was the Elvis looking dude. I thought the ladies looked fantastic in their 70s hair and outfits. Also loved the old video look which was achieved as Gunn tweets:

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by VCRTracking

[Lantern7]

Vol. 2 gets the How It Should Have Ended treatment.

[VCRTracking]

It Turns Out That Visual Effects Actually Did a Lot to De-Age Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

[Lantern7]

I follow Honest Trailers on Facebook. They will be covering GOTG2 tomorrow at 1. I liked their take on the first movie. "If you're confused, the main hero is the white guy."

ETA: Here it is. Epic Voice Guy liked it, but not as much as the first one.

[VCRTracking]

Great video by Lindsay Ellis on GOTG vol 2:

 

She puts into words why(as much as I love the first movie) I prefer vol 2 more.

[tennisgurl]

@VCRTracking I was just coming here to post that video! I agree with pretty much everything she said, especially on why I also loved the second movie more than the first movie (as much as I love the first movie, which I do), and why I think its more tightly written, both the characters and the themes and arcs. I especially loved when she talked about how the movie deals with something that is very real, but is often not dealt with much in media: mourning the death of a parent you had a complicated relationship with, and realizing what an impact they had on you, for good and for bad. 

[starri]

I usually don't have much patience for those YouTube thinkpieces that are almost as long as the movie itself, but I did follow through the entire one, just because I did appreciate her thoughts on the movie and agreed with them.

...except for the one about Mantis.  The stereotype of the submissive Asian woman?  That's fair, although I'm not sure if she's supposed to be Asian just because Pom Klementieff is.  She didn't (at least to my ear) have the repulsive "Mickey Rooney in yellowface" accent that was so goddamn awful in The Phantom Menace; she just sounded, what I assume is pretty close to her actual French accent.

And I don't know that they make light of her treatment by Ego either.  One of the first signs we get that he's a bad guy is that she's so clearly terrified of him, and she's so sweet and innocent that it feels a lot more visceral.  And she was also the only person out of all of them who actually managed to rattle Gamora, which is no small feat.

This one is probably a bit more controversial, but I think the reactions to Drax's comments about her being ugly are a bit overblown.  She's obviously NOT ugly, none of the other Guardians think it, and I honestly thought the point of it was to show what a clod Drax is.

[ParadoxLost]

23 minutes ago, starri said:

This one is probably a bit more controversial, but I think the reactions to Drax's comments about her being ugly are a bit overblown.  She's obviously NOT ugly, none of the other Guardians think it, and I honestly thought the point of it was to show what a clod Drax is.

Frankly, my reaction to that was very simplistic.  Drax is an alien.  Drax has a different definition of outward beauty because he is an alien.  Drax is blunt because he's an alien.  Drax recognizes that she is beautiful on the inside.  But maybe he's also just a clod.

On a different note.  Did Quill really lose his celestial being powers when Ego died or did Ego just say that because he's Ego and Quill lost confidence in that moment. 

Its going to be sad if its revealed later that Quill could have survived for pick up without the suit like in vol. 1 and Yondu could have lived.

[VCRTracking]

6 hours ago, starri said:

...except for the one about Mantis.  The stereotype of the submissive Asian woman?  That's fair, although I'm not sure if she's supposed to be Asian just because Pom Klementieff is.  She didn't (at least to my ear) have the repulsive "Mickey Rooney in yellowface" accent that was so goddamn awful in The Phantom Menace; she just sounded, what I assume is pretty close to her actual French accent.

Mantis was Half Vietnamese/Half German in the comics and I think she was more referencing the thinkpieces complaining about the supposed stereotype.

[Lantern7]

I think that I read Mantis in a Defenders collection from back in the day. She didn't have the antennae, but she was basically "Asian character," and often referred to herself as "This one." However, she has been revamped a few times since then, though I'm okay with the GotG2 version. That said, I'd like her to bring more to the table if she pops up in the movies.

ETA: Might have been a "Legion Of The Dead" collection, where the Avengers wind up facing off against villains that brought back dead characters to mess with them. I think that included Bucky on at least two occasions, which is one of those retcons I would want explained in detail. Preferably by the likes of Squirrel Girl and/or Gwenpool.

[Lugal]

On 8/31/2017 at 4:25 PM, starri said:

This one is probably a bit more controversial, but I think the reactions to Drax's comments about her being ugly are a bit overblown.  She's obviously NOT ugly, none of the other Guardians think it, and I honestly thought the point of it was to show what a clod Drax is.

Drax also thought Yondu was Peter's father because they "look exactly alike."  And on rewatching, when Rocket points out that "one of them is blue" Drax gives him that yeah-you're-proving-my-point shrug.  Could be a clod or just someone who sees the universe very differently.  Or probably both.

[Jediknight]

On 8/31/2017 at 6:25 PM, starri said:

This one is probably a bit more controversial, but I think the reactions to Drax's comments about her being ugly are a bit overblown.  She's obviously NOT ugly, none of the other Guardians think it, and I honestly thought the point of it was to show what a clod Drax is.

The only ones I think Drax would call beautiful on the outside are his wife and daughter.  He notices more about the inside than the outside, he thought Peter and Yondu looked exactly alike.  He notices that Yondu is Peter's father figure, he called Peter an honorable man in part 1, he called the Guardians his family in volume 2, he doesn't care about the outside, he only cares about and notices the inside.

[Spaceman Spiff]

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 9:41 AM, tennisgurl said:

There is also the scene where Drax and Mantis are talking about his daughter and she touches him and starts crying after feeling his grief for his child. Immediately after, she starts to tell him the truth about Ego and his evil plans. I think one of the things that made her finally admit what was going on and try to warn them was feeling how a good father feels about the death of his child, and not the unfeeling, selfish reaction of Ego.

I watched this on Blu-ray recently and there is actually a deleted/extended scene for that which I really thought needed to be in the movie. It was only about one and a half minutes of Mantis dialog. After Drax mentions his daughter and Mantis touches him, she cries and then goes on to express how she's never experienced this (The GotG's) type of love that is both great and heartbreaking, which prompts her to then tell Drax. I mean they seriously could have cut a minute and half from other scenes to keep that in, specifically Yondu/Rocket doing the bugged eyed 700 jumps, or cut some of the (what I thought was) long Ravager funeral scene, of even some of Ego/Peter's fight. It's a shame that they missed the opportunity to really flesh out her character more, with a bit of dialog and opted for cheap laughs or 3D spectacle.  

[Morrigan2575]

Thanks for sharing that, sounds like a good addition, shame they cut it.

[WritinMan]

Just saw this over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much going on--I need to see it again.

On 8/31/2017 at 7:57 PM, ParadoxLost said:

On a different note.  Did Quill really lose his celestial being powers when Ego died or did Ego just say that because he's Ego and Quill lost confidence in that moment. 

 

I hope he did lose those powers. Seems like it would create a terrible imbalance within the franchise (for however many more movies it lasts...).

[Captain Carrot]

On 9/25/2017 at 10:12 PM, WritinMan said:

I hope he did lose those powers. Seems like it would create a terrible imbalance within the franchise (for however many more movies it lasts...).

I think it's a little more complicated then that. I think that as a child of Ego his body can absorb cosmic energy. This allowed him to survive the infinity stone in the first movie, and use Ego's power in the second one. So he's an ordinary person when there's no power source, but more than human if he access to cosmic energy.

[Bruinsfan]

That sounds about right. So Peter is more like a capacitor than a generator.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 5/7/2017 at 2:24 AM, phalange said:

Like most everyone, "I'm Mary Poppins, y'all" was probably my favorite line.

 

On 5/7/2017 at 6:57 AM, starri said:

"Ow! My nipples!"

"This is gonna hurt."
"Promises, promises."

More later once I've fully processed it.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 2017-9-25 at 10:12 PM, WritinMan said:

Just saw this over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. So much going on--I need to see it again.

I hope he did lose those powers. Seems like it would create a terrible imbalance within the franchise (for however many more movies it lasts...).

I thought Ego said that if he/his planet was destroyed then Peter would become a normal human. Because Peter said something like "what is wrong with that?" In response. 

[blueray]

On 10/1/2017 at 2:25 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I thought Ego said that if he/his planet was destroyed then Peter would become a normal human. Because Peter said something like "what is wrong with that?" In response. 

He did say that. However, who knows if that was even true. I agree with Captain Carrot, there are some things that Peter can do beyond humans. However, he isn't going to be throwing energy balls. Though I think it would be cool if his father turns out to be wrong (or lied) and he does have something but nothing that would cause him to have to much power.

 

Anyhow, I finally got to see this as its on Netflix. I liked it a lot, it's not as good as the first one but that's okay. I love the team interactions together and some of the quotes. Especially Dex asking how someone has sex with a planet and the tape scene. As well as many more. Also the stuff with baby Goot was cute. I will say, that at one point I was is that "Kirk"?  and had to pause it look it up. I totally forgot he was in the first one too. Then once I confirmed it it was hard to see him as anything else.  Overall, it was a fun few hours :).

[Zahdii]

On ‎12‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 7:29 AM, blueray said:

Anyhow, I finally got to see this as its on Netflix.

I just caught this last night on Netflix, my first foray into the Guardians story.  It was much better than I thought it would be, because for some reason the first Guardians movie didn't sound like something I'd like.  Now I think I need to find the first movie because I enjoyed the second one so much.

Groot was cute, loved everything about him.  I've heard he was once older and wiser but died in the first movie, only to rise again as the cute baby twig we see now.  Apparently all of the knowledge he had in the first movie is gone or not yet accessible to him in his current form.  It's got to be tough to raise such a being.  One never knows if he's going to rush obliviously into danger, fix an electrical connection so he can have his dance music, or suddenly see a bully that made fun of him and stomped on him and then chase said bully down, lasso him, and throw him to his death in the midst of a takeover of a Ravagers spaceship.

Peter was good, but too young for me to really pant over.  (The scene where he took off his shirt and then picked up another shirt from the floor and sniffed it was funny.  I bet even alien men who have to do their own laundry are often doing the same thing as they search for their cleanest dirty shirt when they need to change.)  Finding his father, finding out his father is a celestial psychopath who killed his mother and wants to use him to destroy the universe is something no one needs.  Then finding out his kidnapper who terrorized him was actually saving him from a more horrible fate and loved him (in a pretty damaged way), but then sacrifices himself to save Peter has got to mess with his mind.

I expected to lust over Drax more, enjoyed looking at his physique, but was drawn into working out how his personality worked.  He's had some real sadness in his past, losing a beloved wife and daughter is horrible.  I felt compassion towards him and I don't even know how or why they died.  Is his bluntness a trait unique to him or more representative of his people?  It was funny when I realized that he seemed unable to discern obvious differences in the appearance of his friends.  It had a real "You all look alike to me" thing going on.  But he didn't have any problem seeing underneath their surface and understanding who they were at their core.

Rocket had the "I'll push you away before you can reject or hurt me" thing down pat.  But when push came to shove, he always fell on the right side.  I found it interesting that when he was repelling Yondu's people he never actually killed anyone.  He drugged some of them, bounced a lot of them up and down until they were too beat to bother him anymore, and was able to hold his own against two that came at him from opposite sides with weapons and he still took them out without killing them.  When he was confronted with Yondu's yaka arrow, he immediately stopped fighting and tried to bargain the location of the stolen batteries for the safety of baby Groot.

Gamora and her sister obviously came from a really bad background so I was glad they were able to start to bond with each other in the end.  Because I haven't seen the first movie I don't know a lot of their backstory, which I assume was explained then.  Why was their father so cruel, what did he hope to accomplish by forcing his two daughters to fight each other and what twisted aspect of his makeup made him gradually turn Nebula into a cyborg killing machine?  How did they finally get away from him?  I feel like that was explained in the first movie and the second movie was a vehicle for the two sisters to confront each other, start to understand each other, and begin to form a working bond.  Outside of that the only other thing I can think of right now is that Gamora does have romantic feelings for Peter and is ready to act on them, although I don't know just how far they'll take things.  Gamora might be only ready for hugs and if there's another movie she and Peter might not be much farther along in their relationship than they were at the end of Volume 2.

To wrap it up here, I found Kurt Russel as Ego to be a funny and chilling blend of charm and narcissistic psychopathy.  It would be for the best if he stays dead.

Yondu was the real surprise for me.  He was presented in this movie as a bad guy that took Peter from Earth and then terrorized him instead of delivering him to his father.  But even though Peter talked about being forced to steal and threatened with being eaten by Yondu, the crew was well aware that Yondu had a fondness for Peter that made many of them think that he led them into exile for a human brat that didn't appreciate what they'd gone through for him.  It's no real wonder to find that some of the crew mutanied, killed off most of the loyal members of the crew, and were planning to hand over Yondu and Rocket to some group to collect a bounty.

Suddenly Yondu is locked up with Rocket, and Groot is off being dressed up and mistreated by the crew.  He's watched his supporters killed and is ready to just accept his fate.  But when he found out that Peter has gone to his father, suddenly Yondu has a plan to escape.  He was so patient with baby Groot when Groot couldn't understand what he was supposed to do and kept bringing back everything except what was needed.

What does it say about me that if you take an average looking 60 year old man, paint him blue and give him janky yellow teeth, and I say "OK dude, keep your mouth closed and you're kinda cute".  But dress him in a long leather jacket, gauntlets, pants with a generous crotch pocket, and knee high leather boots with buckles and I want to send flowers to the costume department.  Bolt a red metal mohawk thing to his head (it's just the prototype though, I guess in the end he thought it was too ostentatious and went with a more subtle look), give him a yaka arrow that stabs through the bad guys while leaving a neon con trail and I sit up straight and get tingles.

Finally have him forgive his lieutenant who accidentally started the mutiny (and wears his hair in a modified mohawak, awww) and rush off to make war on a fricken planet to save Peter, and sacrifice himself in the end?  I was a mushy mess.

It didn't stop me from replaying the scene where Yondu, Rocket, and Groot retake the ship.  I may have replayed it a few times.  I'm just saying, the visuals of the scene and the frequent use of slo-mo really worked.  I still have the song in my head "Come a little bit closer, you're my kind of man, so big and so strong.  Come a little bit closer, I'm alone, and the night is so long."  Is it getting hot in here?

Seriously, though, I'd like to see the first movie to find out what I missed.

[Dandesun]

Yeah, the first one explains a few things there. Gamora and Nebula are sisters, adoptive daughters of Thanos who is THE Big Bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the one who fueling the Infinity War movie coming out next year) who basically goes around killing all over the place and picking up scraps and seeing what he can shape them into... that's what he did with Gamora and Nebula.

Rocket and Groot are buddies and partners and you get a little more about Rocket in the first one. It's not excessively heavy on exposition about where these characters come from but I think the first Guardians did a good job of giving the audience an idea of where these very different characters (and species) came from and the first movie does solidify them as a team. I'd recommend it. It's a fun movie although it would be interesting to hear how you like it going from the sequel to the original.

[VCRTracking]

James Gunn Reveals Baby Groot Is Actually Groot’s Son

Damn. I wish they had called him Groot Jr. then. RIP original Groot.

[HunterHunted]

It seemed obvious to me that they were different characters because Baby Groot lacks so much of Groot's essential sweetness. Baby Groot is foul mouthed, suspicious, and kind of a jerk. This is excluding his brattiness as a teenager. 

[Morrigan2575]

7 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

It seemed obvious to me that they were different characters because Baby Groot lacks so much of Groot's essential sweetness. Baby Groot is foul mouthed, suspicious, and kind of a jerk. This is excluding his brattiness as a teenager. 

I'll be honest, it never occured to me. I just figured we were seeing different aspects of Groot through his life cycle and, that GotG Vol1 Groot was just older/more mature. 

After reading James Gunn's tweets it makes sense that this is Groot's "son" or an off-shoot and, not Groot reborn.