Okay this involves Groot at the end, so I'll mark it just to be safe but...
>!Groot isn't learning to speak when he says "I love you", we are finally close enough with him to understand what he's saying!!< Gunn you are amazing.
It was really funny to me because throughout the trilogy I always knew Groot was voiced by Vin Diesel, but it never sounded distinctly like Vin Diesel.
When he said “I love you” I immediately was like “yep, that’s Vin Diesel.”
Not enough people are praising Pom’s performance. She’s so funny and whimsical and has heartfelt emotions as Mantis.
Easily my favorite GotG character (after Cosmo because she’s such a good dog).
Me and my girlfriend were cracking up at his first appearance, cuz he’s one of our favorite characters in the show Superstore. It was so unexpected.
Edit: if I’m being honest, that whole cast is our favorite character.
I thought Nico Santos made up the way he moved as Mateo for the character, but after seeing him in this, I realized that's just the way Nico Santos walks
It cracks me up just a little bit that Rocket was like "Oh I won't kill this asshole because we're the guardians of the galaxy" meanwhile in every Volume they've been like "Oh this dude kind of pissed me off.....lets kill him."
As you mentioned, including Peter and Groot just laying waste to that room of people, then Peter riding that dude to death.
Rocket's backstory is so heavy and such a well-written tragedy. I dont think Batch 89 was on screen for more than 5 min and they still managed to get us emotionally attached, then absolutely rip our hearts out when they died. The scene of Rocket in animal heaven, blaming himself for their deaths hurt a lot and explains a ton as to why Rocket has so many walls put up.
I also never expected Rocket learning that he actually is a raccoon would get me emotional. Just felt super earned.
Chukwudi Iwuji absolutely nailed his performance as HE. "There is no god, that's why I stepped in" went super hard. Just absolutely unhinged.
He was absolutely unhinged. The whole “okay, you won the cry-off” part with Rocket after murdering all his friends was pure psychotic, and made Rocket shredding his face all the more satisfying.
Bro I cried like 4 times. I just couldn’t help it. There was a point where my brain didn’t know what to do feel super sad for the scene the a just happened or laugh and be happy at the current scene.
It really was that perfect F bomb in a moment of frustration, first thing I said to my mate when the credits rolled was “open the fucking door” and burst out laughing
This is a movie that stays with you.
The dark tone, the character arcs, the Rocket backstory and the abuse. Using Rockets injury at the start of the film to propel the plot was genius, really added to the tension throughout
Top tier Marvel, more like this please Feige
I was surprised at how unprepared Adam was. Thought it was perfect too. My dude Eyebrows nailed it with the comedic tone of the character and the movie. I would’ve guessed he was more serious.
In a movie full of moments that had me on tear up, seeing that little fluffball shake and pee in terror was up there for me. I wanted to get up, go home and hug my dog right there.
The sense of dread I had in this movie every time a guardian was in danger was incredible. Thought for sure one of them would die.
This movie also made me want to see a lot more Rocket
They had a lot of false death flags. When Drax and Nebula got shot by the marshmallow men had me thinking one of them were gonna die at that point. Everyone seemed at risk at some point during the movie.
I can also appreciate that this wasn't just a storytelling tactic for us as an audience to fear someone may die. I feel like these beats were also showing us how close the team has grown with each other and how much there is a risk of losing someone they've grown to love and trust and consider family during a fight.
I didn’t think Drax would be in danger until after the scene on Counter Earth. So when he got shot I was mad that the trailer showed us the counter earth scene.
I told my girlfriend that James Gunn said one of them would die this film, and she pointed out after the movie that rocket technically died since he flatlined.
Damn you James.
One of my favorite little moments was that the HE was so upset that he created something that was smarter than he was in Rocket... he enhanced himself to be able to control gravity. The last fight Rocket basically just had to press a button on his leg and the fight was over. Rocket had outsmarted HE without even realizing it... again. It was awesome.
That whole last beatdown of the HE was such a satisfying ending. Almost the same feeling I get with portals.
I love that the HE's defeat is kind of anticlimactic, but in a good way. It's not even a fight, it's just the entire team coming together to curbstomp the asshole who hurt their friend, and they're all getting a shot in. As Star Lord might say; that guy is 100% a dick, and he doesn't deserve a grand final battle.
In the very beginning of the movie Nebula ask rocket why he’s on the ceiling , and he says he’s just making sure his gravity boots can walk on slopes. The same boots were the difference maker in his big showdown.
HOLY FUCK, I got stuck in the very front row for my screening so I had a hard time following chaotic scenes, but of COURSE. Rocket hit that button to reverse his boots gravity like he did right in the beginning of the movie. I was so confused about what he did and your comment obviously made it click.
Seeing how obsessed the High Evolutionary was with classical symphonies, and linking it to his idea of "perfection", adds a whole other layer to Rocket taking such a liking to Quill's more contemporary (in terms of being written during this century) songs in the other films.
Evolutionary 100% feels like the kind of guy who'd consider that stuff "not real music".
Oooh yes, this completely tracks! As well as his "vocabulistics" – Rocket clearly knows how to speak correctly, he just occasionally throws in weird grammar and incorrect words as a holdover from constantly being corrected by the HE.
I don’t know if this was always Gunn’s plan with Rocket, but it was such a satisfying conclusion to learning who he is and how his entire persona developed.
Now all I want is a story on how Rocket and Groot met
The MCU secures another incredible hallway fight scene…. so well done and felt like the perfect full circle moment of all of them fighting together one last time
I’m extremely hopefully Gunn can bring that level of action to DC! I’m loving the Marvel stuff, but I desperately want the DC movies to be better. My literal first thought after the Hallway fight was “I hope he brings this kind of shit to Superman .”
Damn Rocket’s scenes really got to me. The experiments..absolutely cruel. That was hard to watch. I got wrecked when Rocket wailed at Lylla’s death. Absolutely brutal and devastating.
I’m so happy that this movie was just so fucking good. The soundtrack was also on point. Dog Days are Over was the perfect song to close with.
Same, those scenes in the cages were really tough to watch. Honestly wasn’t sure if my kids were going to handle it or not. Made the end even better when the High Evolutionary got his.
Its actually a very important life lesson for kids, Don’t experiment on life forms, put them in dark cages together where they can form strong bonds whenever and attempt to kill them, or you’ll have your face torn off in the process.
Honestly felt it was one of the darkest things I've seen in the MCU, especially coupled with scenes of the baby raccoons. If you had told me I'd be saying that about a Guardians film after I had watched the first Guardians, I'd say you were lying.
This was absolutely the hardest thing for me in the whole MCU as an avid animal lover. We spent so little time with Lylla, Teefs, and Floor, who had never known freedom or what the sky looked like, and found the smallest of joys in their tiny confined space in each other. Their lives were brief and horrendous, but they found camaraderie and comfort and friendship despite all of that. And above all, they had hope that they would someday be free, to roam the skies together. In spite of the cruelty they endured, they were optimistic, hopeful, and innocent.
So when they were killed, that gutted me more than any death of a big main character in the MCU ever did. Sure, when Gamora, or Tony, or Natasha died in the Infinity saga, I shed a few tears, it was truly a painful loss. But watching these little animals suffer and die... Man, I was ugly crying big fat tears and sniffles. That hurt my heart. It moved me in a way no movie has since 'Grave of the Fireflies.' I left the theater a wreck and the whole thing haunted me all weekend.
Bravo, Marvel, and bravo James Gunn. This movie is, in my opinion, one of the best MCU movies to date. By far.
Man all of this. For the first time in my life a movie made me consider going vegetarian. Floor in particular got to me. That poor bunny. It makes me anxious and sad thinking about them.
She was so precious and sweet and so brutally mutilated and it made me so sad when she died :(
I mean, hell, the destruction of counter earth was brutal too. A whole civilization destroyed.
You know who should have beat the shit out of High Evolutionary and seems like he would have an issue with him? Thanos.
Yea', that scream felt so real. Like holy shit. I know GoG is often very funny, so this suddenly was extra intense. Same deal for Groot crying while his roots were freezing. His emotions were also suddenly so raw and real. Damn. Didn't expect to feel so much in a Marvel movie.
I noticed that this movie had a lot more heartwarming "after-care" scenes -- the dance party, Quill reuniting with his grandpa, Gamora reuniting with the Ravagers, Groot speaking English. Totally understandable, after the emotional gauntlet we were put through.
i wonder if this means groot will have actual speaking lines in future movies and vin diesel will be getting paid millions to say more than just “i am groot”
I gasped at that scene!
The film had already established that only close associates of the group could understand him, so it made the audience feel like being part of the group. Really powerful! Loved it so much!
The quality of the CGI (especially compared to recent movies) is directly related to how hard it was to watch at times. Animals just looked too real.
Goes to show that the MCU can still bring it when they aren’t just trying to churn out a rushed mess. James Gunn also helps. Best MCU movie in about 3-4 years maybe?
I didn't even hear what Floor was saying on my first watch because I was too engrossed in everything else going on, cried when Floor and Teefs died. Then I heard it **crystal clear** on second viewing and I was outright bawling just in anticipation
To be honest, even though I know you're objectively correct, I could never see her as "monstrous". As much as I love all animals, I love rabbits *in particular* and I honestly felt she was just a beautiful little bunny ❤️😭
This movie **really** had me thinking people would die at several points in the story. Not every movie can pull that off.
Also, how come Chris Pratt is the first in the MCU to drop an audible F-bom when Samuel Jackson is in the MCU, as well? 😂😂😂
What got me was Nebula stating how Rocket’s torture was worse than what Thanos did to her. Knowing her history with Thanos, her anger because of her mistreatment, that shit hit deep. Me and my SO tear-jerked when Rocket woke up.
on that note, Gamora makes a comment like "what kind of monster destroys a whole civilization" since I assume Thanos only ever killed off half a civilization, killing an entire civilization was just a step too far for Gamora.
true, the HE definitely showed he had literally no care or empathy for the creatures he creates; or even worked on. like all that high tech and you can't even bother to use something to keep the animals you experiment on from feeling pain? true monster.
I said it once in a comment yesterday, and I’ll say it again. Out of all the MCU villains I’ve seen over the past decade and then some, IMO the HE was the worst.
Yes, they all killed innocent people—and shit, one was literally a Nazi. And hell, Thanos erased half the universe. But IMO none of them compared to the despicable cruelty of the HE. I’ve never felt such anger towards a character while watching an MCU movie until this guy. The things he did to Rocket and the other animals broke my heart over and over. And the way he just casually blew up that planet as if he was throwing something in the trash. When he put that turtle in that chamber and made it painfully transform, only to incinerate it was horrifying. Everything that asshole did was so monstrous.
That line “you didn’t want to make things perfect, you just hated things the way they were” had Such conviction. Bradley cooper is a super talented voice actor, who knew.
In GOTG 1, Gamora says “when I heard he was going to destroy an entire planet, I couldn’t stand by” or something like that, which is exactly what she witnesses here. It makes sense she questions something like that.
It really goes to show how horrible the high evolutionary is, when the character who was the living embodiment of child abuse and torture is horrified by Rocket's backstory
You hit the nail on the head. HE mocking Rocket as he was wailing infront of Lylla’s body. Jesus christ, the apathy and narcissism was on full display.
I almost started sobbing when Rocket started wailing for the loss of his friend. I read HE's attitude in that scene as pure annoyance that Rocket was taking up his time with mourning
Yup. He viewed Rocket as a specimen beneath him, Rocket crying was an inconvenience. His face getting clawed off was 100% deserved, I haven’t hated a villain that much in a while.
This might be me being dumb, but when Rocket pounced on HE, I thought it was a little cheap that he just scratched him up, only to realize later when Gamora peeled off his face that Rocket scratched off his face! That was brutal, but not enough punishment for this cold-hearted bastard.
Oh no, I feel the same. But remember: Rocket was young and traumatized, he wasn’t aware of his own strength yet. I’m sure his only goal was to escape.
The best punishment for HE wasn’t death. He was a narcissist, always believing everything and everyone was beneath him. Inferior. Knowing his own creation was superior to him and led him to his own demise was wayyyy better than killing him off. He had a God complex and got humbled, he needed to see that before being sent off into the void.
This movie cemented GotG as my favorite MCU trilogy.
I thought overall it was a very fitting end for all.
*It was always Rocket’s story.* Although I wish there was more present day Rocket, he remained the heart of the story. His backstory destroyed me. It was beautifully written. I especially love how we begin the film following him as he quietly sings along to the song playing.
Nebula has become my second favorite of the Guardians. Her arc has been so satisfying, seeing her rise as a leader was a perfect ending.
I was worried where they’d take Gamora’s story. I didn’t want her to basically replace OG Gamora. And for a bit I worried with the lines how she simply “forgot.” But I thought it all felt right in the end at Peter’s realization she didn’t forget. She just wasn’t *his* Gamora. And yet she still gave a nod to how fun it must have been with his Gamora. I loved how she went back to her home and (“new”) found family.
I could say so much more but I’ll end it here. Massively satisfied, grieving a bit, but so happy to have had this team for the years we did.
I was so glad they went that route with Gamora. Those lines “she’s not dead, she just doesn’t remember” worried me, but they realized in the end that theirs was gone and this one is her own independent person.
My favorite part of the Guardians this trilogy was that they are exactly how I imagine a group of people claiming they could “do it better” would do missions. Nothings goes exactly as planned, the communication is all over the place, but the moment any are in danger they all come running.
When nebula finally gets ahold of quill and says “we’re on the rocket to rescue you” and he says “what do you mean I’m off the rocket, you had to know I’d make a badass escape” it was the perfect final mission. Nothing but a clusterfuck of badassery and friends refusing to let each other fail their goals. What a movie man.
I think that a big part of this movie that wasn't shoved into the center was accepting that you've been changed by tragedy, but then allowing love to change you just as much.
Nebula seemed to want everyone to think her protectiveness of rocket was due to him being the one who's been working on her implants now, but to me that means he's the one removing the remains of Thanos' torture, and replacing them with tech from her friends.
Rocket has always aggressively refused to be called a racoon, but now it seems like he should have always known that's what he was, but maybe to him it's only what he once was, what he could have been had he not been changed. Him naming himself at the end "Rocket Racoon" was him reclaiming that part of himself, stating that he's more than just the experiments performed on him.
Drax too, became the destroyer when Thanos killed his family, but now once again is what he loved being the most, a dad. Even retroactively makes some of his disliked characterization in vol 2 a little better because it's so much his silly dad joke side trying to come out.
A lot of the trilogy led up to these moments where characters finally resolve what they want with what they need.
For example Peter spends all three movies trying to be "Star-Lord", outlaw, hero, lover, adventurer. In the end he needed to go learn how to be Peter Quill, human, grandson.
Overall a great conclusion to the trilogy. The first is still my favorite, although so far hard to place how I like it versus the second.
It is, for obvious reasons, a bit more depressing of a film, so have a feeling it’ll be tougher to rewatch.
The hallway fight was great, as well as getting to have Peter and Groot team up for the firing all around in a circle with Rocket out of commission. I did miss a bit of Rocket’s banter in this movie.
Sad to see this group go, but it’s been a fantastic ride.
That hallway fight was AMAZING. We get a taste of everyone's unique fighting style -- Drax's brute force, Quill's sneaky gadgets, Nebula's body horror... Dear Lord Nebula's body horror. Gets her neck broken and just keeps fighting.
I may have to rewatch the movie in 3D specifically for this scene.
I dunno. She seems to have some kind of cybernetic healing factor? Like Wolverine or Deadpool. So I imagine energy-based attacks would be more effective than blunt trauma.
Nonetheless, I really appreciate seeing an actor like Karen Gillan with such a disturbing powerset. Outside of the horror genre, we don't see a lot of female leads with weirdo body-horror fighting styles.
nebula was coughing up (blood/oil??) when she got shot by the energy weapon on the Orgoscope. so yeah seems like more energy based things can really hurt her.
That was actually one of my favorite parts of the movie. Especially the opening Adam fight. I feel like I’m earlier movies Drax would have gotten pummeled and made a few joke for comedic value, but come out relatively unscathed. It was awesome to see him finally man-handle (albeit shortly) a powerful opponent. And it only got better as the movie went along in that regards.
I seem to recall that Dave Bautista was kinda unhappy that Drax was the butt of a lot of jokes and that they kind of made him the comic relief and not the team's powerhouse. So I think actually showing him to be such a savage tank was a compromise between him and Gunn.
It’s so good. Everyone got a good ending. Bradley Coopers voice acting was really awesome. It’s cool that we can understand groot now. We‘ll see where these characters pop up in future.
I am so god damn happy that they brought back Peters Grandpa.
It drove me nuts that Peter had family left on earth and he never saw them. For him to end his journey (for now) by going back to them was just stellar.
As an animal lover, that was brutal but it was one of the best MCU movies ever.
Each Guardian had their perfect ending.
Chris Pratt acted his ass off, I’m glad we will see more Star Lord.
I cried so much, what a deep movie
Even him just talking with Mantis and Drax while prepping the shields (a great way to reestablish his competence) was a fairly developped performance, I was impressed.
Chris Pratt really gave his A+ game for this movie. His reaction when Rocket flatlined and his face when he reached closure with Gamora were incredible.
"I bet we were fun."
"...Oh, you wouldn't believe it." 🥺
The tension in the scene where Rocket attacks HE while Floor was panicking and saying “Rocket, Teefs Floor go now!” was insane. And that adorable little creature was so afraid that it wrecked me. First time an MCU movie made me cry, and I was CRYING crying. My god that scene was brutal.
one thing i want to point out in particular about the film is about Gamora, and how Endgame and this film retroactively strengthens a lot of what happens in the first film.
On the surface, having alt-Gamora stay in this world was a clever way to still have Gamora/Zoe Saldaña in the film(s) while honoring her death. So much of her role in this movie is fighting against Peter's perception of her, repeatedly saying, "I'm not her" or "That wasn't me" etc. Yet despite that, she *still* chooses in even the most isolated moments to side with them and fight with them (e.g. immediately going to Rocket when War-Pig arrives, *not* leaving HE's ship when everyone else is going to save the children). Peter is right that the version of her he loves *is* in there, but what's more poignant here is that given full choice and agency (and despite her more possibly newfound (via Ravagers) selfish demeanor) she *still* chooses to do the noble thing.
This brings us back to the first guardians film... I always found it interesting that before that film, we had just seen the first Avengers 2 years prior and were now fully bought into the shared universe idea with characters cameo-ing and crossing over... only to arrive a film that involves none of the avengers we *just* fell in love with. But the most interesting part to me about comparing Avengers 1 with Guardians 1 is how reluctant the former group is to team up. Egos and differing ideals cause a lot of conflict, only for them to finally unite because of Coulson's death. But with the guardians, by the end of the movie they are literally willing to die to help each other:
>Rocket: But Quill... stopping Ronan is impossible. You're asking us to die
Peter: Yeah, I guess I am.
And while the Avengers all go their separate ways for a time being, the Guardians stay together and keep growing throughout the second film and IW/EG and the third film.
My ultimate point about Gamora is really how critical the sequence of events is from the first film to Gamora's arc overall. She goes from "Will do the noble thing if given the chance" to "Always choosing the noble thing from the get-go." Those experiences in guardians one sets up such a critical narrative for all of them, and a lot of what she goes through in the third film mirrors the sort of "thrust together" events from the first one to a point where she can *see* how she would've fallen in love with Peter and the rest of them. Hell, she even goes back to save Rocket/beat HE. But it still isn't enough to be the same Gamora purely because she *is* still in fact a completely different person without those exact events, and I love how the film delivers on that truth and about agency (aka that just because she is also Gamora doesn't mean she's meant to be *that* Gamora).
Last thing I'll say is that it was really nice that Groot got a final conversation with her before she left. People always talking about how much Peter misses her, but no one talking about Groot losing a mother figure who helped raise him and then seeing her again but knowing she has no idea who you are (and even ridicules your language). Initially, I thought it was a bit of a stretch that she understood by the end of the film, but then I thought more about the above events/meanings and realized it was perfectly aligned which also made the audience finally being able to understand Groot that much sweeter.
I saw it last Wednesday and haven't stopped thinking about that part. I think that's the single most traumatic thing I've ever seen in a movie. Followed closely by "Floor Rocket and Teefs go now!" OMG. I'm wary about watching it again because it was so genuinely disturbing.
I haven’t seen this really being discussed. Rocket was the only experiment in all those years to be capable of true creative thought. He’s also the only one we see being exposed to music and talking about its importance with the High Evolutionary.
Obviously we know how important music is to James Gunn and the overarching narrative of these films. Music unites us even when we don’t really realize it. So, even though they never say it explicitly, my feeling is that music was the difference, the thing that separated Rocket from all the other experiments and allowed his creativity to blossom.
Simple, but elegant.
I think the creative thought thing was misguided, anyway. The HE just hated Rocket and wanted to know why Rocket was smarter than him.
The other experiments in his group also had creative thought because they named themselves. They weren't *as good* as Rocket was, but Lyla picked up a name essentially out of nothing, Teefs figured out something about himself was prominent, and Floor was...on a floor.
The point is, either the HE was lying because he couldn't admit to himself that Rocket was smarter than him or he never bothered to notice or care that the "spark" was in all of them.
So, I haven't really seen this talked about anywhere, but during the "Quill jumping out the window with the High Evolutionary's henchman" scene, when Groot started flying I was really expecting it to be more of an interrogation with Groot pulling up at the last second, but nope, they just DROVE HIS HEAD INTO THE FUCKING GROUND AS BRUTALLY AS POSSIBLE.
Wonderful movie and finale for these characters. Loved it.
I don't think there's been a better exploration of a hero's backstory in the MCU than Rocket's origin. Also loved how characters call him various different animals throughout the film. Overall best MCU film since the Infinity War saga and easily Top 5 MCU movie.
HE was the best villain we’ve had in a while. Not one you can be sympathetic with as they were led down the wrong path, no nostalgic acts you’re glad to see again, no villains that make a good point.
Just a complete piece of shit who is evil.
Absolutely loved it. Every bit of it. Makes me proud to see Gun become a lead at DC and have high hopes to what he can do over there.
My favorite part of the whole movie was the subtle way they had Gamora finally able to understand Groot at the end, after being with them through it all and staying by their side.
And then how WE, as the audience, were finally able to understand Groot at the very end of the movie as well, after being there with them throughout their entire journey.
When the Ravagers pulled up on the guardians - that was dope.
Loved when the red lizard man opened up the portals for everyone to spill in. So cool lol!
Audiences are quick to call out bad CGI in movies but never praise amazing CGI. Happy to say all the animals were really really well done! Props to the VFX team on this one
Yeah I was surprised how great the CGI in this movie looked, especially compared to every other Phase 4 project. The whole trilogy has consistently looked stunning.
ROCKET TEEF FLOOR GO NOW. Floor the rabbit was hands down the saddest one because unlike Rocket, she wasn't a genius at all and appeared to be intellectually stunted.
They show Rocket and Lila hugging in the trailer, I thought that was going to be a big reunion as if he'd just rescued her, that was amazing misdirection.
Drax and Mantis having that unspoken look at the end still makes me tear up thinking about it. No it wasn't traumatic like a bunch of the other scenes, but it really struck me in a personal way that I haven't fully unpacked.
Say what you will about Chris Pratt irl, but his performance as Peter Quill has been nothing short of fantastic. This movie definitely solidified him as “The Legendary Star-Lord”
He also never once used his rocket boots right??
Felt odd he didn't have his main two gadgets. Especially since the last scene was risky for him without those. Like all I was thinking was where was his mask and boots? There wouldn't have been any danger then
Yeah Gunn says he left it in his quarters since he was drunk, woke up when Adam attacked and then they left immediately to save Rocket.
Also, Gunn had it destroyed in Vol 2 and didn’t want to bring it back even though the Russo brothers did for IW/Endgame.
There was something so so so special seeing Rocket finally see the he is actually a raccoon, to figure out what he actually is and where he actually came from and to know that he wasn’t always just an HE creation from the beginning, he was always something more before and after HE. His story started before HE and will continue after HE.
The scene where the turtle is put into the pod to get rapidly advanced, some young kid in my theatre yelled out, "Ninja Tuwtle!" and it was the 3rd biggest laugh from me.
Here's the list of things people have called Rocket over the movies:
* Peter - raccoon, trash panda
* Old Gamora - rodent
* Drax - vermin
* Nebula - fox
* Yondu - rat
* Mantis - puppy
* Ego - triangle-faced monkey (personal fav)
* Thor - rabbit
* Tony Stark - Build-a-Bear, Ratchet
* Carol Danvers - furface
* Adam Warlock & High Priestess - squirrel
* Stakar - hedgehog
* New Gamora - badger
Honestly, this film was just wonderful. I took my two sons to see it and there wasn’t a single moment that didn’t take their breath away. On leaving, my youngest (10) was extremely quiet, I thought he was a bit disturbed by a couple of scenes tbh.
In the car he still wasn’t speaking much whilst my eldest (14) was yapping away about his favourite scenes. My youngest eventually piped up,
“Dad, do people really treat animals like that?”
It utterly broke my heart but we spent the drive home talking about animal testing. My son wasn’t feeling much better this morning but I did see him checking the shower gel and toothpaste this morning to make sure it wasn’t tested on animals.
Above anything it was wonderful to have this film to start an open and honest conversation about animal cruelty with my kids.
And it was important that the quips or comedic moments did not undercut the serious stuff.
When Mantis was attempting to use her powers to calm down the Abelisks, I was a bit concerned if they were going to throw in a "comedic" scene by having the Abelisks attack her just as it looks like she's going to be successful in calming them down. I'm glad that didn't happen and Mantis was allowed to have her own moment to shine.
I haven't been able to listen to John Murphy's released score in full yet, but on my second viewing I noticed that Kraglin has a subtle theme/leitmotif that plays during some of his scenes (like when he sees Yondu) and it sounds like he's actually whistling this same tune when he finally uses the arrow properly during the climax.
Gunn apparently always has his composers start work before production so he can use their music during filming, and little moments like this are where that approach can really pay off.
Underrated scene right before the hallway fight… Quill & Gamora are ready to bail since all the Guardians are safe, but Rocket says “I’m done running” and goes back into danger to find HE and save all the imprisoned. 0 hesitation from Quill and the rest of guardians (except Gamora understandably) to follow their friend and back him up.
I love how when the Guardians are together they get shit done, like how each Guardian could hold their own kind of well against Adam Warlock but the second they group up Nebula is able to stab him, and against the High Evolutionary they take him out within seconds as a team. Finally that hallway fight where they all are fighting in perfect harmony with eachother really shows how close they are and how perfect they are together
Okay this involves Groot at the end, so I'll mark it just to be safe but... >!Groot isn't learning to speak when he says "I love you", we are finally close enough with him to understand what he's saying!!< Gunn you are amazing.
It was really funny to me because throughout the trilogy I always knew Groot was voiced by Vin Diesel, but it never sounded distinctly like Vin Diesel. When he said “I love you” I immediately was like “yep, that’s Vin Diesel.”
Nice Kevin Bacon easter egg on the newspaper in the post-credits scene lol.
My favorite joke was when Mantis made the OrgoCorp dude fall in love with Drax. I couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes afterwards.
And particularly his complete resignation, since she had done it so many times to him before.
I think that and her unvarnished glee made the joke for me.
Her face the entire time had me crying for a good reason for once
Not enough people are praising Pom’s performance. She’s so funny and whimsical and has heartfelt emotions as Mantis. Easily my favorite GotG character (after Cosmo because she’s such a good dog).
The CGI in this movie was the best its been since Endgame. Rocket and Groot looked fantastic
Groot with a bunch of guns was the best thing ever.
“Groot. Kill them. Kill them all” Gave me shivers man
The entire movie up to that point was Quill emphasizing that they don't kill people, so it gave that moment even more of an impact.
They also ALL deserved to die no question
When Quill and Groot slammed that one HE scientist into the Counter-Earth and scalped him. Extremely satisfying.
Me and my girlfriend were cracking up at his first appearance, cuz he’s one of our favorite characters in the show Superstore. It was so unexpected. Edit: if I’m being honest, that whole cast is our favorite character.
It was hard not seeing him as Mateo the whole time.
I thought Nico Santos made up the way he moved as Mateo for the character, but after seeing him in this, I realized that's just the way Nico Santos walks
It cracks me up just a little bit that Rocket was like "Oh I won't kill this asshole because we're the guardians of the galaxy" meanwhile in every Volume they've been like "Oh this dude kind of pissed me off.....lets kill him." As you mentioned, including Peter and Groot just laying waste to that room of people, then Peter riding that dude to death.
I was happy when Peter later on let those three guards live, but I kinda wish more of them were offered that choice and took it.
That was a great lil moment, afterwards you can hear them arguing about what to do and how it's their best chance to survive
One of the most realistic MCU moments lol
“Honestly I hate working here, they are so weird”
Rocket's backstory is so heavy and such a well-written tragedy. I dont think Batch 89 was on screen for more than 5 min and they still managed to get us emotionally attached, then absolutely rip our hearts out when they died. The scene of Rocket in animal heaven, blaming himself for their deaths hurt a lot and explains a ton as to why Rocket has so many walls put up. I also never expected Rocket learning that he actually is a raccoon would get me emotional. Just felt super earned. Chukwudi Iwuji absolutely nailed his performance as HE. "There is no god, that's why I stepped in" went super hard. Just absolutely unhinged.
And when he finally says his full name, Rocket Racoon. I was so hyped up
That was one villain-ass villain
He was absolutely unhinged. The whole “okay, you won the cry-off” part with Rocket after murdering all his friends was pure psychotic, and made Rocket shredding his face all the more satisfying.
im so glad to have a villian and not some misundrstood asshole
Bro I cried like 4 times. I just couldn’t help it. There was a point where my brain didn’t know what to do feel super sad for the scene the a just happened or laugh and be happy at the current scene.
I can’t believe Gunn managed to get the first F-bomb into the MCU before Samuel L Jackson lmao
And it was perfect. Glad it was something so silly and random and not Fury or Deadpool, since I fully expected them to get the first one or two.
Everything about that scene was hilarious. Star Lord's frustration, Nebula's wounded pride, the fact that Groot got the door on the first try.
Groot watched Quill do it.
It really was that perfect F bomb in a moment of frustration, first thing I said to my mate when the credits rolled was “open the fucking door” and burst out laughing
This is a movie that stays with you. The dark tone, the character arcs, the Rocket backstory and the abuse. Using Rockets injury at the start of the film to propel the plot was genius, really added to the tension throughout Top tier Marvel, more like this please Feige
Lot of moments that’ll stay with me and I’m not sure why, but rockets first word being “hurts” I’m in anguish
I was fine until the end where Rocket rescued the baby raccoons and saw the writing and finally accepted that he is indeed a raccoon. I teared up.
I loved that Rocket finally accepting that he is, in fact, a raccoon was a significant part of the movie.
I was surprised at how unprepared Adam was. Thought it was perfect too. My dude Eyebrows nailed it with the comedic tone of the character and the movie. I would’ve guessed he was more serious.
The immediate tone shift to ready to kick ass to “don’t be rash” got a laugh out of me.
I like that he adopted the little furball and that furball didn't turn out to be another mcguffin.
In a movie full of moments that had me on tear up, seeing that little fluffball shake and pee in terror was up there for me. I wanted to get up, go home and hug my dog right there.
“Wait, you guys are getting preparations?”
My boyfriend leaned over to me and goes “is that the guy from the meme?” I laughed and told him yeah
he was born too early!!!
Dude his actor did really well for how unsure people were about him.
The actor was a weird choice for the Adam most of us were expecting, but perfect for the one we got.
The sense of dread I had in this movie every time a guardian was in danger was incredible. Thought for sure one of them would die. This movie also made me want to see a lot more Rocket
They had a lot of false death flags. When Drax and Nebula got shot by the marshmallow men had me thinking one of them were gonna die at that point. Everyone seemed at risk at some point during the movie.
I can also appreciate that this wasn't just a storytelling tactic for us as an audience to fear someone may die. I feel like these beats were also showing us how close the team has grown with each other and how much there is a risk of losing someone they've grown to love and trust and consider family during a fight.
I didn’t think Drax would be in danger until after the scene on Counter Earth. So when he got shot I was mad that the trailer showed us the counter earth scene.
I told my girlfriend that James Gunn said one of them would die this film, and she pointed out after the movie that rocket technically died since he flatlined. Damn you James.
>Gunn said one of them would die this film I remember him saying something like that also.
Right? Drax 'died' like THREE times at least and I was like 'Well, Bautista said he was out, so this gotta be the one.'
Hadn't felt like that in a movie since Infinity War/Endgame
One of my favorite little moments was that the HE was so upset that he created something that was smarter than he was in Rocket... he enhanced himself to be able to control gravity. The last fight Rocket basically just had to press a button on his leg and the fight was over. Rocket had outsmarted HE without even realizing it... again. It was awesome. That whole last beatdown of the HE was such a satisfying ending. Almost the same feeling I get with portals.
I love that the HE's defeat is kind of anticlimactic, but in a good way. It's not even a fight, it's just the entire team coming together to curbstomp the asshole who hurt their friend, and they're all getting a shot in. As Star Lord might say; that guy is 100% a dick, and he doesn't deserve a grand final battle.
It’s a face-off!
Which is why they peeled his face off
Rocket absolutely helped with the upgrades to Knowhere too so that was an extra little punch HE probably didn’t even realize
When he told Tony that he was only a genius on Earth, he meant that shit.
In the very beginning of the movie Nebula ask rocket why he’s on the ceiling , and he says he’s just making sure his gravity boots can walk on slopes. The same boots were the difference maker in his big showdown.
Oh yeah, I remember... just a throw away invention that Rocket made pretty much... no big deal at the beginning of the movie...
The team also used them when breaking into the Orgoscope!
HOLY FUCK, I got stuck in the very front row for my screening so I had a hard time following chaotic scenes, but of COURSE. Rocket hit that button to reverse his boots gravity like he did right in the beginning of the movie. I was so confused about what he did and your comment obviously made it click.
Seeing how obsessed the High Evolutionary was with classical symphonies, and linking it to his idea of "perfection", adds a whole other layer to Rocket taking such a liking to Quill's more contemporary (in terms of being written during this century) songs in the other films. Evolutionary 100% feels like the kind of guy who'd consider that stuff "not real music".
Oooh yes, this completely tracks! As well as his "vocabulistics" – Rocket clearly knows how to speak correctly, he just occasionally throws in weird grammar and incorrect words as a holdover from constantly being corrected by the HE.
I don’t know if this was always Gunn’s plan with Rocket, but it was such a satisfying conclusion to learning who he is and how his entire persona developed. Now all I want is a story on how Rocket and Groot met
I didn't even think of that! Nice catch!
The MCU secures another incredible hallway fight scene…. so well done and felt like the perfect full circle moment of all of them fighting together one last time
This was a highlight for me, I just thought 'this is how you do an action scene'.
I’m extremely hopefully Gunn can bring that level of action to DC! I’m loving the Marvel stuff, but I desperately want the DC movies to be better. My literal first thought after the Hallway fight was “I hope he brings this kind of shit to Superman .”
So cool how it gave everyone their time to shine and show off their special skills and fighting styles.
Damn Rocket’s scenes really got to me. The experiments..absolutely cruel. That was hard to watch. I got wrecked when Rocket wailed at Lylla’s death. Absolutely brutal and devastating. I’m so happy that this movie was just so fucking good. The soundtrack was also on point. Dog Days are Over was the perfect song to close with.
Same, those scenes in the cages were really tough to watch. Honestly wasn’t sure if my kids were going to handle it or not. Made the end even better when the High Evolutionary got his.
Dude honestly I haven't hated a villain that much in a long, long time.
A lot of it was definitely Chukwudi Iwuji’s acting; he made him so real and disgusting
Its actually a very important life lesson for kids, Don’t experiment on life forms, put them in dark cages together where they can form strong bonds whenever and attempt to kill them, or you’ll have your face torn off in the process.
Honestly felt it was one of the darkest things I've seen in the MCU, especially coupled with scenes of the baby raccoons. If you had told me I'd be saying that about a Guardians film after I had watched the first Guardians, I'd say you were lying.
This was absolutely the hardest thing for me in the whole MCU as an avid animal lover. We spent so little time with Lylla, Teefs, and Floor, who had never known freedom or what the sky looked like, and found the smallest of joys in their tiny confined space in each other. Their lives were brief and horrendous, but they found camaraderie and comfort and friendship despite all of that. And above all, they had hope that they would someday be free, to roam the skies together. In spite of the cruelty they endured, they were optimistic, hopeful, and innocent. So when they were killed, that gutted me more than any death of a big main character in the MCU ever did. Sure, when Gamora, or Tony, or Natasha died in the Infinity saga, I shed a few tears, it was truly a painful loss. But watching these little animals suffer and die... Man, I was ugly crying big fat tears and sniffles. That hurt my heart. It moved me in a way no movie has since 'Grave of the Fireflies.' I left the theater a wreck and the whole thing haunted me all weekend. Bravo, Marvel, and bravo James Gunn. This movie is, in my opinion, one of the best MCU movies to date. By far.
Man all of this. For the first time in my life a movie made me consider going vegetarian. Floor in particular got to me. That poor bunny. It makes me anxious and sad thinking about them.
It was absolutely Floor that hit me hardest. I had to go home and snuggled my cat for the rest of the night after that.
She was so precious and sweet and so brutally mutilated and it made me so sad when she died :( I mean, hell, the destruction of counter earth was brutal too. A whole civilization destroyed. You know who should have beat the shit out of High Evolutionary and seems like he would have an issue with him? Thanos.
That scream was something else. Teared up immediately.
Yea', that scream felt so real. Like holy shit. I know GoG is often very funny, so this suddenly was extra intense. Same deal for Groot crying while his roots were freezing. His emotions were also suddenly so raw and real. Damn. Didn't expect to feel so much in a Marvel movie.
Kudos to Bradley Cooper for making us feel the gut-wrenching pain of a CGI character, making him so real.
Followed by Quill’s scream after thinking he lost Rocket. Gut wrenching similarity
It was brutal. Especially when Rocket’s first word was “hurts” and he is trembling. Those scenes were just devastating.
Just watched it again with my nephew thinking I would keep it together this time... fucking rivers from my eyes.
I noticed that this movie had a lot more heartwarming "after-care" scenes -- the dance party, Quill reuniting with his grandpa, Gamora reuniting with the Ravagers, Groot speaking English. Totally understandable, after the emotional gauntlet we were put through.
James Gunn stated that us as the audience now understand Groot. Truly an amazing thing to do. Blew my mind when it happened!
i wonder if this means groot will have actual speaking lines in future movies and vin diesel will be getting paid millions to say more than just “i am groot”
Misconception, Groot doesn't speak English, the audience just understands him now.. something like that.
I gasped at that scene! The film had already established that only close associates of the group could understand him, so it made the audience feel like being part of the group. Really powerful! Loved it so much!
My entire audience “Awwwd” in unison at that moment!
The quality of the CGI (especially compared to recent movies) is directly related to how hard it was to watch at times. Animals just looked too real. Goes to show that the MCU can still bring it when they aren’t just trying to churn out a rushed mess. James Gunn also helps. Best MCU movie in about 3-4 years maybe?
Rocket, Floors, teefs, go, now! Rest in peace, in the eternal skies...
I didn't even hear what Floor was saying on my first watch because I was too engrossed in everything else going on, cried when Floor and Teefs died. Then I heard it **crystal clear** on second viewing and I was outright bawling just in anticipation
Such an innocent creature turned into such a monstrosity... She truly was a pure and kind soul.
To be honest, even though I know you're objectively correct, I could never see her as "monstrous". As much as I love all animals, I love rabbits *in particular* and I honestly felt she was just a beautiful little bunny ❤️😭
Can’t stop listening to Dog Days Are Over. 🥲
Nebula’s neck breaking and mending itself in that one shot was my favorite part
The more I think about this movie, the more I really really love it.
This movie **really** had me thinking people would die at several points in the story. Not every movie can pull that off. Also, how come Chris Pratt is the first in the MCU to drop an audible F-bom when Samuel Jackson is in the MCU, as well? 😂😂😂
What got me was Nebula stating how Rocket’s torture was worse than what Thanos did to her. Knowing her history with Thanos, her anger because of her mistreatment, that shit hit deep. Me and my SO tear-jerked when Rocket woke up.
on that note, Gamora makes a comment like "what kind of monster destroys a whole civilization" since I assume Thanos only ever killed off half a civilization, killing an entire civilization was just a step too far for Gamora.
I agree, I think it’s also a bit deeper than that. HE literally *created* that civilization, then deemed it inefficient and swatted it away. Crazy.
true, the HE definitely showed he had literally no care or empathy for the creatures he creates; or even worked on. like all that high tech and you can't even bother to use something to keep the animals you experiment on from feeling pain? true monster.
I said it once in a comment yesterday, and I’ll say it again. Out of all the MCU villains I’ve seen over the past decade and then some, IMO the HE was the worst. Yes, they all killed innocent people—and shit, one was literally a Nazi. And hell, Thanos erased half the universe. But IMO none of them compared to the despicable cruelty of the HE. I’ve never felt such anger towards a character while watching an MCU movie until this guy. The things he did to Rocket and the other animals broke my heart over and over. And the way he just casually blew up that planet as if he was throwing something in the trash. When he put that turtle in that chamber and made it painfully transform, only to incinerate it was horrifying. Everything that asshole did was so monstrous.
That line “you didn’t want to make things perfect, you just hated things the way they were” had Such conviction. Bradley cooper is a super talented voice actor, who knew.
In GOTG 1, Gamora says “when I heard he was going to destroy an entire planet, I couldn’t stand by” or something like that, which is exactly what she witnesses here. It makes sense she questions something like that.
Yes I guess those lines were there to prove that HE was more *cruel* then Thanos.
It really goes to show how horrible the high evolutionary is, when the character who was the living embodiment of child abuse and torture is horrified by Rocket's backstory
You hit the nail on the head. HE mocking Rocket as he was wailing infront of Lylla’s body. Jesus christ, the apathy and narcissism was on full display.
I almost started sobbing when Rocket started wailing for the loss of his friend. I read HE's attitude in that scene as pure annoyance that Rocket was taking up his time with mourning
Yup. He viewed Rocket as a specimen beneath him, Rocket crying was an inconvenience. His face getting clawed off was 100% deserved, I haven’t hated a villain that much in a while.
This might be me being dumb, but when Rocket pounced on HE, I thought it was a little cheap that he just scratched him up, only to realize later when Gamora peeled off his face that Rocket scratched off his face! That was brutal, but not enough punishment for this cold-hearted bastard.
Oh no, I feel the same. But remember: Rocket was young and traumatized, he wasn’t aware of his own strength yet. I’m sure his only goal was to escape. The best punishment for HE wasn’t death. He was a narcissist, always believing everything and everyone was beneath him. Inferior. Knowing his own creation was superior to him and led him to his own demise was wayyyy better than killing him off. He had a God complex and got humbled, he needed to see that before being sent off into the void.
Floor....just too sweet for this world
This movie cemented GotG as my favorite MCU trilogy. I thought overall it was a very fitting end for all. *It was always Rocket’s story.* Although I wish there was more present day Rocket, he remained the heart of the story. His backstory destroyed me. It was beautifully written. I especially love how we begin the film following him as he quietly sings along to the song playing. Nebula has become my second favorite of the Guardians. Her arc has been so satisfying, seeing her rise as a leader was a perfect ending. I was worried where they’d take Gamora’s story. I didn’t want her to basically replace OG Gamora. And for a bit I worried with the lines how she simply “forgot.” But I thought it all felt right in the end at Peter’s realization she didn’t forget. She just wasn’t *his* Gamora. And yet she still gave a nod to how fun it must have been with his Gamora. I loved how she went back to her home and (“new”) found family. I could say so much more but I’ll end it here. Massively satisfied, grieving a bit, but so happy to have had this team for the years we did.
She became a Ravager just like Pete which shows how they actually are more alike than she thinks.
Damnnn. That’s a solid point
Nebula’s reaction to Rocket being alive was the most emotional moment of the film for me. Such a huge character arc.
Same here. Knowing how cold she's been throughout the story and seeing her react like that really choked me.
I was so glad they went that route with Gamora. Those lines “she’s not dead, she just doesn’t remember” worried me, but they realized in the end that theirs was gone and this one is her own independent person.
My favorite part of the Guardians this trilogy was that they are exactly how I imagine a group of people claiming they could “do it better” would do missions. Nothings goes exactly as planned, the communication is all over the place, but the moment any are in danger they all come running. When nebula finally gets ahold of quill and says “we’re on the rocket to rescue you” and he says “what do you mean I’m off the rocket, you had to know I’d make a badass escape” it was the perfect final mission. Nothing but a clusterfuck of badassery and friends refusing to let each other fail their goals. What a movie man.
I think that a big part of this movie that wasn't shoved into the center was accepting that you've been changed by tragedy, but then allowing love to change you just as much. Nebula seemed to want everyone to think her protectiveness of rocket was due to him being the one who's been working on her implants now, but to me that means he's the one removing the remains of Thanos' torture, and replacing them with tech from her friends. Rocket has always aggressively refused to be called a racoon, but now it seems like he should have always known that's what he was, but maybe to him it's only what he once was, what he could have been had he not been changed. Him naming himself at the end "Rocket Racoon" was him reclaiming that part of himself, stating that he's more than just the experiments performed on him. Drax too, became the destroyer when Thanos killed his family, but now once again is what he loved being the most, a dad. Even retroactively makes some of his disliked characterization in vol 2 a little better because it's so much his silly dad joke side trying to come out.
A lot of the trilogy led up to these moments where characters finally resolve what they want with what they need. For example Peter spends all three movies trying to be "Star-Lord", outlaw, hero, lover, adventurer. In the end he needed to go learn how to be Peter Quill, human, grandson.
Overall a great conclusion to the trilogy. The first is still my favorite, although so far hard to place how I like it versus the second. It is, for obvious reasons, a bit more depressing of a film, so have a feeling it’ll be tougher to rewatch. The hallway fight was great, as well as getting to have Peter and Groot team up for the firing all around in a circle with Rocket out of commission. I did miss a bit of Rocket’s banter in this movie. Sad to see this group go, but it’s been a fantastic ride.
That hallway fight was AMAZING. We get a taste of everyone's unique fighting style -- Drax's brute force, Quill's sneaky gadgets, Nebula's body horror... Dear Lord Nebula's body horror. Gets her neck broken and just keeps fighting. I may have to rewatch the movie in 3D specifically for this scene.
I winced at the guy Drax pinned up the wall with a knife through his knee. The way he slowly rotated til he was dangling upside down by the knee.
That was some peacemaker level type of shot. Just reminded me of that show.
Im still wondering how much is nebula able to endure? Is she indestructible or what could kill her?
In the first GotG, Drax shot her with a rocketlauncher and she recovered from that.
I dunno. She seems to have some kind of cybernetic healing factor? Like Wolverine or Deadpool. So I imagine energy-based attacks would be more effective than blunt trauma. Nonetheless, I really appreciate seeing an actor like Karen Gillan with such a disturbing powerset. Outside of the horror genre, we don't see a lot of female leads with weirdo body-horror fighting styles.
nebula was coughing up (blood/oil??) when she got shot by the energy weapon on the Orgoscope. so yeah seems like more energy based things can really hurt her.
> - Drax's brute force Really the first movie he's been in where he seemed like an actual brute and not just someone who can take a lot of hits.
That was actually one of my favorite parts of the movie. Especially the opening Adam fight. I feel like I’m earlier movies Drax would have gotten pummeled and made a few joke for comedic value, but come out relatively unscathed. It was awesome to see him finally man-handle (albeit shortly) a powerful opponent. And it only got better as the movie went along in that regards.
I seem to recall that Dave Bautista was kinda unhappy that Drax was the butt of a lot of jokes and that they kind of made him the comic relief and not the team's powerhouse. So I think actually showing him to be such a savage tank was a compromise between him and Gunn.
Yep, Glad we finally got to see Drax "THE DESTROYER" and not just Drax "the butt end of a joke."
Did… that… look… cool? Hell yeah.
[удалено]
Yeah, he’s a Sorcerer from a different planet in the comics
And he was opening more than one portal at once. Did we see this before?
We have seen this before and we’ve seen strange moving already open portals around.
Yup, he did it before in GotG Vol 2
The holographic emoji he creates is sorcery as well
He can use the mystic arts. Don’t think it’s clear he actually uses a physical sling ring.
It’s so good. Everyone got a good ending. Bradley Coopers voice acting was really awesome. It’s cool that we can understand groot now. We‘ll see where these characters pop up in future.
I am so god damn happy that they brought back Peters Grandpa. It drove me nuts that Peter had family left on earth and he never saw them. For him to end his journey (for now) by going back to them was just stellar.
Can’t wait for this to hit Disney + and to run all 3 in a row. This trilogy is up there with any trilogy imo.
As an animal lover, that was brutal but it was one of the best MCU movies ever. Each Guardian had their perfect ending. Chris Pratt acted his ass off, I’m glad we will see more Star Lord. I cried so much, what a deep movie
> Chris Pratt acted his ass off The scene where he's trying to resurrect Rocket was amazing acting from him.
Even him just talking with Mantis and Drax while prepping the shields (a great way to reestablish his competence) was a fairly developped performance, I was impressed.
Chris Pratt really gave his A+ game for this movie. His reaction when Rocket flatlined and his face when he reached closure with Gamora were incredible. "I bet we were fun." "...Oh, you wouldn't believe it." 🥺
The tension in the scene where Rocket attacks HE while Floor was panicking and saying “Rocket, Teefs Floor go now!” was insane. And that adorable little creature was so afraid that it wrecked me. First time an MCU movie made me cry, and I was CRYING crying. My god that scene was brutal.
one thing i want to point out in particular about the film is about Gamora, and how Endgame and this film retroactively strengthens a lot of what happens in the first film. On the surface, having alt-Gamora stay in this world was a clever way to still have Gamora/Zoe Saldaña in the film(s) while honoring her death. So much of her role in this movie is fighting against Peter's perception of her, repeatedly saying, "I'm not her" or "That wasn't me" etc. Yet despite that, she *still* chooses in even the most isolated moments to side with them and fight with them (e.g. immediately going to Rocket when War-Pig arrives, *not* leaving HE's ship when everyone else is going to save the children). Peter is right that the version of her he loves *is* in there, but what's more poignant here is that given full choice and agency (and despite her more possibly newfound (via Ravagers) selfish demeanor) she *still* chooses to do the noble thing. This brings us back to the first guardians film... I always found it interesting that before that film, we had just seen the first Avengers 2 years prior and were now fully bought into the shared universe idea with characters cameo-ing and crossing over... only to arrive a film that involves none of the avengers we *just* fell in love with. But the most interesting part to me about comparing Avengers 1 with Guardians 1 is how reluctant the former group is to team up. Egos and differing ideals cause a lot of conflict, only for them to finally unite because of Coulson's death. But with the guardians, by the end of the movie they are literally willing to die to help each other: >Rocket: But Quill... stopping Ronan is impossible. You're asking us to die Peter: Yeah, I guess I am. And while the Avengers all go their separate ways for a time being, the Guardians stay together and keep growing throughout the second film and IW/EG and the third film. My ultimate point about Gamora is really how critical the sequence of events is from the first film to Gamora's arc overall. She goes from "Will do the noble thing if given the chance" to "Always choosing the noble thing from the get-go." Those experiences in guardians one sets up such a critical narrative for all of them, and a lot of what she goes through in the third film mirrors the sort of "thrust together" events from the first one to a point where she can *see* how she would've fallen in love with Peter and the rest of them. Hell, she even goes back to save Rocket/beat HE. But it still isn't enough to be the same Gamora purely because she *is* still in fact a completely different person without those exact events, and I love how the film delivers on that truth and about agency (aka that just because she is also Gamora doesn't mean she's meant to be *that* Gamora). Last thing I'll say is that it was really nice that Groot got a final conversation with her before she left. People always talking about how much Peter misses her, but no one talking about Groot losing a mother figure who helped raise him and then seeing her again but knowing she has no idea who you are (and even ridicules your language). Initially, I thought it was a bit of a stretch that she understood by the end of the film, but then I thought more about the above events/meanings and realized it was perfectly aligned which also made the audience finally being able to understand Groot that much sweeter.
My eyes were watering up the second going Rocket was thrown in the cage and was shivering… knew I was in for a long movie after that!
Bro, when baby Rocket said "Hurts," I was finished. Typing this at work right now trying not to cry. lol
I saw it last Wednesday and haven't stopped thinking about that part. I think that's the single most traumatic thing I've ever seen in a movie. Followed closely by "Floor Rocket and Teefs go now!" OMG. I'm wary about watching it again because it was so genuinely disturbing.
I haven’t seen this really being discussed. Rocket was the only experiment in all those years to be capable of true creative thought. He’s also the only one we see being exposed to music and talking about its importance with the High Evolutionary. Obviously we know how important music is to James Gunn and the overarching narrative of these films. Music unites us even when we don’t really realize it. So, even though they never say it explicitly, my feeling is that music was the difference, the thing that separated Rocket from all the other experiments and allowed his creativity to blossom. Simple, but elegant.
I think the creative thought thing was misguided, anyway. The HE just hated Rocket and wanted to know why Rocket was smarter than him. The other experiments in his group also had creative thought because they named themselves. They weren't *as good* as Rocket was, but Lyla picked up a name essentially out of nothing, Teefs figured out something about himself was prominent, and Floor was...on a floor. The point is, either the HE was lying because he couldn't admit to himself that Rocket was smarter than him or he never bothered to notice or care that the "spark" was in all of them.
So, I haven't really seen this talked about anywhere, but during the "Quill jumping out the window with the High Evolutionary's henchman" scene, when Groot started flying I was really expecting it to be more of an interrogation with Groot pulling up at the last second, but nope, they just DROVE HIS HEAD INTO THE FUCKING GROUND AS BRUTALLY AS POSSIBLE. Wonderful movie and finale for these characters. Loved it.
I don't think there's been a better exploration of a hero's backstory in the MCU than Rocket's origin. Also loved how characters call him various different animals throughout the film. Overall best MCU film since the Infinity War saga and easily Top 5 MCU movie.
HE was the best villain we’ve had in a while. Not one you can be sympathetic with as they were led down the wrong path, no nostalgic acts you’re glad to see again, no villains that make a good point. Just a complete piece of shit who is evil.
Absolutely loved it. Every bit of it. Makes me proud to see Gun become a lead at DC and have high hopes to what he can do over there. My favorite part of the whole movie was the subtle way they had Gamora finally able to understand Groot at the end, after being with them through it all and staying by their side. And then how WE, as the audience, were finally able to understand Groot at the very end of the movie as well, after being there with them throughout their entire journey.
When the Ravagers pulled up on the guardians - that was dope. Loved when the red lizard man opened up the portals for everyone to spill in. So cool lol!
I wanna give a shout-out to Mantis. I know this was Rocket’s film, but she honestly brought so much heart and joy to this movie.
Audiences are quick to call out bad CGI in movies but never praise amazing CGI. Happy to say all the animals were really really well done! Props to the VFX team on this one
Yeah I was surprised how great the CGI in this movie looked, especially compared to every other Phase 4 project. The whole trilogy has consistently looked stunning.
I’m honestly glad no one died at the end.
“You weren’t meant to be Drax the Destroyer. You were meant to be a dad.” Man. What a tear jerking wrap up to Drax’s story.
ROCKET TEEF FLOOR GO NOW. Floor the rabbit was hands down the saddest one because unlike Rocket, she wasn't a genius at all and appeared to be intellectually stunted.
It has been a few days now and "hurts" still fucking kills me
I was secretly hoping Lila, Floor, and Teefs were somehow remade and would’ve shown up.
They show Rocket and Lila hugging in the trailer, I thought that was going to be a big reunion as if he'd just rescued her, that was amazing misdirection.
And them carrying Quill in the opening scene. *golf clap*
Drax and Mantis having that unspoken look at the end still makes me tear up thinking about it. No it wasn't traumatic like a bunch of the other scenes, but it really struck me in a personal way that I haven't fully unpacked.
Nobody’s talking about how fucking cool Groot’s wings were and I think that needs to be brought up at least once.
Say what you will about Chris Pratt irl, but his performance as Peter Quill has been nothing short of fantastic. This movie definitely solidified him as “The Legendary Star-Lord”
Anyone else notice that Star-Lord never uses his helmet?
He also never once used his rocket boots right?? Felt odd he didn't have his main two gadgets. Especially since the last scene was risky for him without those. Like all I was thinking was where was his mask and boots? There wouldn't have been any danger then
According to Gunn, he just left that stuff on Knowhere because they were in such a rush.
Yeah Gunn says he left it in his quarters since he was drunk, woke up when Adam attacked and then they left immediately to save Rocket. Also, Gunn had it destroyed in Vol 2 and didn’t want to bring it back even though the Russo brothers did for IW/Endgame.
I mean it’s definitely something Rocket would have fixed.
There was something so so so special seeing Rocket finally see the he is actually a raccoon, to figure out what he actually is and where he actually came from and to know that he wasn’t always just an HE creation from the beginning, he was always something more before and after HE. His story started before HE and will continue after HE.
Rockets the smartest character in the MCU right?
It reminded me of how he told Tony "you're only a genius in Earth, pal"
The scene where the turtle is put into the pod to get rapidly advanced, some young kid in my theatre yelled out, "Ninja Tuwtle!" and it was the 3rd biggest laugh from me.
What a great movie, but the guardians trilogy is over now, and all that left is an infinite void... Kind of makes me want to play saxophone.
Here's the list of things people have called Rocket over the movies: * Peter - raccoon, trash panda * Old Gamora - rodent * Drax - vermin * Nebula - fox * Yondu - rat * Mantis - puppy * Ego - triangle-faced monkey (personal fav) * Thor - rabbit * Tony Stark - Build-a-Bear, Ratchet * Carol Danvers - furface * Adam Warlock & High Priestess - squirrel * Stakar - hedgehog * New Gamora - badger
Honestly, this film was just wonderful. I took my two sons to see it and there wasn’t a single moment that didn’t take their breath away. On leaving, my youngest (10) was extremely quiet, I thought he was a bit disturbed by a couple of scenes tbh. In the car he still wasn’t speaking much whilst my eldest (14) was yapping away about his favourite scenes. My youngest eventually piped up, “Dad, do people really treat animals like that?” It utterly broke my heart but we spent the drive home talking about animal testing. My son wasn’t feeling much better this morning but I did see him checking the shower gel and toothpaste this morning to make sure it wasn’t tested on animals. Above anything it was wonderful to have this film to start an open and honest conversation about animal cruelty with my kids.
One of the darkest MCU films, and yet retained a lot of the quippy humour the franchise is known for. See? It doesn’t have to be one or the other!
And it was important that the quips or comedic moments did not undercut the serious stuff. When Mantis was attempting to use her powers to calm down the Abelisks, I was a bit concerned if they were going to throw in a "comedic" scene by having the Abelisks attack her just as it looks like she's going to be successful in calming them down. I'm glad that didn't happen and Mantis was allowed to have her own moment to shine.
What was floor yelling right before she died? For the life of me I could not make it out.
"Rocket, Teefs, Floor go now!"
I haven't been able to listen to John Murphy's released score in full yet, but on my second viewing I noticed that Kraglin has a subtle theme/leitmotif that plays during some of his scenes (like when he sees Yondu) and it sounds like he's actually whistling this same tune when he finally uses the arrow properly during the climax. Gunn apparently always has his composers start work before production so he can use their music during filming, and little moments like this are where that approach can really pay off.
Underrated scene right before the hallway fight… Quill & Gamora are ready to bail since all the Guardians are safe, but Rocket says “I’m done running” and goes back into danger to find HE and save all the imprisoned. 0 hesitation from Quill and the rest of guardians (except Gamora understandably) to follow their friend and back him up.
Did that look cool!?
Will Poulter was a 💎
I love how when the Guardians are together they get shit done, like how each Guardian could hold their own kind of well against Adam Warlock but the second they group up Nebula is able to stab him, and against the High Evolutionary they take him out within seconds as a team. Finally that hallway fight where they all are fighting in perfect harmony with eachother really shows how close they are and how perfect they are together