[quote=Thomas Guycott;9583749]Nice sculp, but have fun when the rubber coating on those arms starts shredding itself to pieces. It's an issue which plagues every Hot Toys product with seamless limbs.
Thanks for that. I hadn't actually completed the order yet so I am going to hold off a bit and do some more research. I googled the issue and still have plenty of time before the figure is released. My 1966 Batman and Robin look great but they don't have the same type of arms. Thanks again.
While promoting Guardians Of The Galaxy in Bangkok, James Gunn fielded a few questions, and the subject of Peter Quill/Star Lord's father was brought up. The director has already confirmed that the mysterious figure won't be J'Son of Spartax as he is in the Marvel comics, and reiterates that here along with a few more hints on what type of man he will turn out to be (angel to peter's Mom, "jackass" to Yondu for example). But when Gunn is asked if we will definitely meet this character in Guardians sequel, he responds: “He’ll… be showing up pretty soon”.
Now obviously this isn't evidence that he'll definitely show up before GOTG 2, but since Gunn has previously said that the sequel would deal with the relationship between Star Lord and his dad, the fact that he hesitated and didn't just come straight out with a "yes" means that it's a possibility. So when could it be? Avengers: Age Of Ultron? Ant-Man? Might we have already met the guy and just don't know it yet?
Nice sculp, but have fun when the rubber coating on those arms starts shredding itself to pieces. It's an issue which plagues every Hot Toys product with seamless limbs.
Thanks for that. I hadn't actually completed the order yet so I am going to hold off a bit and do some more research. I googled the issue and still have plenty of time before the figure is released. My 1966 Batman and Robin look great but they don't have the same type of arms. Thanks again.
I have a number of Batman Hot Toys dolls and last year I did some internet research and a lot of people say this product will keep the rubber from drying apart and breaking.
Having seen this to see it, but also to see to try and cheer me up about Robin Williams, my reactions below are purely based on first reaction to the movie as a whole. Also, my screening's volume sounded like it was at 4 out of 10. As anyone knows here, sound can have a huge impact on the movie going experience.
My thoughts (I mention specific story points going by how long a sequence felt. So please don't hold me to them. Thank you. =]):
To get this out there, this movie needed to be 20-30 minutes longer. At least as long as The Avengers. And I'm sure everyone would want that considering (outside of the cinematography on Xandar) this movie is possibly the best looking Marvel Studios movie. Kudos to Joss Whedon on getting the cinematographer for Age of Ultron.
Somewhat like Inception's 5 minute prologue and all, we're thrown right into the story with 3 groups already set-out on their mission. Or a good reason to have had an extra 10 minutes after the prologue and awkward placement of the Marvel Studios' title card. We're introduced to characters in the oddest ways possible. Like this is a sequel and we're just now catching up with where the 5 heroes have been. To the point, the movie doesn't really get going until they break out of the space prison. I know movies usually take 30 minutes to get started, if it a 2 hour movie, however within those 30 minutes every thing feels somewhat up in the air tonally.
Once we're baked and out of the Klyn, we can finally get to the good stuff. We head off to the Wonderful Collector of Knowhere. Because let's face it, this is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz. Except, it doesn't want to admit it like Joss Whedon cleverly hinted at several times in The Avengers. Which was a big mis-step. Especially villain wise. (More on that in a second.) Once we get there, we're indulged with an abundance of easter eggs in plain site and Star Wars - Episode IV references. Easily making this section of the movie a highlight. Only up until the very out of the blue, somewhat third or fourth action set piece, yet is actually the first rumble against the bad guys. And I say out of the blue, almost literally considering Ronan's complexion, because one of our heroes just calls up the bad guys! What?! As an idea, that's actually pretty cool. Although, the execution of the sequence leaves a lot to be desired. I honestly could tell by the editing, that they had to make sure the audience wouldn't become confuse with who's in what identical flying pod. I know that's what editing is for, but the action was boarderline headache inducing. And that never happens to me.
After the chaotic chase, we're presented with a beautiful scene aka beautiful time for character development, where Star-Lord saves Gamora by willingly almost sacrificing his life. (C'mon now, no one important is going to die here). We cut to what should have been left at face value with Star-Lord growing as a character, perhaps even what should've been just the gaze first seen. What coulda, shoulda been this movie's version of Han Solo's famous 'I know' line, but is forfeited for an out of place womanizing joke! Much like Tony Stark cracking a sarcastic joke pertaining to Mark 42 crashing for the umteenth time. Just mere seconds after witnessing his girlfriend, Pepper Potts, seemingly fall to her demise! A scene between Star-Lord & Gamora that could have conveyed a sense of Gamora surprise to Star-Lord's seemingly heroic sacrifie. Where we could feel Gamora's trust of Star-Lord growing. With Star-Lord playing cool, conveying through his expression like, "Hey. Yeah, I got you. But don't mention it. Because it was the right thing to do" aka Gamora: "Holy cuss! You saved me?!" Star-Lord: "Yeah. Don't mention it." They had all that before the idiotic womanizing joke! Such a waste of a good moment.
On top of that, after begrudgingly liking him due to the fact his being a talking raccoon, we see a darker side of Rocket. With him wanting to just save his own skin. Why? Was seeing a drunk hero call up to confront his family's (at the time) muderer not enough already? This entire section of the movie caused such arrested character development. Everyone except Groot & Gamora had their head's on straight. Star-Lord to a degree, except for what I just mentioned. It takes almost 10 minutes until the awesome Cherry Bomb montage to get where we were 20 minutes ago after the prison break, and 10 minutes since arriving at Knowhere. Why? Ask James Gunn & Kevin Feige. Because those 20 minutes could've been handle a lot better. Honestly, thinking about it now, that's how Iron Man 3 handled the same 20 in the story in Tennessee. Oh, my gosh. That's totally a mirrored image. And once again, it's executed poorly. Like, Iron Man 3, the movie finally starts getting good again.
At this point in the movie, we finally get to the villain(s)'s final plan. As far as villains go, this movie handled them rather oddly. Remember when we had good comic book villains? I do, However, most are from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Beside those, we have had Marvel Studios' plan, with the exception of Loki, is villain of the week mentality for their villains. That's how most comic book movies go about villains. However, Marvel Studios doesn't have the best track record with theirs. Outside of Jeff Bridges' Obidiah Stane, Tim Roth's Blonsky, Tom Hiddleston's Loki, pre-Trevor reveal Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, and Sabastian Stan's Winter Soldier we've gotten paper thin villains. Which is a big shame. Out of those 5; 1's dead, 1's possibly dead, 1's locked up, 1's on the run, and 1's incognito. The rest? Dead or locked up. So, for Guardians we get a wasted Djimon Hounsou who was very much recognisable. Karen Gillan's Nebula didn't show anything special, other than appear to be going through her time of the month. And the always versatile Lee Pace completely wasted as the main baddie. All I got from him, was his character's adaptation view points were very Hitler-esque. Yet, we saw none of his horrorible deeds only heard. And he wasn't a formidable foe whatsoever. Like Malekith, he was an over-tired baby who didn't get his way. Results? Both dead as a door nails.
With the likes of John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro (who was so good as the Collector) why have them in this at all? Glorified cameos? The difference between them and Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson in Iron Man 1, is Clark Gregg wasn't a well known face in a small role. Which made him & Coulson fresh and eventually lovable as Coulson. So when you have big names like those, including a very recognisable Djimon Hounsou, your mind registers their characters as important. But when they end up being bland background characters (except for the Collector, obviously) you cause people to become severally disappointed. They're big names for a reason. Give them worthy characters and character developing screen time for Pete's sake. This isn't a comedy where they sometime have wink-wink cameos of well-loved actors. So, please don't start treating them as such.
Music:
I had associated each song from the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 a bit differently than how they appear in the movie, but they honestly were the golden key that made the questionable parts of the movie worth it. And made their moments even better than they really are. Unfortunately, because the movie relied so heavily on the mix, Tyler Bates' score is rather humdrum. Outside of the heroic part of the main theme and its softer arrangements, Groot's etheral accompaniments, and the Collector's zing-y atmospheric sounds - the music lacks the much desired heart and creativity this movie aspires to. Not since Iron Man 1 & The Incredible Hulk has Marvel Studios' movies had a overall good score. Each has had a memorable theme for the hero(es), just not a good score. I'm not sure why. The only heroes that have consistent well-made scores are the Spider-Man films, and Batman's (excluding Elliot Goldenthal's, I'm sure, good-hearted endeavors.)
Promotional material vs. final product:
Groot, pardon the pun, truly grew the most as a heartfelt character. He stayed pretty true to the advertisements and then some.
I honestly thought Rocket would be my favorite. He still is, considering he's the little guy who made me root for this from the get-go. However, having seen his first portrayal as a whole, my fondness of him deminished a bit. Hopefully in the sequel he'll maturity emotionally. I think we see that he starts to after the sacrifice of Groot. That he doesn't need to be a hard-cuss to survive.
With Star-Lord, I was expecting more. If that 1 scene with Gamora had gone the way I suggested how it should've been, he'd been a better character. He needs to mature more. But not lose his humor & outlook on life. If that happens, we'll be getting the bland animated Star-Lord. Which wouldn't be good. Chris Pratt made Peter Quill something more than how the character has been portrayed in other mediums.
Gamora doesn't deserve the negativity that I've read pertaining to her. As with the villains, we don't see what makes her so formidable aka the deadliest woman in the galaxy. We did however see she's attempting to improve her morals and has her heart in the right place. She's just afraid to fully open up to anyone.
Now Drax! Dave Bautista played so well! So, good. He became the funniest character albeit possibly being the most scarred emotionally & psychologically. And in the end, he might be my favorite Guardian of the Galaxy. I just hope he gets a power upgrade.
Like Iron Man 3, the trailers have footage not included in the actual movie. Just, not as much right out lying. With that, I think some the trailer takes of Peter Quill are better than what we actually got. I think the Cherry Bomb extended trailer is a bit better than the actual movie, by the smallest percentage.
With it's minor flaws and hiccups of underdeveloped villains and supporting cast, the good out shine them in warm vibrantly heartfelt neon colors of pure love with good intentions.
Last edited by SteamPunkCat; 08-15-2014 at 03:58 AM.
Glad I didn't waste my time on that one. Thanks for the heads up.
Just saw the movie a few days ago. The open matte in IMAX was beautiful. I kept thinking to myself that it'll be a shame once this movie reaches Blu-ray. Just like with Transformers, we probably won't be getting the shifting aspect ratios.
Glad I didn't waste my time on that one. Thanks for the heads up.
Just saw the movie a few days ago. The open matte in IMAX was beautiful. I kept thinking to myself that it'll be a shame once this movie reaches Blu-ray. Just like with Transformers, we probably won't be getting the shifting aspect ratios.
Having seen this to see it, but also to see to try and cheer me up about Robin Williams, my reactions below are purely based on first reaction to the movie as a whole. Also, my screening's volume sounded like it was at 4 out of 10. As anyone knows here, sound can have a huge impact on the movie going experience.
My thoughts (I mention specific story points going by how long a sequence felt. So please don't hold me to them. Thank you. =]):
To get this out there, this movie needed to be 20-30 minutes longer. At least as long as The Avengers. And I'm sure everyone would want that considering (outside of the cinematography on Xandar) this movie is possibly the best looking Marvel Studios movie. Kudos to Joss Whedon on getting the cinematographer for Age of Ultron.
Somewhat like Inception's 5 minute prologue and all, we're thrown right into the story with 3 groups already set-out on their mission. Or a good reason to have had an extra 10 minutes after the prologue and awkward placement of the Marvel Studios' title card. We're introduced to characters in the oddest ways possible. Like this is a sequel and we're just now catching up with where the 5 heroes have been. To the point, the movie doesn't really get going until they break out of the space prison. I know movies usually take 30 minutes to get started, if it a 2 hour movie, however within those 30 minutes every thing feels somewhat up in the air tonally.
Once we're baked and out of the Klyn, we can finally get to the good stuff. We head off to the Wonderful Collector of Knowhere. Because let's face it, this is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz. Except, it doesn't want to admit it like Joss Whedon cleverly hinted at several times in The Avengers. Which was a big mis-step. Especially villain wise. (More on that in a second.) Once we get there, we're indulged with an abundance of easter eggs in plain site and Star Wars - Episode IV references. Easily making this section of the movie a highlight. Only up until the very out of the blue, somewhat third or fourth action set piece, yet is actually the first rumble against the bad guys. And I say out of the blue, almost literally considering Ronan's complexion, because one of our heroes just calls up the bad guys! What?! As an idea, that's actually pretty cool. Although, the execution of the sequence leaves a lot to be desired. I honestly could tell by the editing, that they had to make sure the audience wouldn't become confuse with who's in what identical flying pod. I know that's what editing is for, but the action was boarderline headache inducing. And that never happens to me.
After the chaotic chase, we're presented with a beautiful scene aka beautiful time for character development, where Star-Lord saves Gamora by willingly almost sacrificing his life. (C'mon now, no one important is going to die here). We cut to what should have been left at face value with Star-Lord growing as a character, perhaps even what should've been just the gaze first seen. What coulda, shoulda been this movie's version of Han Solo's famous 'I know' line, but is forfeited for an out of place womanizing joke! Much like Tony Stark cracking a sarcastic joke pertaining to Mark 42 crashing for the umteenth time. Just mere seconds after witnessing his girlfriend, Pepper Potts, seemingly fall to her demise! A scene between Star-Lord & Gamora that could have conveyed a sense of Gamora surprise to Star-Lord's seemingly heroic sacrifie. Where we could feel Gamora's trust of Star-Lord growing. With Star-Lord playing cool, conveying through his expression like, "Hey. Yeah, I got you. But don't mention it. Because it was the right thing to do" aka Gamora: "Holy cuss! You saved me?!" Star-Lord: "Yeah. Don't mention it." They had all that before the idiotic womanizing joke! Such a waste of a good moment.
On top of that, after begrudgingly liking him due to the fact his being a talking raccoon, we see a darker side of Rocket. With him wanting to just save his own skin. Why? Was seeing a drunk hero call up to confront his family's (at the time) muderer not enough already? This entire section of the movie caused such arrested character development. Everyone except Groot & Gamora had their head's on straight. Star-Lord to a degree, except for what I just mentioned. It takes almost 10 minutes until the awesome Cherry Bomb montage to get where we were 20 minutes ago after the prison break, and 10 minutes since arriving at Knowhere. Why? Ask James Gunn & Kevin Feige. Because those 20 minutes could've been handle a lot better. Honestly, thinking about it now, that's how Iron Man 3 handled the same 20 in the story in Tennessee. Oh, my gosh. That's totally a mirrored image. And once again, it's executed poorly. Like, Iron Man 3, the movie finally starts getting good again.
At this point in the movie, we finally get to the villain(s)'s final plan. As far as villains go, this movie handled them rather oddly. Remember when we had good comic book villains? I do, However, most are from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Beside those, we have had Marvel Studios' plan, with the exception of Loki, is villain of the week mentality for their villains. That's how most comic book movies go about villains. However, Marvel Studios doesn't have the best track record with theirs. Outside of Jeff Bridges' Obidiah Stane, Tim Roth's Blonsky, Tom Hiddleston's Loki, pre-Trevor reveal Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, and Sabastian Stan's Winter Soldier we've gotten paper thin villains. Which is a big shame. Out of those 5; 1's dead, 1's possibly dead, 1's locked up, 1's on the run, and 1's incognito. The rest? Dead or locked up. So, for Guardians we get a wasted Djimon Hounsou who was very much recognisable. Karen Gillan's Nebula didn't show anything special, other than appear to be going through her time of the month. And the always versatile Lee Pace completely wasted as the main baddie. All I got from him, was his character's adaptation view points were very Hitler-esque. Yet, we saw none of his horrorible deeds only heard. And he wasn't a formidable foe whatsoever. Like Malekith, he was an over-tired baby who didn't get his way. Results? Both dead as a door nails.
With the likes of John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro (who was so good as the Collector) why have them in this at all? Glorified cameos? The difference between them and Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson in Iron Man 1, is Clark Gregg wasn't a well known face in a small role. Which made him & Coulson fresh and eventually lovable as Coulson. So when you have big names like those, including a very recognisable Djimon Hounsou, your mind registers their characters as important. But when they end up being bland background characters (except for the Collector, obviously) you cause people to become severally disappointed. They're big names for a reason. Give them worthy characters and character developing screen time for Pete's sake. This isn't a comedy where they sometime have wink-wink cameos of well-loved actors. So, please don't start treating them as such.
Music:
I had associated each song from the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 a bit differently than how they appear in the movie, but they honestly were the golden key that made the questionable parts of the movie worth it. And made their moments even better than they really are. Unfortunately, because the movie relied so heavily on the mix, Tyler Bates' score is rather humdrum. Outside of the heroic part of the main theme and its softer arrangements, Groot's etheral accompaniments, and the Collector's zing-y atmospheric sounds - the music lacks the much desired heart and creativity this movie aspires to. Not since Iron Man 1 & The Incredible Hulk has Marvel Studios' movies had a overall good score. Each has had a memorable theme for the hero(es), just not a good score. I'm not sure why. The only heroes that have consistent well-made scores are the Spider-Man films, and Batman's (excluding Elliot Goldenthal's, I'm sure, good-hearted endeavors.)
Promotional material vs. final product:
Groot, pardon the pun, truly grew the most as a heartfelt character. He stayed pretty true to the advertisements and then some.
I honestly thought Rocket would be my favorite. He still is, considering he's the little guy who made me root for this from the get-go. However, having seen his first portrayal as a whole, my fondness of him deminished a bit. Hopefully in the sequel he'll maturity emotionally. I think we see that he starts to after the sacrifice of Groot. That he doesn't need to be a hard-cuss to survive.
With Star-Lord, I was expecting more. If that 1 scene with Gamora had gone the way I suggested how it should've been, he'd been a better character. He needs to mature more. But not lose his humor & outlook on life. If that happens, we'll be getting the bland animated Star-Lord. Which wouldn't be good. Chris Pratt made Peter Quill something more than how the character has been portrayed in other mediums.
Gamora doesn't deserve the negativity that I've read pertaining to her. As with the villains, we don't see what makes her so formidable aka the deadliest woman in the galaxy. We did however see she's attempting to improve her morals and has her heart in the right place. She's just afraid to fully open up to anyone.
Now Drax! Dave Bautista played so well! So, good. He became the funniest character albeit possibly being the most scarred emotionally & psychologically. And in the end, he might be my favorite Guardian of the Galaxy. I just hope he gets a power upgrade.
Like Iron Man 3, the trailers have footage not included in the actual movie. Just, not as much right out lying. With that, I think some the trailer takes of Peter Quill are better than what we actually got. I think the Cherry Bomb extended trailer is a bit better than the actual movie, by the smallest percentage.
With it's minor flaws and hiccups of underdeveloped villains and supporting cast, the good out shine them in warm vibrantly heartfelt neon colors of pure love with good intentions.
Having seen this to see it, but also to see to try and cheer me up about Robin Williams, my reactions below are purely based on first reaction to the movie as a whole. Also, my screening's volume sounded like it was at 4 out of 10. As anyone knows here, sound can have a huge impact on the movie going experience.
My thoughts (I mention specific story points going by how long a sequence felt. So please don't hold me to them. Thank you. =]):
To get this out there, this movie needed to be 20-30 minutes longer. At least as long as The Avengers. And I'm sure everyone would want that considering (outside of the cinematography on Xandar) this movie is possibly the best looking Marvel Studios movie. Kudos to Joss Whedon on getting the cinematographer for Age of Ultron.
Somewhat like Inception's 5 minute prologue and all, we're thrown right into the story with 3 groups already set-out on their mission. Or a good reason to have had an extra 10 minutes after the prologue and awkward placement of the Marvel Studios' title card. We're introduced to characters in the oddest ways possible. Like this is a sequel and we're just now catching up with where the 5 heroes have been. To the point, the movie doesn't really get going until they break out of the space prison. I know movies usually take 30 minutes to get started, if it a 2 hour movie, however within those 30 minutes every thing feels somewhat up in the air tonally.
Once we're baked and out of the Klyn, we can finally get to the good stuff. We head off to the Wonderful Collector of Knowhere. Because let's face it, this is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz. Except, it doesn't want to admit it like Joss Whedon cleverly hinted at several times in The Avengers. Which was a big mis-step. Especially villain wise. (More on that in a second.) Once we get there, we're indulged with an abundance of easter eggs in plain site and Star Wars - Episode IV references. Easily making this section of the movie a highlight. Only up until the very out of the blue, somewhat third or fourth action set piece, yet is actually the first rumble against the bad guys. And I say out of the blue, almost literally considering Ronan's complexion, because one of our heroes just calls up the bad guys! What?! As an idea, that's actually pretty cool. Although, the execution of the sequence leaves a lot to be desired. I honestly could tell by the editing, that they had to make sure the audience wouldn't become confuse with who's in what identical flying pod. I know that's what editing is for, but the action was boarderline headache inducing. And that never happens to me.
After the chaotic chase, we're presented with a beautiful scene aka beautiful time for character development, where Star-Lord saves Gamora by willingly almost sacrificing his life. (C'mon now, no one important is going to die here). We cut to what should have been left at face value with Star-Lord growing as a character, perhaps even what should've been just the gaze first seen. What coulda, shoulda been this movie's version of Han Solo's famous 'I know' line, but is forfeited for an out of place womanizing joke! Much like Tony Stark cracking a sarcastic joke pertaining to Mark 42 crashing for the umteenth time. Just mere seconds after witnessing his girlfriend, Pepper Potts, seemingly fall to her demise! A scene between Star-Lord & Gamora that could have conveyed a sense of Gamora surprise to Star-Lord's seemingly heroic sacrifie. Where we could feel Gamora's trust of Star-Lord growing. With Star-Lord playing cool, conveying through his expression like, "Hey. Yeah, I got you. But don't mention it. Because it was the right thing to do" aka Gamora: "Holy cuss! You saved me?!" Star-Lord: "Yeah. Don't mention it." They had all that before the idiotic womanizing joke! Such a waste of a good moment.
On top of that, after begrudgingly liking him due to the fact his being a talking raccoon, we see a darker side of Rocket. With him wanting to just save his own skin. Why? Was seeing a drunk hero call up to confront his family's (at the time) muderer not enough already? This entire section of the movie caused such arrested character development. Everyone except Groot & Gamora had their head's on straight. Star-Lord to a degree, except for what I just mentioned. It takes almost 10 minutes until the awesome Cherry Bomb montage to get where we were 20 minutes ago after the prison break, and 10 minutes since arriving at Knowhere. Why? Ask James Gunn & Kevin Feige. Because those 20 minutes could've been handle a lot better. Honestly, thinking about it now, that's how Iron Man 3 handled the same 20 in the story in Tennessee. Oh, my gosh. That's totally a mirrored image. And once again, it's executed poorly. Like, Iron Man 3, the movie finally starts getting good again.
At this point in the movie, we finally get to the villain(s)'s final plan. As far as villains go, this movie handled them rather oddly. Remember when we had good comic book villains? I do, However, most are from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Beside those, we have had Marvel Studios' plan, with the exception of Loki, is villain of the week mentality for their villains. That's how most comic book movies go about villains. However, Marvel Studios doesn't have the best track record with theirs. Outside of Jeff Bridges' Obidiah Stane, Tim Roth's Blonsky, Tom Hiddleston's Loki, pre-Trevor reveal Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, and Sabastian Stan's Winter Soldier we've gotten paper thin villains. Which is a big shame. Out of those 5; 1's dead, 1's possibly dead, 1's locked up, 1's on the run, and 1's incognito. The rest? Dead or locked up. So, for Guardians we get a wasted Djimon Hounsou who was very much recognisable. Karen Gillan's Nebula didn't show anything special, other than appear to be going through her time of the month. And the always versatile Lee Pace completely wasted as the main baddie. All I got from him, was his character's adaptation view points were very Hitler-esque. Yet, we saw none of his horrorible deeds only heard. And he wasn't a formidable foe whatsoever. Like Malekith, he was an over-tired baby who didn't get his way. Results? Both dead as a door nails.
With the likes of John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro (who was so good as the Collector) why have them in this at all? Glorified cameos? The difference between them and Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson in Iron Man 1, is Clark Gregg wasn't a well known face in a small role. Which made him & Coulson fresh and eventually lovable as Coulson. So when you have big names like those, including a very recognisable Djimon Hounsou, your mind registers their characters as important. But when they end up being bland background characters (except for the Collector, obviously) you cause people to become severally disappointed. They're big names for a reason. Give them worthy characters and character developing screen time for Pete's sake. This isn't a comedy where they sometime have wink-wink cameos of well-loved actors. So, please don't start treating them as such.
Music:
I had associated each song from the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 a bit differently than how they appear in the movie, but they honestly were the golden key that made the questionable parts of the movie worth it. And made their moments even better than they really are. Unfortunately, because the movie relied so heavily on the mix, Tyler Bates' score is rather humdrum. Outside of the heroic part of the main theme and its softer arrangements, Groot's etheral accompaniments, and the Collector's zing-y atmospheric sounds - the music lacks the much desired heart and creativity this movie aspires to. Not since Iron Man 1 & The Incredible Hulk has Marvel Studios' movies had a overall good score. Each has had a memorable theme for the hero(es), just not a good score. I'm not sure why. The only heroes that have consistent well-made scores are the Spider-Man films, and Batman's (excluding Elliot Goldenthal's, I'm sure, good-hearted endeavors.)
Promotional material vs. final product:
Groot, pardon the pun, truly grew the most as a heartfelt character. He stayed pretty true to the advertisements and then some.
I honestly thought Rocket would be my favorite. He still is, considering he's the little guy who made me root for this from the get-go. However, having seen his first portrayal as a whole, my fondness of him deminished a bit. Hopefully in the sequel he'll maturity emotionally. I think we see that he starts to after the sacrifice of Groot. That he doesn't need to be a hard-cuss to survive.
With Star-Lord, I was expecting more. If that 1 scene with Gamora had gone the way I suggested how it should've been, he'd been a better character. He needs to mature more. But not lose his humor & outlook on life. If that happens, we'll be getting the bland animated Star-Lord. Which wouldn't be good. Chris Pratt made Peter Quill something more than how the character has been portrayed in other mediums.
Gamora doesn't deserve the negativity that I've read pertaining to her. As with the villains, we don't see what makes her so formidable aka the deadliest woman in the galaxy. We did however see she's attempting to improve her morals and has her heart in the right place. She's just afraid to fully open up to anyone.
Now Drax! Dave Bautista played so well! So, good. He became the funniest character albeit possibly being the most scarred emotionally & psychologically. And in the end, he might be my favorite Guardian of the Galaxy. I just hope he gets a power upgrade.
Like Iron Man 3, the trailers have footage not included in the actual movie. Just, not as much right out lying. With that, I think some the trailer takes of Peter Quill are better than what we actually got. I think the Cherry Bomb extended trailer is a bit better than the actual movie, by the smallest percentage.
With it's minor flaws and hiccups of underdeveloped villains and supporting cast, the good out shine them in warm vibrantly heartfelt neon colors of pure love with good intentions.
Having seen this to see it, but also to see to try and cheer me up about Robin Williams, my reactions below are purely based on first reaction to the movie as a whole. Also, my screening's volume sounded like it was at 4 out of 10. As anyone knows here, sound can have a huge impact on the movie going experience.
My thoughts (I mention specific story points going by how long a sequence felt. So please don't hold me to them. Thank you. =]):
To get this out there, this movie needed to be 20-30 minutes longer. At least as long as The Avengers. And I'm sure everyone would want that considering (outside of the cinematography on Xandar) this movie is possibly the best looking Marvel Studios movie. Kudos to Joss Whedon on getting the cinematographer for Age of Ultron.
Somewhat like Inception's 5 minute prologue and all, we're thrown right into the story with 3 groups already set-out on their mission. Or a good reason to have had an extra 10 minutes after the prologue and awkward placement of the Marvel Studios' title card. We're introduced to characters in the oddest ways possible. Like this is a sequel and we're just now catching up with where the 5 heroes have been. To the point, the movie doesn't really get going until they break out of the space prison. I know movies usually take 30 minutes to get started, if it a 2 hour movie, however within those 30 minutes every thing feels somewhat up in the air tonally.
Once we're baked and out of the Klyn, we can finally get to the good stuff. We head off to the Wonderful Collector of Knowhere. Because let's face it, this is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz. Except, it doesn't want to admit it like Joss Whedon cleverly hinted at several times in The Avengers. Which was a big mis-step. Especially villain wise. (More on that in a second.) Once we get there, we're indulged with an abundance of easter eggs in plain site and Star Wars - Episode IV references. Easily making this section of the movie a highlight. Only up until the very out of the blue, somewhat third or fourth action set piece, yet is actually the first rumble against the bad guys. And I say out of the blue, almost literally considering Ronan's complexion, because one of our heroes just calls up the bad guys! What?! As an idea, that's actually pretty cool. Although, the execution of the sequence leaves a lot to be desired. I honestly could tell by the editing, that they had to make sure the audience wouldn't become confuse with who's in what identical flying pod. I know that's what editing is for, but the action was boarderline headache inducing. And that never happens to me.
After the chaotic chase, we're presented with a beautiful scene aka beautiful time for character development, where Star-Lord saves Gamora by willingly almost sacrificing his life. (C'mon now, no one important is going to die here). We cut to what should have been left at face value with Star-Lord growing as a character, perhaps even what should've been just the gaze first seen. What coulda, shoulda been this movie's version of Han Solo's famous 'I know' line, but is forfeited for an out of place womanizing joke! Much like Tony Stark cracking a sarcastic joke pertaining to Mark 42 crashing for the umteenth time. Just mere seconds after witnessing his girlfriend, Pepper Potts, seemingly fall to her demise! A scene between Star-Lord & Gamora that could have conveyed a sense of Gamora surprise to Star-Lord's seemingly heroic sacrifie. Where we could feel Gamora's trust of Star-Lord growing. With Star-Lord playing cool, conveying through his expression like, "Hey. Yeah, I got you. But don't mention it. Because it was the right thing to do" aka Gamora: "Holy cuss! You saved me?!" Star-Lord: "Yeah. Don't mention it." They had all that before the idiotic womanizing joke! Such a waste of a good moment.
On top of that, after begrudgingly liking him due to the fact his being a talking raccoon, we see a darker side of Rocket. With him wanting to just save his own skin. Why? Was seeing a drunk hero call up to confront his family's (at the time) muderer not enough already? This entire section of the movie caused such arrested character development. Everyone except Groot & Gamora had their head's on straight. Star-Lord to a degree, except for what I just mentioned. It takes almost 10 minutes until the awesome Cherry Bomb montage to get where we were 20 minutes ago after the prison break, and 10 minutes since arriving at Knowhere. Why? Ask James Gunn & Kevin Feige. Because those 20 minutes could've been handle a lot better. Honestly, thinking about it now, that's how Iron Man 3 handled the same 20 in the story in Tennessee. Oh, my gosh. That's totally a mirrored image. And once again, it's executed poorly. Like, Iron Man 3, the movie finally starts getting good again.
At this point in the movie, we finally get to the villain(s)'s final plan. As far as villains go, this movie handled them rather oddly. Remember when we had good comic book villains? I do, However, most are from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Beside those, we have had Marvel Studios' plan, with the exception of Loki, is villain of the week mentality for their villains. That's how most comic book movies go about villains. However, Marvel Studios doesn't have the best track record with theirs. Outside of Jeff Bridges' Obidiah Stane, Tim Roth's Blonsky, Tom Hiddleston's Loki, pre-Trevor reveal Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, and Sabastian Stan's Winter Soldier we've gotten paper thin villains. Which is a big shame. Out of those 5; 1's dead, 1's possibly dead, 1's locked up, 1's on the run, and 1's incognito. The rest? Dead or locked up. So, for Guardians we get a wasted Djimon Hounsou who was very much recognisable. Karen Gillan's Nebula didn't show anything special, other than appear to be going through her time of the month. And the always versatile Lee Pace completely wasted as the main baddie. All I got from him, was his character's adaptation view points were very Hitler-esque. Yet, we saw none of his horrorible deeds only heard. And he wasn't a formidable foe whatsoever. Like Malekith, he was an over-tired baby who didn't get his way. Results? Both dead as a door nails.
With the likes of John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro (who was so good as the Collector) why have them in this at all? Glorified cameos? The difference between them and Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson in Iron Man 1, is Clark Gregg wasn't a well known face in a small role. Which made him & Coulson fresh and eventually lovable as Coulson. So when you have big names like those, including a very recognisable Djimon Hounsou, your mind registers their characters as important. But when they end up being bland background characters (except for the Collector, obviously) you cause people to become severally disappointed. They're big names for a reason. Give them worthy characters and character developing screen time for Pete's sake. This isn't a comedy where they sometime have wink-wink cameos of well-loved actors. So, please don't start treating them as such.
Music:
I had associated each song from the Awesome Mix Vol. 1 a bit differently than how they appear in the movie, but they honestly were the golden key that made the questionable parts of the movie worth it. And made their moments even better than they really are. Unfortunately, because the movie relied so heavily on the mix, Tyler Bates' score is rather humdrum. Outside of the heroic part of the main theme and its softer arrangements, Groot's etheral accompaniments, and the Collector's zing-y atmospheric sounds - the music lacks the much desired heart and creativity this movie aspires to. Not since Iron Man 1 & The Incredible Hulk has Marvel Studios' movies had a overall good score. Each has had a memorable theme for the hero(es), just not a good score. I'm not sure why. The only heroes that have consistent well-made scores are the Spider-Man films, and Batman's (excluding Elliot Goldenthal's, I'm sure, good-hearted endeavors.)
Promotional material vs. final product:
Groot, pardon the pun, truly grew the most as a heartfelt character. He stayed pretty true to the advertisements and then some.
I honestly thought Rocket would be my favorite. He still is, considering he's the little guy who made me root for this from the get-go. However, having seen his first portrayal as a whole, my fondness of him deminished a bit. Hopefully in the sequel he'll maturity emotionally. I think we see that he starts to after the sacrifice of Groot. That he doesn't need to be a hard-cuss to survive.
With Star-Lord, I was expecting more. If that 1 scene with Gamora had gone the way I suggested how it should've been, he'd been a better character. He needs to mature more. But not lose his humor & outlook on life. If that happens, we'll be getting the bland animated Star-Lord. Which wouldn't be good. Chris Pratt made Peter Quill something more than how the character has been portrayed in other mediums.
Gamora doesn't deserve the negativity that I've read pertaining to her. As with the villains, we don't see what makes her so formidable aka the deadliest woman in the galaxy. We did however see she's attempting to improve her morals and has her heart in the right place. She's just afraid to fully open up to anyone.
Now Drax! Dave Bautista played so well! So, good. He became the funniest character albeit possibly being the most scarred emotionally & psychologically. And in the end, he might be my favorite Guardian of the Galaxy. I just hope he gets a power upgrade.
Like Iron Man 3, the trailers have footage not included in the actual movie. Just, not as much right out lying. With that, I think some the trailer takes of Peter Quill are better than what we actually got. I think the Cherry Bomb extended trailer is a bit better than the actual movie, by the smallest percentage.
With it's minor flaws and hiccups of underdeveloped villains and supporting cast, the good out shine them in warm vibrantly heartfelt neon colors of pure love with good intentions.
Why trash a movie, and then conclude with "with it's minor flaws and hiccups".
I get the feeling you have wrote this to ruffle feathers, and consider mine well and truly ruffled.
Marvel/Comic fanboy? No I am not. Fan of the Marvel films? Yes I am.
Not biased in any way, I genuinely thought this was the best movie that Marvel have done, and the characters just left me wanting more, not asking why we didn't get more.
Why trash a movie, and then conclude with "with it's minor flaws and hiccups".
I get the feeling you have wrote this to ruffle feathers, and consider mine well and truly ruffled.
Marvel/Comic fanboy? No I am not. Fan of the Marvel films? Yes I am.
Not biased in any way, I genuinely thought this was the best movie that Marvel have done, and the characters just left me wanting more, not asking why we didn't get more.
A shoddy review, to a fantastic movie.
Of course it was, no one other than a self absorbed douche tells you their posts are worth your time, especially when it comes to a review of a film that came out a couple of weeks back, unless you know, they have something particularly enlightening to add (which not to burst the guys bubble, he's not the first one to write a negative review before).
Glad I didn't waste my time on that one. Thanks for the heads up.
Just saw the movie a few days ago. The open matte in IMAX was beautiful. I kept thinking to myself that it'll be a shame once this movie reaches Blu-ray. Just like with Transformers, we probably won't be getting the shifting aspect ratios.
I hope we're wrong about that. Maybe they'll see what a mistake Paramount made by not releasing the changing aspect at first. There is a demand for it.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
This Post is Worth Your Time - Contains Spoilers
Linear Mode
