I had low expectations for this movie given the caliber of Marvel films lately and some of the critic reviews hinted at it being similarly problematic.
However, I found this one to be the most emotionally engaging of the three. My opinion may change with subsequent viewings but these are my initial thoughts.
1) Great villain - not as iconic as Thanos or Loki but the actor's performance was engaging at times as were his motives. Given how cruel he is to animals surely makes him even more worthy of hating, but in a good way. The way in which you are supposed to not like the bad guy.
2) The characters are at their most familial - one of the critics complained that the characters too often are just yelling at each other, but this felt like real family dynamics where the characters are really expressing their frustrations with each other as you would see in any household. Thus when they have moments of vulnerability, it really sinks in.
3) Rocket's backstory serves as a much needed anchoring point for the story, something that the other films lacked a little bit as they were almost derivative of Dirty Dozen and Star Wars.
4) Though there are some highlights, the soundtrack isn't as good on this one... but not deal breaker.
5) I'm not sure if the ending stuck... the closing is fine, it's just that since none of the characters end up dying, despite expectations, I'm left wondering why exactly the characters are splitting up aside from the actors's contracts being up and James Gunn transferring to DC. The story doesn't really support them leaving one another giving how hard they all just fought to keep each other alive, but this is all typical Marvel fare setting the scenarios for future Marvel movies. Fortunately it happens at the very end when the movie can't be ruined anymore.
Hopefully this is a sign that phase 5 will be much bette than phase 4.
However, I found this one to be the most emotionally engaging of the three. My opinion may change with subsequent viewings but these are my initial thoughts.
1) Great villain - not as iconic as Thanos or Loki but the actor's performance was engaging at times as were his motives. Given how cruel he is to animals surely makes him even more worthy of hating, but in a good way. The way in which you are supposed to not like the bad guy.
2) The characters are at their most familial - one of the critics complained that the characters too often are just yelling at each other, but this felt like real family dynamics where the characters are really expressing their frustrations with each other as you would see in any household. Thus when they have moments of vulnerability, it really sinks in.
3) Rocket's backstory serves as a much needed anchoring point for the story, something that the other films lacked a little bit as they were almost derivative of Dirty Dozen and Star Wars.
4) Though there are some highlights, the soundtrack isn't as good on this one... but not deal breaker.
5) I'm not sure if the ending stuck... the closing is fine, it's just that since none of the characters end up dying, despite expectations, I'm left wondering why exactly the characters are splitting up aside from the actors's contracts being up and James Gunn transferring to DC. The story doesn't really support them leaving one another giving how hard they all just fought to keep each other alive, but this is all typical Marvel fare setting the scenarios for future Marvel movies. Fortunately it happens at the very end when the movie can't be ruined anymore.
Hopefully this is a sign that phase 5 will be much bette than phase 4.