Film History Mid-term

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Allen Kung

I really really like this movie, I remember when Guardians of the Galaxy 2 first release , didn’t think it will be this good, after the movie end, I was blown away in the theater. Everything is just so beautiful and great. I like the story, the thing this movie is trying to say is , family, but they had a awesome plot to reveal that. And all those wonderful animation , visual effects, character, composition, camera movement in the movie. What a great movie it is. The whole movie didn’t actually have any dull moment, it’s just climax after climax and every climax get more exciting than previous one. Especially the opening scene, this might be the coolest opening theme I have ever seen. Most movie’s opening scene it’s boring or not so excited. But Guardians of the Galaxy 2 , Woah! I immediately knew this going to be a great movie when I saw the opening. Groot dance with the music, other members find in the background, and they still have interaction with each other, also the soundtrack is awesome, all the songs in this movie are awesome. I think they really did a good job on choosing the music, not like all the other space movie or futuristic movie, they used those electric or futuristic soundtrack , it matched the scene. Guardians of the Galaxy2, they used classic music, this made the whole movie feels so good and unique! It make me feel more related to the story. Through all those interaction they have , what it did is help audience to have a brief impression of each character’s personality. And the camera shot around Groot, it is really good. I definitely would like to see how they do the storyboard!

In this section, I would like to take some parts of the movie I think have really good design or good composition or anything make this movie so wonderful. The design of Sovereign is really well and cool, you know what kind of these people are just by their appearance, gold, well-dressed and similarity. And here the Priestess ask the question, “What is your heritage, Mr. Quill? ”, which actually imply the whole story, Quill’s father.

When Sovereign fleet is chasing them, the part Rockets said “I want to kill some guys” , and start screaming and yelling, and then Gamora bring out the auto-pilot truth, is so hilarious. The Sovereign’s basement looks like future arcade game room, it’s really cool.

And in this part, they also show the audience something good design. Those stick and interface showing who control the vehicle is easily noticeable. And when Drax take the spacesuits , you can see the hand writing “or FoR fun” on the plate, this immediately give the liveness of those character. The Ego’s ship, it just reveal something from the design. You can tell it’s totally different than any other space ship, it’s so bright, it’s rounded, and it didn’t have any propulsion on the outside. So audience will know, Ego is different, just by the design of the vehicle. Again Sovereign Priestess went to find Yondu , this scene is really funny, the holy music stop when the reel was stuck , and the Sovereign’s are huge contrast to the environment.

The part Quill met his father for the first time, it’ kind rude and weird Ego said “Your associates are welcome, even that triangle-faced monkey there.” This scene is quite quiet and calm compared to other scenes. But it’s full of funny jokes and humor, so they did a really good job on entertain the audience.

Drax: “I am uncertain about parting ways.”

Quill: ”God, you’re like an old woman.”

Drax: “Because I am wise?”

This part is really funny , also imply there might be something bad about to come.

After they boarded on Ego’s ship , the part where Mantis made Drax sleep, then the next shot is the nighttime with moon. This transition is really cool, I really like the way they did it. From here, Rocket start to deal with the invaders, and the battle scenes are awesome, it’s hard to find other similar movie have fight with so much fun. Watching those people blow to the sky with “Southern Nights” by Glen Cambell, this scene is just amazing.

Rocket’s weapon are very well designed, for example , the gravity bomb, it show audience clarity about the available times, not just show you a bomb. I really appreciate they put lots of effort on these things.

When they arrived Ego’s planet, again they use character behavior to reveal their personality, since everything is new to them, Gamora didn’t touch the bubble, but Drax just poke it without hesitation.

The mutiny part on the spaceship, it actually make me like this movie even more. I think showing violence and brutality make people get into movie deeper, since there are not only funny , kind, emotional but also bad things in our life. So we feel even close to the movie.This scene also make audience understand how this movie’s space work to prepare the ending , which Yondu died.

The scene where Quill and Ego are argued about his mother, it started getting strange, the choice Ego made(he decided to leave her alone) and thinking only for himself, and when Quill show his ability of controlling the light, Ego’s reaction is too excessive. It all reveal some clues.

The scene where Groot try to find Yondu’s fin is so funny, even there is no fighting or any intense action, it played with expectation with audience, Groot bring lots of weird stuffs, table, eye and finger. Where are they come from? After several times, Groot seems see the right one, I almost thought Groot is going to bring to them, but again, they play with expectation, Groot grab other thing, but Kraglin is the one who bring the item to Yondu.

And after that, it’s so beautiful, all the up, music, composition, fights and whistles. Bunch of people falling from the sky, and the contrast when Groot was chasing the bad guy. Groot roaring, but the bad guy scream like girl. There are also some variations for the fighting, which make this scene more interesting. Like turn off the lights and use space ship to crash people. In the end of fights, I really like how they lift the camera and give audience a top view of the whole space with arrow moving around.

When they hop 700 times, those face and animations is so good, although the face and body were twisted like that, if still feels real. And everything is just so funny and good, especially when they arrived, Groot just vomit with poker face.

The part which Quill arguing with Gamora give audience another big clue

“I finally found my family. Don’t you understand that?”

“I thought you already had.”

This is actually the whole core idea of the story, I will mention this again with the ending scene.

But I like the composition of this scene , the transition of character and camera is pretty smooth.

Also the part Gamora sitting on the ground in the wilderness, this scene is brilliant, the composition and how they tell the story, Gamora notice those flowers moving together and she cut them off. This scene made me think she can sense lots of thing and very cautious. And then, comes the spaceship which is flown by Nebula. The contrast and implication of flower and spaceship is really clever and significant.

The conversation between Ego and Quill always give me some doubts, because it’s so strange. Ego didn’t sing, he just read the lyrics, that not usual(for me).

“But my mother, you said you loved my other.”

“And that I did.”

…

“I returned to Earth to see her three times. And I knew if I returned a fourth, I would never leave”

The choice we made usually will reveal what kind of person we are. There is one more thing , after the father and son baseball game. Ego take off his scarf, and give me a totally different feeling, he looks not so kind anymore, he looks more powerful and more evil. Also most of the scene they met were at night time after the father and son baseball game.

After Yondu meet Quill meet, here comes my favorite part and the final climax. The spaceship design and it’s weapon is so cool, especially those weapons can go around the whole body or combined together. And the scene song “Silver - Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang” is my favorite song in this movie.

When Kraglin singing “Soup, soup” ,while his is eat soup. This is really hilarious.

And the Sovereign fleet again, Bunch of spaceship fly to the planet, this scene is just so amazing and beautiful with the music.

The part Rocket was teaching Groot how to set the bomb is so reckless, Quill even asking everybody about the tape while in the fights. It’s so much fun to watch every scenes related to Groot in this movie.

When everybody landing on the ground inside the core of the planet, it’s classic super hero scene, and there is fireworks when the camera rotate to where Quill and Gamora facing each other, it’s funny. But after this, damn, they play with our expectation again, a rock hit Mantis, what make thing even worse(fun) is Drax late warning.

When Quill fight Ego, this part is really good. Environment ,fighting , interactions and the giant PAC MAN, and here is my favorite lines in this movie from this part:

“You’re a god”

“If you kill me , you’ll be just like everybody else.”

“What’s so wrong with that?”

After the fights, it’s Yondu’s Death, I remembered I were crying at the theater, that part is so emotional, and the lines Quill said:

“What I’m trying to say here is sometimes that thing you’re searching for your whole life it’s right there by your side all along.”

And those fireworks from the Ravagers for Yondu is simply brilliant, fireworks in the empty space , what a beautiful idea. And perfect for a movie’s ending. This ending is just visually so appealing.

Although this movie is not perfect, there are some confusions for me in the story, for example : How did Quill know Ego has a core? And why Ego tell Quill he kill his mother, why didn’t he keep deceiving Quill?...etc. It’s still a great movie! I love those songs, those visual effects , those characters and those principle for life.

I really related to the lines:

“If you kill me , you’ll be just like everybody else.”

“What’s so wrong with that?”

Maybe since we are normal people , we feel lonely , fear and anger , but we also feel joy , happiness and hope, with our family and our friends. And these are what Ego, a eternal life person, lack of.

I were entertained by this movie a lot , and that’s what will great movie for, entertainment.