Oh, I enjoyed the hell out of this. Huge improvement on the first one.

Spoiler: show

Guardians of the Galaxy looks duuuuuuuuumb

This was really strange, and happened a few times in the movie-- most noticeably, for me, when the one evil monster-thing is holding Frigga by the throat. Very strange.

Many times when I see a movie and then Jorge says he liked it I feel a validation. It really aggravates me because I know he and I don't view movies the same way. I'm not aggravated that he and I like the same movies, I'm aggravated that I get that stupid validation feeling immediately after reading Jorge's post. :/

Well, seeing as how everyone but me liked this thing, I went ahead and tried to come up with some things that I thought it did well.

1. The villain wasn’t lame (even if his SuperShredder sidekick kinda was). Space Elf, King of the Teletubbies, seemed far more menacing and dangerous than the Red Skull, Jeff Bridges, Sam Rockwell, or even Loki in the first Thor. It was nice (and not all that common, in the Marvel movies) to have at least some sense of threat from the villain.

2. It tried to hold the same tone as the first one. Not only did it want that same balance of fantasy genre / funny script / scifi blockbuster that made Thor fun to watch…it tried to achieve the same give-and-take of big explosiony stuff vs. personal drama, as well. It's a good mix.

3. Tom Hinklebottom, or whatever his name is. It’s funny that, of the five people I’ve talked to, three commented that there was “a lot of” Loki in this movie. There really wasn’t THAT much. It’s just that his story was the most compelling part of it, and while other actors failed to bring the same level of performance that Kenneth Branagh got out of them, old Higglepiggle was still totally A-gaming it.

4. Goddamn space magic. Unlike, say, Star Trek: Into Darkworld, where attempts to be clever only reminded you how stupid the whole thing really was, this movie filled all its possible plot holes and complications with the most hilariously dumbdumb answer known to man: "I dunno, man...space magic." And in that way, it (like the first Thor) gave itself over to a sort of glorious "who cares" attitude that let it get away with things other movies only dream of not getting made fun of for.

What is the villain after? Space magic. How was it made? Probably space magic. What does it do? Whatever the plot currently needs it to do. How will he find it? More space magic or maybe the same I'm not actually clear on that. Is the universe in danger? Yes, dude. It's space magic. And in the meantime? It intravenously bangs Natalie Portman and makes Space Elf kinda good at punching. What? It just does shut up. Can it be destroyed? WTF NO, it's fucking space magic. What if we drop a spaceship on it? Well yeah, obviously if you do that. But you just said...I said fucking space magic.

Unlike the "Party Mode" or whatever thing at the end of Iron Man 3, which was a sort of an excuse-for-spectacle lazy plot device tacked on to what had been a perfectly playful and enjoyable movie, space magic is sort of the tone setter of the entire movie here. It gives the whole thing a less adult, more 'Saturday morning cartoon' type of feeling. I appreciate that quality in a movie about a congested viking god who lives in a city with laser cannons but fights with an oversized hammer that apparently a coat rack can hold up without difficulty (SPACE MAGIC).

maybe the coat rack was worthy.

The end battle did look like something out of Power Rangers, but again, a lot of fun. I liked all the jokes. Like, it was Iron Man-level funny. And I think I was primed for something like that after rewatching the dour and self-serious Man of Steel a few days ago.

This was, strangely, the biggest laugh in the movie for me.

Some of the other jokes would have been funnier if they hadn't been so cliche'd (sidekick girl getting transported in during a kiss) or oversold ("look science guy is crazy ha ha but anyways").

The Captain America bit was my favorite of the intentionally-funnies.

mjolnir on the coat rack, "I may need my pants for this" and the captain america bit were the best funny moments for the theater i was in.

I had to look this up to confirm that it wasn't just a severe case of fatfinger typing.

that reminds me. the bit where the hot chick tries to say it's name was pretty funny.

hey buddy, I have normal-sized fingers!

wasn't it like "mimimi"?

"Mewmew". Or something. It's a callback to the first film.

Mimi-siku

Seems obvious its a different director this time around.

edit: but this is kinda funny.

http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=29906

at least he didnt direct the awful mid credit scene.

i didnt find it awful at all. i went into it knowing nothing other than it was going to be for GotG. as soon as i saw the guy i knew it was the collector and my pants got tighter. when they made the remark that the tesserct was still in asgard and you cant keep the gems near each other i realized avengers 3 would more than likely be either infinty guantlet or infinity war based. i am happy

You never fail to remind me that these are movies about picture books.

graphic novels, you ass.

Oh, you snob. Look how disgusted you sound. Picture books.