[ SECRET POST #2791 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2791 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 058 secrets from Secret Submission Post #399.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Fandom Confessions

[philstar22]

I loved it, but I"m still actually really interested. I don't think explaining why you don't like it harshes squee. The only thing that does that is people who are obnoxious about hating something and purposefully trying to force everyone to disagree.

OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

the reason I kind of shut up about it was because when I was like BUT BUT my friends said "but it was a fun movie >:(" and I just kind of backed off.

So here are my complaints:

1. I am a fan of Star Wars: A New Hope. If I wanted to watch it, I would go watch it. This movie paralleled it far too closely for me to be able to not view it as a bit of a shadow of it, and I wasn't able to ignore it.

1A. As a sub-complaint of that: I am tired of Marvel movies culminating with large planet-destroying ships that need to be shot down. We saw it in CA:WS, in Avengers, in Thor2, and now in GOTG. Can't we have a conflict without a last-minute desperate shooting down of the spaceship of doom? (and I say this as someone who quite liked all the MCU movies so far)

2. All of the characters' backstories basically boiled down to:
a. Lost their family
b. were experimented on
c. both
I didn't feel like there was enough variety between them for me to really get invested in them learning to understand each other. (I have since been informed that apparently Groot has a different backstory, but I didn't see this in the movie)

2A. The character arcs and conflicts they had to overcome were virtually identical: all of them had to be willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of somebody else. This was repeated several times throughout the movie, and also in the dramatic speech StarLord gave, and also at the end when they held hands. After a while it just felt kind of one-note to me, and made me, again, view them as a monolith more than individuals.

3. This is admittedly sort of 'my fault', but also the marketing: where I live, at least, the movie was marketed kind of the same way Avengers and other MCU movies were, and there were a lot of kids in the theater. A lot of kids who left the theater in the middle of the movie because it was too much for them.
Tbh, it was a bit much for me. I didn't know anything about GOTG coming in, and frankly didn't realize I was supposed to like them as assholes and not as heroes. Because they really are terrible people and I found their actions basically impossible to condone, and the level of violence made it very difficult for me to like them. (for example, when Groot speared those guys and started whacking them into the floor and ceiling? and then smiled? I didn't like that. Or Rocket and taking those guys' limbs for shits and giggles. Call me squeamish, idc). In addition, there was no... addressing the fact that perhaps some of them might be okay with beating up but less okay with killing? Or be okay with theft/extortion etc. but not with wild murder? I mean there just wasn't any variety there. None of them cared at all.

4. I found most of the fight scenes repetitive, and more CGI-parties than true fight scenes. The only one I really enjoyed and that had humor and creativity, to me, was the three-way one at the beginning when Peter first tried to pawn the Orb. That one was fun to watch. All the others were just endless blasting, to me. And why the hell did NovaCorp not have ANY proper fleet? Especially since they're right next to an aggressive empire? That's just stupid.

I will add, it's not that I hated everything about the movie, I'm just getting the ranty parts off my chest XD

Thank you for listening. //bows

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[philstar22]

And those are all legit critiques and perfectly valid opinions and not harshing squee at all. I agree with some of them (and love the movie in spite of them) and disagree with some, and found it all really interesting.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

woo, validation, haha.
I mean I'm certainly not trying to tell people not to enjoy the film, or judging anybody who did. Different tastes for everybody.

Good to get it off my chest, though >_>

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't know anything about GOTG coming in, and frankly didn't realize I was supposed to like them as assholes and not as heroes.

I still haven't seen it and... didn't know this either until I read your rant. I'd have the same reaction as you if I saw it without knowing that, I bet. I can like those kinds of "heroes" if I know what I'm in for; I like Kill Bill and Kick-Ass (the movie), but all of the fandom things I've seen about GOTG gave me the impression that it was a normal "stupid and rude but good people save the universe" movie.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

See, the irony is, I liked Kill Bill and Kick-Ass as well! I think that had I known what to expect I would have, if not loved it, disliked the movie less than I did. Hopefully if/when you see it, anon, you'll be able to enjoy it more for what it is :)

(I mean personally the humor didn't do so much for me, which also didn't help...)

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ex_mek82]

That's fair!

tbh, I feel about the same way with 'The Winter Solider': I very strongly disliked that movie for a variety of reasons (to put it in the most polite way possible), so I know how it is to dislike a Marvel movie that everyone else is all mega hyped for.

(And fwiw, I absolutely love GOTG to bits and pieces, but you are right on some points)

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[philstar22]

And now I'm really curious because you are honestly the first person I've seen actually disliked Winter Soldier, though I've seen people were neutral or "meh" on it.

Okay, here's *my* rant

[ex_mek82]

Oh boy. To be bluntly honest, if I hadn't seen 'Ninja Turtles', 'Winter Solider' would have been my least favorite movie of the year, hah.

The long and short of my issues with the movie:

- It felt too chaotic with so much going on all over the place. Or it dragged on in spots longer than it should have (i.e. Nick Fury's car chase, the hostage crisis in the pre-opening credits).
- It lacked any sense of hope and was just too damn bleak and depressing. I get that a story like that won't have a sunshine-n-gumdrops ending (and I'd be even more disappointed if it did end that way), but I wanted to leave the theater feeling some kind of hopefulness for either Avengers 2 or Captain America 3. Not the case here, or for me, at least.
- I felt p. much nothing towards Steve and Bucky's connection -which makes up a huge chunk of the Winter Solider sub-plot- but this is probably because I haven't seen the first Cap movie in its entirety (I've seen chunks of it), so if I ever see both movies in full again, this may change (and I kind of hope it does).
- The political message, while attempting to be admirable (and one I'm not against, because Big Brother-esque surveillance and fearmongering is horrible), just got so over-the-top in some places it really distracted from parts of the movie for me.

That said, Falcon was a character I really liked and I look forward to seeing him pop up elsewhere in the MCU from now until the end of Anthony Mackie's contract. And I liked the friendship between Steve and Natasha. But that's about it. Maybe it might change with a second viewing, but I'm not in any hurry to see it again until it's on a premium cable network or something. =T

I am glad I saw it, though, because I was able to see it for myself and form my own opinions. If people liked/like it, that's awesome! Nothing wrong with that at all. I guess political spy thrillers (with superheroes) just isn't my cuppa', haha.

Re: Okay, here's *my* rant

[ketita]

I liked it, but I do agree with all of your criticisms.

I wouldn't have put the bleakness that way, but there is something about it, now that you mention it - I'm really not sure I'm looking forward to CA3 or Avengers 2... the previous movies all made me happy and excited; TWS less, even though I liked it.

I also was kind of ambivalent about the Steve+Bucky onscreen, but I have read the comics and got into the fandom a bit, so I didn't mind filling in the relationship. but it wasn't onscreen as strongly as it could have. My first complaint coming out of "Captain America: Winter Soldier" was that it didn't have enough of Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

The helicarriers at the end made me roll my eyes. I think that the movie would have been stronger without them. Stakes don't have to involve the immediate deaths of millions of people for us to care, and I wish the movies could acknowledge that.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[(Anonymous)]

I liked The Winter Soldier, but I liked it a lot less than the first Captain America movie, weirdly.

The emotional scenes, such as with Steve and Peggy or Steve and Bucky or Steve and Sam? Those were GREAT. But the action scenes just BORE me nowadays (getting old here!)

But I'd love to read your critique! :)

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

Well, if your feelings about TWS still weigh upon you I'm willing to listen XD (even though I loved that movie!). Though by now you may have already worked through that must rant urge.

I'll admit some part of me was hoping I'd get people coming out of the woodwork saying they didn't like GOTG either, but that's not happening so far. Not even on FS XD

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not a huge Marvel fan so I doubt I would like it, but I haven't seen it unfortunately! Your points sound VERY legitimate to me though.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

Thank you for the solidarity, anon ;v;

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ex_mek82]

Eh, outside of the mini-rant I did above, I'm past kvetching about TWS, haha. I don't want to be "That Guy" and harsh anyone's squee every time the subject comes up among my friends (because I know how bad it can feel when someone takes a loaded dump on something you genuinely love, having had been in an emotionally abusive friendship for 8-9 years with someone who did that to me constantly), so I don't really get into the subject unless someone asks me first. ^^;

Besides, being constantly negative about something makes me tired and grumpy, hahaha!

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

Yeah, I get you. tbh I'll probably get over GOTG pretty quickly too, it's just that I saw it two days ago so it's quite fresh. Like I said, half the reason I needed to rant was because I *didn't* want to complain to my friends about it.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[(Anonymous)]

I was waffling on whether to see this movie and I'm glad to hear all of this so if I do decide to see it, I'll go in prepared (although I'm less inclined to see it now). I don't have a problem with anti-heroes, even ones prone to violence - I liked Blakes 7 and used to read Secret Six before DC rebooted - but I have limits, like too much sadism and body horror or making everyone an unrelenting asshole.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

To be fair, it's not actually terribly gory, but I am sensitive to body-counts, and while the characters were not exceptionally sadistic, they do not gain any empathy points at all in my book.
I wouldn't push it to actual body horror, though the scenes I described do appear. There's also a scene where somebody's head is smashed in with a hammer (again, not gory, and they cut away, but it did happen).
I don't know if the characters are unrelenting assholes, but they are definitely solidly on the asshole scale imo.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[dethtoll]

I think the Star Wars comparison is short-sighted. Yes, they're similar, but that's because the first Star Wars movie was a love letter to old pulp sci-fi yarns -- and so is Guardians of the Galaxy.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

Eh, I can accept that, but a lot of the plot and scene parallels and character parallels were just a bit too much for me not to see it as Star Wars at every turn. It pinged me too hard on that front.

Also, wasn't Star Wars part of the inspiration for GOTG anyway? I read that in an interview somewhere, I think.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[dethtoll]

I wouldn't know. And anyway it doesn't really matter -- it all goes back to pulp. Green Lantern, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, all have their roots in vintage sci-fi.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[ketita]

True /flashes back to the Lensman series

I guess some of it comes down to which versions speak to you more.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[dethtoll]

That would be Green Lantern, I guess.

I liked the original trilogy okay before Star Wars became a religion, so now I'm never going to watch the movies again because I'm sick of hearing about it. I feel like I've seen them all 10 times.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[(Anonymous)]

I totally agree with you!

Everybody loves this movie and I was just like meh, another white man saves the galaxy of a ridiculous and boring villain.

Re: OK HERE'S THE RANT

[(Anonymous)]

Heh *pats on back for getting all that out* Interesting read since, yeah, all I ever here about is constant squeeing over GotG.

I did like the movie though, but I liked it for what it was. My expectations going in were extremely low with next to know knowledge of the Guardians. I also managed to avoid most of the marketing surrounding it (all I saw was the trailer before CA:WS).

I like the MCU, but there is a very good reason why I'm starting to get annoyed with it. And a lot of it has to do with some of your points.

1A, yes, there's been some similarities between the phase 2 movies. I think it's because the story they need to tell in order to setup Age of Ultron could be told in half the time. The rest of the movie is filler crap that gets repeated.

2 is Marvel being Marvel. And that GotG is an origin story. Which I'm beginning to really loathe. But I don't expect much character depth from Marvel stories in general. Especially since they have that MCU agenda to keep up with.

I think the worse violence I've seen in a MCU movie was Loki gouging a man's eyeball out in Avengers. At least, it made me squeamish. Then again, he was a villain and was supposed to be doing bad things. I liked Quill, but it took me some time to get there and if I'm really honest, Chris Pratt's personality has a lot to do with it. I find him a likable actor, so by the end of the movie I was sold. Rocket annoys me though. Drax and Gamora I'm on the fence with. And Groot is cute, which is the only opinion I have on him either way because it's just a tree with the personality of one.

But I did like the parallels to Star Wars and being space opera-like. And is one of my main reasons for enjoying it.