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Cinema: AMC Patriot 13, Lawton, OK
Screen: #5, Mystery Meat Digital
Presentation Issues: Not much bass, way way too many trailers. Sheesh!
Movie Rating: 2.75 out of 4
I finally got around to watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 during the holiday weekend. It was a bit surprising how many others were watching this afternoon matinee since the movie has been out for almost a month. Still, a whole lot more people were at this multiplex to see The Little Mermaid remake. It's clear AMC is still trying to do as much as possible with as few employees as possible. There were bits of trash and popcorn all over the lobby floor. Not much air conditioning, so it was a bit warm in there. AMC Stubs gives you a free large popcorn and drink as a birthday bonus; when I visited the theater its CO2 system was down. But it was finally working when I left the theater. Nice.
The movie starts out with the gang camped out at Knowhere. Peter Quill (aka "Star Lord") is drinking himself into oblivion over losing his girlfriend, Gamora twice. Kraglin is still trying to figure out how to make the late Yondu's killer arrow fly. The rest of the gang is just getting by as they can. Rocket is brooding over his past, listening to Radiohead in the opening credits. Rocket's past is central to this movie's plot. I don't have a problem with writer-director James Gunn fleshing out Rocket's backstory. But it's pretty grim. Rocket is something of a lab rat and we're taken on a trip inside the "lab." The previous two Guardians movies were "sunny." There is a good bit of humor in this movie, but the darker elements weigh down the tone a lot, so much so the darkness seems out of place. Rocket spends a significant chunk of the movie's 2.5 hour run time on an operating table at the edge of death while his friends race to get the MacGuffins they need to save his life.
The baddie in this sequel is "The High Evolutionary" (played by Chukwudi Iwuji). This character grew tiresome very fast. There are charismatic villains who are fun to watch, like Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard. The High Evolutionary is just some cruel asshole who yells a lot. No fun at all.
Thankfully the final act of the movie wasn't depressing. But the overall show felt a bit scattered and uneven. Several new characters are introduced, including a talking dog named Cosmo and proto-villain Adam Warlock. This may have been James Gunn's last go with Guardians, but the movie's end makes it clear some of these characters will return in some way. Maybe not in a stand-alone Guardians of the Galaxy installment, but in other Marvel shows, such as the two upcoming Avengers movies.
Guardians of the Galaxy is known for digging up a lot of classic rock/pop music, via Quill's cassette tape deck and the Microsoft Zune that replaced it. The music choices, while good, were just as scattered across time eras as this movie's structure. I did like how they used Since You've Been Gone by Rainbow. I jammed the hell out of that album back when I was around 11 or 12 years old.
Screen: #5, Mystery Meat Digital
Presentation Issues: Not much bass, way way too many trailers. Sheesh!
Movie Rating: 2.75 out of 4
I finally got around to watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 during the holiday weekend. It was a bit surprising how many others were watching this afternoon matinee since the movie has been out for almost a month. Still, a whole lot more people were at this multiplex to see The Little Mermaid remake. It's clear AMC is still trying to do as much as possible with as few employees as possible. There were bits of trash and popcorn all over the lobby floor. Not much air conditioning, so it was a bit warm in there. AMC Stubs gives you a free large popcorn and drink as a birthday bonus; when I visited the theater its CO2 system was down. But it was finally working when I left the theater. Nice.
The movie starts out with the gang camped out at Knowhere. Peter Quill (aka "Star Lord") is drinking himself into oblivion over losing his girlfriend, Gamora twice. Kraglin is still trying to figure out how to make the late Yondu's killer arrow fly. The rest of the gang is just getting by as they can. Rocket is brooding over his past, listening to Radiohead in the opening credits. Rocket's past is central to this movie's plot. I don't have a problem with writer-director James Gunn fleshing out Rocket's backstory. But it's pretty grim. Rocket is something of a lab rat and we're taken on a trip inside the "lab." The previous two Guardians movies were "sunny." There is a good bit of humor in this movie, but the darker elements weigh down the tone a lot, so much so the darkness seems out of place. Rocket spends a significant chunk of the movie's 2.5 hour run time on an operating table at the edge of death while his friends race to get the MacGuffins they need to save his life.
The baddie in this sequel is "The High Evolutionary" (played by Chukwudi Iwuji). This character grew tiresome very fast. There are charismatic villains who are fun to watch, like Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard. The High Evolutionary is just some cruel asshole who yells a lot. No fun at all.
Thankfully the final act of the movie wasn't depressing. But the overall show felt a bit scattered and uneven. Several new characters are introduced, including a talking dog named Cosmo and proto-villain Adam Warlock. This may have been James Gunn's last go with Guardians, but the movie's end makes it clear some of these characters will return in some way. Maybe not in a stand-alone Guardians of the Galaxy installment, but in other Marvel shows, such as the two upcoming Avengers movies.
Guardians of the Galaxy is known for digging up a lot of classic rock/pop music, via Quill's cassette tape deck and the Microsoft Zune that replaced it. The music choices, while good, were just as scattered across time eras as this movie's structure. I did like how they used Since You've Been Gone by Rainbow. I jammed the hell out of that album back when I was around 11 or 12 years old.