Spoiler Alert: Guardians of the Galaxy, Part 2 · 2:05pm Aug 6th, 2014
: Anyway, a fight breaks out between Quill, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot, where they all kick flank but still all end up falling on their faces a lot. They're clearly skilled, but they have a tendency of making mistakes and getting in their own way. Because of this, they get captured by Xandar's Nova Corps, also known as the poor man's Green Lanterns.
: Hey!
: Oh, like I'm wrong.
: The Nova Corps take them to space...jail, where Gamora reveals that she had not intended to give Ronan the orb. Horrified at the prospect of the destruction of an entire planet, she had intended to annul Ronan's and Thanos' agreement by selling the orb to a man named the Collector. During their processing, we get a simply MARVELOUS look at Peter Quill's bare chest!
: Focus, Rarity.
: What? Oh, sorry. We then get another chipper, classic song. At first it makes sense, creating an ironic contrast with the brutal treatment Quill receives from prison guards. But then it gets interrupted when a fellow prisoner throws something at his head. Why? When cheerful music is abruptly cut off in a movie, it indicates being brought back to reality, or a shattering of optimism and naiveté. Here, though, Quill clearly understood how bad things were; there was no sense of reality for him to return to. I know this is nitpicking, but when you're using an element as blunt as these song numbers, you have to be careful how you use them.
: We quickly discover that not only is this jail as nasty as any other, but most'a the inmates have a particular grudge 'gainst Gamora, 'cause 'a all the ways Ronan's hurt Xandar. In the middle 'a the night, Quill wakes up an'....wait, why're all the inmates sleepin' together on the floor? What kinda prison lets inmates sleep outside their cells?!
: I haven't the slightest. Regardless, Quill wakes up to find an inmate named Drax the Destroyer trying to kill Gamora because Ronan killed his wife and daughter. Quill convinces him, however, to let Gamora live long enough to escape with the orb. If she hawks it, Ronan will try to kill her for betraying him, drawing him out for Drax to kill. Quill convinces Rocket, who is an expert at breaking out of jail, to help them out for a split of the price of the orb, which puts all five characters on the same page for the first time.
We also find out that Drax's species is completely unaware of metaphors, an extension of their grounded way of life. It's an important bit of world building, especially since the movie made up his species. In the comics, Drax was a human given superpowers to allow him to take vengeance on Thanos for killing his family. So its nice to see the movie try and give this alien Drax some more depth.
: They break outta jail usin' a combination 'a violence, shenanigans, an' techno know-how. Ah must say, though, Drax responds wit' a suprisin' amout'a glee ta killin' people, seein' as how he's supposed ta be angry an' angsty. It wouldn't be a crime ta play just one hero straight, ya know.
: The Guardians head to find the Collector at Knowhere, which is an ill-reputed mining colony built into an alien head the size of a Death Star.
....ok, that's kinda creepy, but it's AWESOME at the same time!!
: Upon entering the *gulp* de-decapitated h-h-head, Groot gives a young girl living there a flower from off of his body. It's a very touching scene, b-but it probably would have worked better if we hadn't seen it a th-thousand times in the commercials.
While Star-Lord and Gamora go to meet their buyer, Drax, Rocket, and Groot visit a bar. Be-besides the fact that I've learned to NEVER let animals near alcohol-isn't that right, Angel-Groot seems to be the only one suitably alarmed at the bar's a-animal bl-bl-bloodsports. I'd expect better of a raccoon! Hmmph.
: Yes, I wonder if PETA is planning on attacking this film, too. Regardless, we then have a remarkably vulnerable scene between Gamora and Quill discussing the emotional importance of his 8-track and the magic of dancing. Quill tries to turn the conversation to, well, his advantage, but Gamora rejects his advances and berates him for his pettiness.
: Yes, I know Nostalgia Chick plays that sarchastically, but I'm going to play it straight. You go, girl! Make him work for that kiss! In fact, if I'm allowed to get a little ahead of myself, I was surprised to discover that this is the first superhero film I've seen in ages where the hero doesn't kiss the girl by the end. Though there is still a clear romance subplot. A pleasant change of pace, I'd say.
Again, music is from the 70s.
Also, that is a good point about the prison. Maybe its just because the guards give zero fucks.
2348187 That's the only explanation I can think of. I mean, letting in-mates kill each other? Okay, I've seen that before. Letting them all sleep in the same room without ANY supervision? I think even Colonel Klink would question that.
2348201 Rocket did say when they came in that the guards were there to prevent an escape, and that they didn't care what inmates did as long as they stayed in.
2348866 I know, but having guards around doesn't mean diddly squat if they don't make common sense precautions. Rocket's point was that they can misbehave as much as they like, not that they can do things that make it easier for them to break out, like having all night to work on an escape or the like.