 Hi, released May 5th, and grossing in a total of $783.3 million. And in the top five movies in the last year, this movie features actors like Chris Pratt, Zoe Zaldana, Karen Gillian, and Dave Basta, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper. Welcome to Amber's movie basement review. And today we're talking about Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Let's go meet our panelists. So on my left, we have Alexia today. And on my right, we have Nekira. So today, as you ladies know, we're talking about Guardians of the Galaxy 2. And we thought we'd just discuss some of the pros and cons of the movie and how good of a movie it was and what you ladies thought. You ready? Great. So what was your feelings overall? I feel like the movie was a great movie overall. There was a whole lot of action. If you were not paying attention to the action there, then you were kind of feeling for the characters as they were going through their struggles and the family battles and whatnot. So yes. Thank you. And what did you think? I enjoyed the movie as well. I just have the critique of not really knowing how this movie pertains to the rest of the MCU. Okay. And by MCU, you mean the... Marvel Cinematic Universe. Okay. Just making sure for the viewers out there who don't know our lingo. All right. So you guys were talking about some of the... You were talking about some of the relationships. And I figured why don't we delve into that a little bit more? Because that was a big thing in this movie, unlike the first movie, didn't have a lot of relationship growth. So what about like Gamora and Nebula? That was a big one in this movie. I just like the fact that they were trying to portray sibling rivalry. So you could tell that in the beginning, Gamora kind of wanted nothing to do with Nebula, other than to turn her in for her reward. And then later on in the end, they became a family again of some sort. There was some villains brought back up and handled. So it was nice in showing that family can go through battles, but you can always count them to be there at the end. I agree with Nakaira. Although their fighting scene seemed a little forced into the movie. Not that it was necessarily fitting into where they put it. But I did like the growth and background story of the two characters. I must say I agree. If we go back to that fight scene, there was that underground cave, and they found the skeletons of Spoiler, but of all the children. And I feel like that fight scene was just a lead up to that to make it believable for them finding that. What do you ladies think? I think it was shown just a little bit more of their constant ongoing battle since they were little, more than just leading up to the skeletons being found. Okay. I never thought of that scene that way, but now that you bring it up, I agree that that was probably in there to help introduce the next part of the storyline. Okay. So since we're still on the subject of Gamora, why don't we look at Gamora and Quill, because they were a big thing. So in the first movie, their relationship, their romantic relationship was pretty highly highlighted. And in this one, it didn't seem so much, but what did you ladies think? I think that it was kind of hard to understand. In one sense, they were kind of a little bit intimate with each other, conversation-wise, kind of hugging-wise, just a little bit of physical contact and other insistence that we weren't. It was kind of confusing, but in the end, she kind of warmed up to a woman, admitted that she had some kind of feelings without admitting it. Okay. For this movie, I feel like the relationship story was the same as the first one, where they started distant, but then came together. So I felt like it was kind of a repeat where I expected the relationship to continue where it had ended in the first movie. Okay. Makes sense. So now, you know, we've talked about some of the major characters in this movie. I mean, those are the ones that really come to mind. Gamora and Quill and Nebula, because she was such a different character to have. But when you think about some of the fun characters, like Smirter, Jax or Rocket, they're not talked about as deeply, it seems, in the movie. They're not given as strong of characters as the others are. What do you think about them? I agree that they were not given as larger or important roles as they were in the first movie. But I have to admit, Baby Groot stole the movie for me. I have to agree with her there. Baby Groot was, by far, the cutest thing in the whole movie. And he just stole the whole show. It just makes you want to just kidnap them and have them for your own kind of, you know? And Rocket was kind of like the old grandfather slash wife uncle of the movie. He tried to keep everybody sounding together in an instance, even though he was still really offensive most of the time. He was trying to push them away, but he just did that because he didn't know how to be loved or he didn't know how to love everyone else. So it was kind of like a conflict of character within itself there. Now, you mentioned Rocket doesn't know how to love, but you see with Groot, he becomes very much a parental figure. Do you think that's a big thing for his growth and development as a character? I think so. I think it shows him that not everybody is out to get him or that he will lose everybody and that sometimes you just kind of have to go with the flow and roll with the punches of what happens and emotions are unpredictable. So you just kind of got to take them as you get them. Yeah, I agree. I kind of wish they would have given Drax, Rocket and Groot slightly larger roles in the movie because they are some of the favorite characters and it would be nice to see more of their background and more of their growth throughout the storyline. Yeah, they seemed very much comic relief for the movie. I agree. And while they were essential to the movie, that was their main role and the movie wouldn't have changed too much plot-wise without them, honestly. But of course, we can't have Guardians of the Galaxy without baby Groot dancing in the first scene, right? So we mentioned Drax a little bit. What did you think about his character? He seemed to grow a little bit as a character in the movie compared to the beginning to the end. He seemed to grow just slightly, not huge amounts. You see more of his caring side rather than the Drax, a giant murderer. They gave him for the first movie, although they kind of took away his limited understanding aspect, which I really enjoyed during the first movie and was kind of slightly disappointed that they took out for the second. Yeah. What did you think of Drax as a character? I thought Drax was pretty funny for the most part, but he wasn't there a whole lot. He just kind of helped develop the plot line between him and the girl who was with Quill's father. Oh, Mantis. Yeah, Mantis. So he was just kind of there to develop the plot with Mantis and whatnot. Other than that, I don't really see the point of having Drax there or if he wasn't there in the movie for this one, it wouldn't have been a big difference. I can see a whole lot of character development for him. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, we've talked about a lot of the main characters and we kind of talked about the movie itself a little bit, but what other movies nowadays do you think could easily compare to Guardians of the Galaxy? I don't know what to say, Suicide Squad. Yeah. I have to agree. Guardians of the Galaxy did kind of seem like Marvel's version of Suicide Squad where it's mostly a giant group and the movie's more of a comic relief compared to the other movies that the companies are putting out during this time period of superheroes. Yeah, I have to agree. It was more of a, we're together. We're in a group. We're fighting together. We're here to get a comic-goal done at the same time. We've grown to like each other and we've become a family. So there's that really big, hidden message of family there. So I think that really compares to Suicide Squad. Yeah. I think they're both very good movies in their own right, but I think largely they were money makers for the group, for the movie. The media, honestly. Because that brought in tons of money. I mean, earlier I mentioned that Guardians of the Galaxy brought in $783 million. That was crazy and it's only been out a month. So, I mean, they're large money makers, definitely. For sure. I agree. Do you guys have any final statements you want to make about the movie or anything else in particular? I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the other great films that they have for Guardians of the Galaxy. Hopefully we also get to see even more development of Baby Groot and Drax and Rocket, hopefully also. And maybe even get to see Quill and Gamora's relationship develop. I would strongly recommend this movie for anyone who really enjoys Marvel or action. And I do look forward to seeing them in future movies. Thank you, ladies. That's Amber's Basement Movie Review. Thanks for watching.