As a secondary character, "Guardians of the Galaxy" crushed the sequel. Gro from the film \\ "Guardians of the Galaxy \\" do it yourself How to sculpt weapons pile guardians of the galaxy

Caution! There are several swear words in the review!

First of all, I want to admit that the ancient prophecy came true: your humble servant has finally turned into the one into whom they predicted to turn into. In a refined movie snob.

While watching Guardians of the Galaxy  I felt it so distinctly that I was even scared. Alas, there is no turning back. From now on, I don’t have enough individual funny jokes in the film — I need swirling intellectual humor and complex irony. I refuse to be content with just good special effects and entertainment - now I need a special visual conceptuality, unique author's aesthetics and artistry. No other way. Otherwise, I become discouraged and yawn right in the middle of the adrenaline action. I need a complicated plot. We need deep characters and non-banal villains. I demand that the directors do not hold me for an idiot and forget the phrase "Why strain - the viewer already does it."

No, I don’t. Enough!

And what can I say about Guardians of the Galaxy? This film is impossible to scold - it is almost perfect. All that remains for me is to get a special opinion out of my pocket and slap the Sentinels on the head. Keep in mind, dear readers: I have my own, and I'm not afraid to use it.

Minority Report

I don’t know what I expected from this film ... Long before the premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy, I saw each other in the form of a kind of enfant terrible - a “terrible child” in a dull movie universe from Marvel. The Sentinels trailers looked more cheeky and humorous, the digital raccoon handed out the brain, and the characters in the picture were some losers, not at all like unusual superheroes. Well, a sharp change in the setting for an adventure sai-fi promised some advantages.

But what did I see in the end? And I saw a typical Marvelian film, which is no different from its predecessors in general. “Guards” - like an incubator chicken, similar to its counterparts up to complete indistinguishability. Victim of infuriated Xerox or stamping machine. Clone.

However, first I’ll say something about the pluses - to hand the film to smithereens my hand will not rise. “Guardians of the Galaxy" have something to praise, not without reason they have such fees and such a rating.

The visual is striking first. The computer picture is flawlessly drawn - finally, the fantastic scenery is cobbled together coolly! Oh, all these space stations and distant worlds! These futuristic prisons and starships! Everything looks uncompromisingly chic. And although the described world is thought out extremely hackily and jerkily (more on that below), from a technical point of view this is a reference work.

Roughly the same thing applies to digital characters. Guardians of the Galaxy is the first film in my memory where the characters generated on a computer are perceived as real creatures. I never had this sensation before. Not in The Lord of the Ringsnor in   Avatarnowhere. There digital characters, although they were worked out very efficiently, however, they were still perceived by cartoons inscribed in the real environment. Tiny inaccuracy was always present.

In "Guardians of the Galaxy" it is not. The memorable Raccoon and his bodyguard Groot look like living beings - you don’t even think about how they are made. They just seem to be real heroes, really existing actors on a par with people. I give you credit - this is a pretty strong impression, and here I experienced it for the first time.

The last definite plus of “Sentinels” is humor. There are a lot of jokes in the film and some of them are really funny. And even if I laughed heartily only once (a gag with a prosthetic leg), but I smiled quite often.

On this with the bright spots of the film is over. Everything else I did not like actively.

The fantasy world here is stamped and wretched - it seems that it was invented either for children, or for absolutely not understanding (or undemanding) viewers. I did not believe in the world of "Sentinels" for one second. I did not believe in these planets, prisons, ships. I did not believe in pirates, dark lords and technical gadgets. Every millisecond, the film makes you think about the stupidity and illogicality of its own universe. And this I’m not even talking about the plot, but about the world itself, where the developed planet lacks space defense equipment, except for light fighters. Where some dark personalities live on dark asteroids, sitting on a throne with rocket engines (the moment when you want to pierce your face with your hand). Where maximum security prisons look like anything but a prison ...

The hacky setting is reinforced by a truly idiotic plot, which is promoted by brainless villains and flat heroes. Frankly, to the finale I generally lost the thread of what is happening. Who, what why, why - do not care. "Guardians of the galaxy" is difficult to blame for dullness, but they tire of their superficiality and the absence of any depth. It seems that the film is bright and fervent, the characters humor without stopping, everything around explodes and shoots, and I had to put it on the device. It is not interesting. It does not catch. In the film there is no ... essence, meaningfulness. This is a two hour video clip.

And I don’t even remember about petty idiocy, like going into outer space without a spacesuit and other cosmic cranberries. The level of the Guardians of the Galaxy pochuizm to their content is simply amazing. A little more and the Marvel studio will reach absolute zero - the level of pohuizm Michael Bay. There was only one step left.

Of course, many will say that I am unfair (and schoolchildren will express themselves even more rudely), but I only report on my own impressions. Despite the humor and entertainment, the movie seemed completely wretched. Guardians of the Galaxy is stamping without a soul. The film does not look like a product of creativity and imagination - it looks like a streamlined mechanism for earning money, moreover, assembled from standard parts according to the approved scheme (which Marvel has been godlessly using for five years).

"Guardians of the Galaxy" - just an attraction, and not very high quality. However, I do not claim that he is not able to entertain. From the reviews I see - capable. But I didn’t like it. Sickness.

In general, forgive me, fans of the “Sentinels”, but Marvel for me has finally turned into an evil empire that sells soulless shit. I don’t even know why I’m still watching their films - the life path of this studio has long been clear to me and how it will end too.

Thanks for attention. Maine and his votum separatum were with you.

The score is six. Exclusively for technicality.

Reviewer: Main House

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See also:

Comments (23)

Well done, Maine. At least someone told the truth.

Oh you snob.

A modest but honest IMHO, just another good entertainment, but I don’t understand why the fans elevate to the level of a “masterpiece”.
  Not by sabzh, of course, but by comics, everyone has long been waiting for Zak Snyder a new thread (Illustrated Man, Cobalt 60), but he firmly sat down on comics and even subscribed to two parts of the Justice League immediately after BPS. It is gratifying, of course, to see him in such a project, and he himself is a big fan of comics, but damn it ... in short, it’s bad for you or it will do)

Main house answers:

Zack Snyder famously filming the comics - "Spartans", "Keepers" and "ChiS" will not let lie. But I would not want him to become a studio whore for the DC universe. Nolan, while shooting the Bats, managed to create stunning author films during breaks. From Zach, I would also like to see as much of the original material as possible (in the manner of the “Forbidden Admission”), rather than endless sequels. And if he is forced to make ten films about Superman and Company, then this will be a waste of his potential, that's all. The experience of the Marvel studio shows that any dude with minimal experience can shoot special comic molasses - is there an instruction, what the hell? :) And Snyder, riveting movies about Superman, is like Leonardo da Vinci, drawing the design of gum liners.
  IMHO :)

Jokester answers:

Well, BPS can turn out to be a really good film, you can say purely snider. Back in 2009, after the Guardians, he was eager to remove something on the Return of the Dark Knight, a brutal comic about Batman, who got all the crap around him and even managed to kick Superman's ass. IMHO, of course, but in my opinion he deliberately took up ChiS just to submit this material in any form, but most importantly with his chips. For the sake of Batman a la Guardians, I’m ready to forgive everything, especially Larry Fong, the company’s operator in the business, but ... HELL, all the same, two parts of the Justice League ?!
  P.S. having earned Warner’s money, he can produce independent films, but the heyday of the empire, IMHO, is just a half-parody of the Spartans themselves, not up to the original. Well, at least Lest photographer with his script, we will see MB with Bodrov at the helm or without)

Main house answers:

Snyder is Snyder - of course, BPS will be at least a good movie and certainly will have great visuals. I just think it’s completely irrational to spend the talents of such a gifted guy to create another film about Superman. However, I’ll go to the cinema anyway, unlike the second Avengers and other conveyor stampings.
  P.S. And I still like “Breaking Dawn of the Empire” :) I won’t even say that it is worse than the original - it’s just less fresh. The original Spartans possessed revolutionary visuals. Continuation in this regard is no longer able to surprise.

Victor answers:

Maine, we’ve already talked about the heyday of the empire, but still I can’t resist - the first film takes primarily content (wrapped in a beautiful visual, yes), and in the second there is nothing left of the visual. There are no ideas, but on one embittered Eve Green the film cannot be pulled out with all the will.

Oh how \u003d) Maine watched the Sentinels)) I watched a movie and I liked the movie wildly (turning a blind eye to the dullness and wretchedness described in the review - I was resting) \u003d) What can I say about the second trip to this film ... The second time I liked it less \u003d) And in HD I didn’t even revise it \u003d)

PS: Will you be the era of Ultron? \u003d)

Main house answers:

I will not watch Ultron - why? :) I already know what will be there. Tony Stark will humor and tease everyone and everything. Again the world will be in danger - some villain with the motive “I am evil”. And of course, the next delusional artifact will appear in the script, on which everything will depend. Several new heroes will be brought into action - in the second roles, if only the faces become familiar and so that later you can make separate films about them. There will certainly be a few references to previous films of the universe. From the action it is expected: 1) the chase 2) the general final batch with the participation of all the heroes 3) the battle in the city or above it.
  In the end, one of the heroes will either be killed (pretending to be returned later) or he will disappear in some parallel dimension. Yes, and I'm pretty sure that there will be a bold reference to the same Guardians of the Galaxy.
  In general, on the comic front, no change :)

And I just watched and did not think about anything, a beautiful video with a simple plot and unobtrusive humor, I put 8/10. Just a movie to relax.

This is how to approach the shawarma from the perspective of a gourmet: D Fast food, it is fast food. Although some especially gifted people put potatoes and sauerkraut into the shawarma, from which this food does not satisfy what it should. But still, in my precious, not the case. This is true for the mentioned transformers. Be-be-be-be ...

Maine, I saw a new fantasy here. the film Patrol of Time (aka Predestination) with Ethan Hawk. I must say right away that there are practically no stunning special effects there. But the film hooked me completely different. This is what I would say art-house fiction. No, there is no art-house excess and glitches of the years, everything is in the Hollywood cover, it just hooked me more than even the same Interstaller.
  I advise you to take a look.

Cinemafia chose for you 11 of the best scenes from the film. But attention! SPOILERS!

While the Guardians of the Galaxy collected over $ 160 million at the moment, we took and collected the best scenes. True, you can argue with us.

And, yes, the text contains solid spoilers, including a detailed description of the scene after the credits. So if you have not seen the film, then blame yourself. We warned!

Dancing Star Lord

The second “opening scene” that we see after the Marvel screensaver is the Star Lord dance (aka Peter Quill) on the abandoned planet Morag to the song Come and Get Your Love. This moment is saturated with a non-trivial combination of wit and fun, which creates a very right mood. Here it is right away. Later   we will once again see Chris Pratt dancing when he calls Ronan the Prosecutor in a "dance battle". We will only say that such a bold trick does not work so harmoniously in every blockbuster.

The Legend of Kevin Bacon

One of the funniest jokes is dedicated to Kevin Bacon. When Gamora tells Peter Quill that she is a murderer and a warrior, and therefore does not dance, he tweet (quote the phrase as it is in the dub):

On my planet there is a legend about people like you. It is called "Free." This story is about how a great hero, his name is Kevin Bacon, taught the whole city of puffed turkeys the great art of dance. And it was unbelievable.

To which Gamora answers: "And who blew these turkeys?" This shows how literally everything is perceived on the other side of the galaxy.

Note: The 1984 Free movie, starring Kevin Bacon, is an American classic. According to the plot, the main character comes to a small provincial city, where dancing is prohibited. And only he can change these old-fashioned orders.

Disabled Rockets Jokes

The first time we encounter this is during a jailbreak, when the Rocket asks Peter Quill to get a prosthesis for one of the prisoners for him. Later, when discussing the plan of attack on Ronan's ship, he tries to convince everyone around that the insertion eye of one of the Yondu Devastators is the most important element. Even in the hottest situations, the Raccoon does not lose its trademark sense of humor.

Drunken Rocket Speech

Perhaps the strongest moment with the Raccoon in the film is the scene in the bar where the Rocket spills out all its feelings and emotions. In particular, resentment that he is called a "pest." He is crying, because he seems to have not asked him to conduct laboratory experiments on him, which turned him into a monster. At this moment, we understand that specific humor and insulting others is just a defensive reaction. This scene is truly dramatic, because at some point you completely forget that the Raccoon is just a computer character.

100% asshole

Let's just make a reservation that in the original it sounds like 100% Dick. Thus, while working out the plan to destroy the Black Aster, the Star Lord sends one of the NovaCorps representatives a “dick” message saying that he is, of course, an “asshole”, but not one hundred percent. And asks for help.

Yondu Udont and his arrow

Michael Rooker's Yondu is more than just a savage. He managed to turn this character into a very charming "bad guy." When the ship Yondu crashes, he is surrounded by the servants of Ronan. But with the help of his loyal arrow calmly cracked down on twenty opponents. Yondu collects figures on his dashboard, which, on the one hand, throws us straight to the "Firefly", and on the other hand, shows the emotional nature. You know, like bikers who actually work in a flower shop.

Smile Groot

Groot's smile is literally a cherry on this cake called Guardians of the Galaxy. Making their way to Ronan, Drax, Star-Lord and Groot stumble upon an entire army. Which Groot destroys ... hmm ... brutally. And then she turns around with an innocent and sincere smile, as if asking: "Have I done something good?" Yes Groot, you really did a good job.

We are Groot

Near the end of the film, Groot rescues the entire team, forming a "protective nest" around them. At the same time, the hero, who throughout the whole film pronounces exactly one phrase - “I Am Groot”, this time says “We Are Groot”, which can be read as “We Are Friends”. Yes, it was possible to act in a completely different way and give Grunt fundamentally different words at the end of the film, but the creators went that way, thereby endowing the familiar words with a completely different meaning.

Dancing Groot

The first scene after short credits shows us dancing little Groot against the background of Drax's knives rubbing after the battle. All this happens under Jackson 5's I Want You Back. This moment gives the audience their positive charge and people leave the hall smiling (although we know that no one leaves Marvel films after the first scene).

Listen, baby. Ain "t No Mountain High Enough

The final scene, when Peter Quill unpacks, finally, Mom’s farewell gift - Awesome mix 2 cassette, literally breaks the heart with the help of the song Ain’t no mountain high enough. We understand that the characters finally found not just friends, but a new family. Yes This is a wonderful moment.

Duck howard

Yes, here it is, the main spoiler. The scene after all of all the credits shows us how the unfortunate Tiwan Collector inspects the damage done to his collection. And then Howard the Duck appears with a malicious comment. Fans are still arguing over who gave Howard a voice - Seth Green announced on imdb, or Nathan Fillion, whose cameo everyone was waiting for.

UPD Yet Seth Green!

After the release of the big screens of the science-fiction film Guardians of the Galaxy, his characters became very popular. Of particular interest is the tree-like creature Groot. Small figures literally flooded the Internet and are sold for decent money. In this article we will tell how to make Groot from polymer clay from the Guardians of the Galaxy from polymer clay.

Materials and tools for work:

• baked polymer clay
• work surface: glass or ceramic tile with a smooth smooth surface
• knife or scalpel
• toothpick
• soft wire
• pliers

How to make Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy

To create a woody pattern, we need baked polymer clay of beige, brown and dark brown. If you want to get a dark tree, you can take an even darker brown, if light, then add more white.

Roll out layers of baked polymer clay of the same thickness and size.

We put them on top of each other, from dark to light.

We roll the resulting layer in length and a little wide. Cut in half and stack the halves on top of each other.

Repeat several times.

When we like the thickness of the strips, we cut the resulting layer into three or four parts, depending on the length.

With toothpicks or wooden skewers of different thicknesses, we press the grooves on the cut pieces across the pattern of the strips.

From dark brown plastic, roll the tubes of the appropriate thickness and put them into the grooves. This will help to create a knot pattern.

We stack the layers in a pile.

Squeeze a little on all sides and cut across the knots into equal thickness strips.

We lay out the strips in the wood pattern. You can change the sequence and sides of the strips as you like.

Roll out manually or using a paste machine. We need a thin layer, because we will wrap the figure with it.

Using pliers, we assemble the frame from soft wire. The head is a loop, the base for the body and arm.

From the remnants of unnecessary plastic create a shape.

We give a pose by bending the arms and body.

Now we wrap the torso and head with a layer of wood.

Hands are wrapped in separate pieces.

Carefully smooth out all joints. We form fingers, hair and roots.

We cut the mouth and eyes with a blade. For the eyes we need pieces of black plastic.

Now, with a toothpick, we scratch the grooves that match the wood pattern throughout the figure. The thickness and pressure can be different to create a texture. You can make indentations in the places of knots.

That's what Groot looks like, ready for baking.

To bake, we send it in a jar, suitable in size. So the shape of the hair and roots will not change, and also there will be no prints in places where the figure would be pressed against the glass. Bake according to the instructions for polymer clay.

After the figure has cooled down, it can be slightly treated with a sandpaper to remove excess chips from scratching with a toothpick. Then carefully cover the figure with acrylic paint. White - if you want a lighter figure or black and dark brown - for the dark.

Let the paint dry, and wash off the paint from smooth surfaces with a damp cloth. The paint will remain in the grooves, emphasizing the texture. Such a character figurine named Groot can be placed in an individual pot or put on an existing plant.

The costume designer for this film has been constantly collaborating with Marvel Alexandra Byrne. I already wrote about her in an article about the first Thor, and she also worked on The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron  and upcoming "Doctor Strange".

Working closely with production designer Charles Wood, makeup and hairstyle designer Elsabeth Iianni Giorgio  and make-up specialist David White, Alexandra created the whole cosmic world.

This is a very affiliate film. I worked very closely with all departments. The closest thing is with makeup specialists, because if the silicone pads and makeup just end up in the neckline of a T-shirt, it will look just like a bad Halloween costume.

James Gunn, director of the film, wanted the film to have a lot of bright colors.

For this film, color has become one of my main tools. We used a lot of strong, bright colors in combination with various skin tones of aliens.

And here it was very important to have a good taste, so as not to overdo it, and at the same time achieve a beautiful picture. In general, color combinations are one of the topics that are quite difficult for the artist, and, despite the many recommendations, in many respects one has to rely only on one's intuition.

Peter's costume is one of the most interesting among superheroes.

His cloak is a mixture of so many cool things. We took and mixed part from a cowboy, part from a biker, part from a rock star, some technology from a broken spacesuit and added a bit of retro.

For all the Ravagers, clothing was created in a single style - the silhouette of raincoats of a certain type and a single crimson color. But at the same time, this gang should have looked heterogeneous, so five variants of costumes of various types were created, all personalized.

And for the final battle, the Guardians also dress in Ravager costumes. Pay attention to the single symbol of the flame in all the suits - Yondu on the chest, Peter on the arm and on the shoulder of Gamora.

It turns out that losing weight to Chris Pratt for the role also caused the costume designer a lot of problems:

It was a real challenge. Chris was chosen for the role very early, and he needed to lose weight. So we had to try to predict what his body would be like when he got into perfect shape. This is very important from the point of view of the silhouette, but I also know from experience that it is impossible for the first day of filming to be ready for only one sewn suit, because you won’t do the rest in one night. We could not say: “Well, when we have the body in the right shape, then we will begin to sew things.” So we had to make many prototypes of Chris’s alleged body. He has an amazing physique and he's a big guy, and getting it to work on camera was something like juggling china. I wanted Peter to look modern at the same time, and at the same time a stranger, almost alien. And, of course, there were a lot of fittings.

In addition, one of the practical difficulties was that he has all these blasters and pistols. In order to integrate the holster of the pistols into Quill's trousers, nine people were needed and the coordinated work of several departments. We could not start the design of the sides of the trousers until the weapons and holsters were designed in other departments, so that we could know how big these guns would be. And so in many things - it takes a long time and a lot of interaction to make the tiny element of the costume work.

Leather upper - a single motive in the clothes of Peter. A cloak, jacket, vest - all made of red leather and very similar in style, repeating the idea of \u200b\u200bRavager costumes.

Apparently this jacket is very dear to our Star Lord - even after changing clothes after the battle to the costumes of the Nova corps, he remains in it:

Alexandra herself says that she is always based on comics in her work:

I study the script first, then move on to the comics. When working at Marvel, they always become the main source of materials. But then I expand my searches to various visual areas, compile a series of images for inspiration and create the necessary mood. I am looking for ideas that will inspire the viewer to discuss the costume. Sometimes it takes me too far, and I return to the comics again to check how it fits into the character's character.

Also, when thinking over a costume, the actor is very important, this was especially evident with Zoe Saldana:

You can draw as many sketches as you like, but until there is an actor, especially for a character with such a bright character like Gamora, you do not see the physical embodiment of the character. Working with an actress in a dressing room, and turning a sketch into a real thing is a completely different matter.

The image of Gamora is a collective image through all the comics in which she appeared. Having learned that it was Zoe Saldana who would become the performer of the role, I immediately had a lot of ideas, she brought a lot to this role. In addition, Gamora is a warrior, and therefore it was important to maintain the convenience of movement in suits.

To the question of the influence of the actor on the image - this is how Zoe herself describes the process of creating a character:

How “alien” should Gamora be? And I thought: She just has to be pretty. " I usually don’t think about my heroines from this point of view, but since I was supposed to be green and the only main female character here, I wanted the teenagers to consider me attractive. I don’t know why I was so nervous during the screen tests, but it was wild stress. True, these were my thoughts, others had completely different problems: to use contact lenses or not? To dye hair or not? Wig or not? How to make hair color? How long is the hair? And I'm like that: just pretty. For teens. They should like us. But after staying four months green, I began to wonder - what is beauty? And I realized that my character is very beautiful, and I was surprised how differently I began to relate to her, getting used to her appearance.

I enjoyed creating the prison uniform. There are a lot of details here, because I believe that in such a big film, small details are needed to allow the viewer to believe in the credibility of the created world. Therefore, we created a kind of bar code that indicates various crimes, and is applied to the uniform of criminals. In addition, we have aged some costumes for the background characters, and added personalized drawings that tell how long the form owner has been in prison. And we also developed a kind of trading system of beads and jewelry that they made in Kiln.

Personally, I am delighted with such sophistication. Although the viewer does not pay attention to all this and does not know the notation, he out of the corner of his eye notices the difference in bar codes on the form of prisoners, sees various decorations on them, and this creates a feeling of believability of what is happening.

In the case of Drax, the designers had a slightly different problem than Gamora - the less clothes the character has, the more attention is paid to her and every detail becomes very important. So, for example, it was very difficult to determine the waistline in his trousers.

Dave Batista has a wonderful body, it's nice to work with him. You just take and start working with him, inspired by him.

Pay attention to the beads at his belt - the very decoration that speaks of the duration of his stay in Kiln.

Unfortunately, Groot, for obvious reasons, didn’t have clothes in the film, but for his partner real little costumes were made, which were then used on the set and were very useful when the character was “revived” by computer technology, since artists had something to rely on in life.

But when creating a Ronan costume, functionality went by the wayside:

Everything in his suit worked for the image, but he needed to fight in this suit, so he had to be practical. I had a very strong feeling that his suit should resonate with his ship, as if they were strongly connected. Therefore, we worked very closely with the art department, which developed the appearance of the ship in order to create a kind of echo between them. A little later, we decided to add a semblance of ritual drawings from his skin and to his costume, and this brought the image of Ronan to a new level.

Notice how the costume resonates with the architecture of the ship:

And the work almost invisible here deserves respect, which made it possible to create a broad-shouldered alien from Lee Pace thanks to shoulder pads, shoulder pads and other pads.

Unfortunately, there is no information about the costumes of his main assistant Nebula, so I just propose to admire the concept art:

Sources of inspiration for the image of the Collector turned out to be very unexpected:

When you have someone like Benicio Del Toro, you know that you have a great actor to work with, he is the one who can complement the costume with his manners and habits. He made excellent use of this look, and we tried to bring his manners to life. It's like Liberace is dating Billy Idol.

Unfortunately, Liberace is little known to Russian viewers, but he was a very famous singer in America in the 50s-70s, and American spectators probably had no problems with associations. Here are examples of his stage costumes:

Well, the more familiar in Russia Billy Idol:

Actually, in fact, this is an extremely interesting topic - what associations the costume designer is trying to make and how it is perceived by viewers of other countries, and whether it is read or not when watching a movie. And, indeed, any detail is brought into the suit for a reason, but to show something, some character trait of the character.

But back to the heroes of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Here's what Alexandra Byrne says about the Nova Corps:

And here again, the comic is the starting point, we really start with them. And, again, work with color. I think that against the background of many films with dark, dark and realistic colors, James very clearly represented his vision of color in his film. And, of course, the Nova Corps was exactly the place where we wanted to make a statement in color.

Case in comics:

And in the movie:

Notice how the laid folds on the shoulder of the uniform of one member of the Corps are repeated in the clothes of the command. A real military uniform was created, very unusual due to the beautiful diagonal arrangement of folds, uncharacteristic of the Earth.

Groot, a fighting talking tree that knows only one phrase (“I am Groot”), sacrificed himself in the first Guardians of the Galaxy to save his friends, but managed to survive and was reborn in the finale as a small dancing tree. The scenic move pleased the audience so much that Little Groot suddenly became almost the main character: for the sake of it, the director even changed the plot of the sequel. Why is a piece of wood such an honor?

Everything is very simple: little Groot brought Marvel and Disney studios a lot of money bypassing the movie screens. Although he did not think “the highlight of the program” (raccoon Raccoon was being prepared for this role), the dancing Baby Groot melted the hearts of the audience, forcing director James Gunn to admit with some surprise: “Groot was the most popular character in the film.” Figures of a dancing Kid in a flower pot even before the release of the film on DVD were sold in huge numbers. The studio says that "did not expect such an effect," but the phenomenon was there, and something needed to be done with this. Of course, Groot should have been returned in the sequel. But return in what form? After all, the adult Groot was not as popular as his "young" version ...

Now we know from the trailers what the studio did: a significant part of the screen time is instead of Groot by Little Groot (again voiced by Vin Diesel, although now, after passing through the filters, his voice has become “cartoony” and completely unrecognizable). He is already older than a tree from the first series, but in general has become even sweeter. And the time allotted to him in commercials has increased markedly.

Of course, the director Gunn assures that the sale of toys has nothing to do with it, but it just happened so. At first he wrote about it on Twitter, then on Facebook. But along the way, he himself let slip that he planned to start the sequel not with the small one, but with the already grown Groot. Why did you change your mind in the end? The idea with adult Groot, in his words, “did not work” (whatever that means).

“Then I came up with the idea that the second episode would begin shortly after the finale of the first and that Groot was still small,” Gann wrote. “And this decision became the key to the whole film, all the parts suddenly came together.” Moreover, the director even reported that he was afraid that the studio would not allow him to leave Little Groot in the plot.

You can believe these words or not, but there is a suspicion that if the studio wanted to rake up a maximum of money on small Groot, it would have done just that: 1) threw the old plot developments into the urn; 2) tied the whole plot to the time zone where Groot remains a kid; 3) would increase its screen time; 4) would slightly change its design in order to release new figures; 5) at the end, she would allow Groot to grow up to spur the sales of "adult" figures.

In view of all these “coincidences”, it seems that the business was not done without the recommendations of the authorities. From the point of view of merchandise, Little Groot is a new character (he even behaves differently than in the first tape, becoming naive and playful a la immature Pinocchio), and Marvel always welcomes the introduction of additional characters, especially in cases where it is clear in advance that souvenirs with their image will be swept off the shelves.

Shot from the film "Guardians of the Galaxy"

Gann does not deny that he understood the financial potential of Baby Groot from the very beginning: “I am not an idiot and knew that if Baby Groot works, the whole world will want to buy toys, figures and plush Groots ...” Further, however, the director says this: “ But I was not at all sure about it when I was alone writing this story in my office, and this was definitely not the driving force behind my decision [to leave Groot as a kid]. I just fell in love with this dude, although at that time he lived only in my head. "

There is some inconsistency: on the one hand, the director was aware that Little Groot became "the most popular character", but on the other hand, Gann for some reason was "not sure" that people would want new toys in the form of Groot, and even " I was afraid ”that the studio would not allow Groot to be left small! That is, he almost begged his bosses to let him earn a lot of money for them.

To someone who knows how much merchandising affects American cinema, such arguments will seem ridiculous. I supposedly wanted to spit on the toys, and if they are sold in large quantities, then this is just a pleasant coincidence. For comparison: it’s as if Michael Bay suddenly said that he was not planning to raise sales of the toys of the same name and silly twin robots when filming the Transformers sequel, for the sake of a powerful plot development. That is, he could say - but who would believe?

After the story surfaced that Cars 2 was removed by Pixar just for the sake of selling new figures (which is very felt when watching the tape), one can only guess how often the “souvenir” becomes a true “plot engine” in Hollywood. Recall, for example, Ewoks - creatures that appeared on the screen purely for the sake of toy sales ... And they really were sold with a bang.

In English there is even a special word toyetic (used to denote any entertainment content with a high “souvenir” potential) - until the era of summer blockbusters this term did not exist, and the release of toys was never planned before the film or series became a hit. But today, when collecting figurines has become part of pop culture, a “souvenir” can go on sale even before the premiere, so as not to lose those customers who rush to the stores immediately after the movie screening.

And this “souvenir”, conscientiously calculated by marketers, almost always finds sales. Sometimes she “saves” the whole project (for example, “Godzilla” by Roland Emmerich didn’t perform well at the box office, but the peppy sales of the “merch” connected with her took away a financial catastrophe). Moreover, with its huge circulations, it may even be in short supply: for example, Frozen souvenir products sold for more than $ 5 billion, squeezing out other toys from store shelves for a long time - and still, around Christmas 2013 for Anna, Elsa , Olaf and Co. there were real battles between American parents, in a hurry to make their children happy ...

Although the final owner of the "Frozen", and the "Guardians of the Galaxy. Part 2 "one is Disney," the director Gunn, for some reason, is shy to admit that his employers are interested in high revenue. He strongly rejects the accusations of "mercantile designs." Apparently, Gann does not want to look like a seller of toys, but wants to look like a man of art - although it is clear to anyone that the whole of Hollywood is built on commercialism, and the point of producing commercial cinema is precisely to get profit.

The sale of Mickey Mouse items back in 1934 began to bring Walt Disney more money than his cartoons, and Walt only welcomed it. Moreover, Disney not only became a pioneer of the movie merchandise, he is the first in this regard today: the company he created owns the studios Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel, which are so successful in toy sales. Over the past quarter century, the "merch" has permeated Hollywood from top to bottom. Simply declaring this in clear text is not accepted. After all, the consumer really likes to think of cinema as an art ...

Meanwhile, Marvel’s authorities mentioned a year ago that the sequel was planning to increase the number of accompanying “merch” by releasing it, relying specifically on Groot. Gann, perhaps, would not want to advertise how important the “souvenir” is for Marvel, but the studio itself does not see the point of hiding it. And what is such and such?

Vin Diesel is the only actor whose voice was not voiced in the Russian version of Guardians of the Galaxy, as he recorded cues for Groot in six languages. In the sequel, Diesel went even further and voiced his character in 16 languages, - another confirmation that the studio has high hopes for Baby Groot

Groot, we note, is far from the first case of this type. Minor characters that look brighter than the main characters in the history of cinema are enough - to take at least a saber-toothed Scrat from the Ice Age, which has become the hallmark of the entire franchise, or penguins from Madagascar. Of course, the authors were aware that these guys fell in love with the audience, because they tried to insert Scrat and penguins in all subsequent series, and mountains of souvenir products were sold primarily thanks to them. Penguins even earned their own series. But to customize the main plot for them? This has not happened before. Therefore, apparently, Gann is embarrassed to call a spade a spade.

Obviously, when the unexpected potential of Baby Groot showed up, it was necessary to forge iron without leaving the box office. Neither Scrath nor penguins are a “perishable” product: their appearance does not change from series to series. And the matured Groot would quickly lose his childhood charm and comic. And it would sell worse. Therefore, it was necessary to squeeze the maximum out of him while it was still possible. Whatever Gann says, in our opinion, Baby Groot was inevitable.

Another question: is it bad? Of course not. Both Marvel and Gann know their business: they earn money, but they do not forget to entertain the audience. The studio’s continuous expansion by adding new characters has so far been successful in the studio, so Little Groot will certainly not spoil the porridge, and it will certainly amuse everyone.

Moreover - from the “souvenir” there is also an unconditional benefit for the audience. For example, had it not been for merchandise, the legendary Han Solo would have gone to the other world 30 years ago. Harrison Ford said that at some point he really wanted to kill this Star Wars hero, but George Lucas flatly refused - for the reason that the figures of the dead characters are sold worse than the living ones. The fact is that thanks to the deal with 20th Century Fox, Lucas always received his main income precisely from the licensed “souvenir” (the studio gave him at the mercy, because he did not really believe in the “toytism” of the first film), and now it’s clear that it was an extremely good deal, since Yoda and his friends have sold $ 20 billion worth of toys since 1977. It is not surprising that George did not want to hand over the death of Han Solo, one of his central moneymakers.

Lucas, in general, never hid from his colleagues that it was the sales of toys that laid the financial foundation for his film empire (that is, if he had not succeeded in selling "merchandise" in the late 70s, there would not have been the world-famous Star wars "). Moreover, once Lucas even stated in public that the entire franchise was created just for the sake of toys. That's right: for the sake of toys.

So Khan was not destined to die. And how many more darlings of the public escaped death thanks to caps, cups, badges and figures?

... Returning to the title topic, one can not but mention the following fact: a few months ago Vin Diesel talked about the fact that James Gunn wants to do a spin-off of Guardians of the Galaxy, devoted entirely to Groot and the Rocket. The question arises: if the studio gives the go-ahead, is it only because of the “toyetics” of this couple? I want to believe that there is no and that the plot of the tape itself will be worthy of the voiced idea. But if the money-bearing Baby Groot appears again in the spin-off, we will not be surprised at all.