Firstly, I just want to get it out of the way that I actually saw this on opening day here in the UK, 31st July, but knowing I'd be seeing it for a second time the following Sunday on the 3rd August, I decided to hold off doing a review so I could better summarize my feelings towards the film. Guardians of the Galaxy has to be the riskiest choice Marvel could have chosen for a film, given that it is centered around these extremely obscure characters and in fact has very little tying it to earlier films. But damn, did it pay off! I previously did an editorial on this blog about how Guardians of the Galaxy should be the refreshment that the Marvel Cinematic Universe needs right now, and damn was it refreshing. Guardians really builds upon the existing Marvel universe showing us new races and characters and storylines previously not even hinted at, and giving us something rather original in a franchise where we've come accustom to certain elements like a Samuel L Jackson cameo or talk or another Avenger.
Speaking of the new characters, pretty much everyone in this movie comes out on top. Chris Pratt really infuses a lot of his own personality into the main character, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, to give us a lovable, hilarious rogue reminiscent of characters such as Han Solo. It's good to see Pratt do such a good job headlining a major blockbuster too, after he brought to life the protagonist in this year's 'The Lego Movie'. I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing more of him in future big blockbusters. As for the rest of the Guardians, let's start with the safest bet. Zoe Saldana here doesn't really explore new ground. We've seen her as an alien warrior before in 'Avatar', and in other sci-fi films like 'Star Trek', but nevertheless Saldana does an excellent job once again at bringing to life a badass, strong female character. Dave Bautista finds himself in the most important job of his acting career since deciding to leave WWE, and he performs admirably. The character of Drax is somewhat of a stiff, wooden character dialogue wise anyway (his people are completely literal, as explained in the film), so it's hard to tell sometimes if Bautista's acting is weak in some spots, or if he's actually playing the character well, and it's the character acting strange. Either way, he manages to provide a few laughs and most importantly, show off in some excellent action sequences. Last but definitely not least are Groot and Rocket Raccoon, the two CGI characters of the team. I was critical when I first heard the casting of Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon to be honest. I always felt it was just the studio unnecessarily putting star power into an obscure film to guarantee some better box office results, and I always assumed it'd be jarring to hear Rocket Raccoon talk like Cooper. But I've been proven wrong. Cooper's performance as Rocket really brings the character to life, and helps give him a presence in scenes shared with actors so the character doesn't feel fake. More importantly, Cooper disappears into the role, with me never thinking during the film I was watching him play a raccoon; the entire time I just felt like I was actually watching Rocket. Vin Diesel's performance of Groot is equally incredible, and also helps give the character a presence, but not as much as a surprise. After all, I've already seen Diesel do a terrific job with 'The Iron Giant', so why should he fail with the Wooden Giant? As for the rest of the cast, I can't think of anyone who did a poor job. Lee Pace performs great as the antagonist, Ronan the Accuser, giving us a terrifying villain for the Guardians to face off against. Joining his side is Doctor Who's Karen Gillan as Nebula, who I was surprised at how much I liked in the villain role. Glenn Close and John C Reilly star as members of the Nova Corp, and while they're good in their roles, they appear far too little in the film to really justify getting such big stars in.
On a technical standpoint, the film is spot on. The cinematography and direction in general was great, and something a little different to give Guardians it's on flavour. The visual effects are flawless, with huge set pieces, CGI characters and various stunts all looking brilliant throughout the film. I saw the film in IMAX 3D, and I'm glad to say even the 3D was used to a good effect in the film, after seeing so many films this summer squander the use of it. Tyler Bates creates a tight enough score for the film where it's serviceable, but not really noteworthy, as it's utterly outshined by the soundtrack James Gunn decided to use in the film, with Star-Lord's collection of 70's riffs featuring throughout. Surprisingly though, the soundtrack never feels too forced. There's an actual story element to why Star-Lord has this music, and every time it appears throughout the film (eleven different tracks make it into the film), it flows well and feels natural rather than feeling that the director was just pushing the music onto us (something Transformers: Age of Extinction did by shoving Imagine Dragon's latest single down the viewers through over and over again in the last hour).
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| This image adds nothing to my review. I just think the design for Ronan's ship is fucking badass. |
On the whole, Guardians of the Galaxy is just such an incredibly fun time to watch that it's hard to nitpick and really find any faults with it. Looking at it as just a film, it gives the audience these really fun characters you want to follow with some great humour and awesome action, not too unlike the Avengers. Even looking at it as a hardcore fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there's so much world building here setting up potential threads for the future of the franchise, as well as a galactic element, that it's hard to watch the film and not feel myself grinning the entire time. One particular scene in the film was so great to see on the big screen that I actually couldn't stop smiling through it. I don't want to give specifics to those who haven't seen it or don't know about it, so all I'll say is that the scene stars Josh Brolin. I knew I was going to appreciate Guardians of the Galaxy for taking the risk and showing us a new side of the MCU, but I never knew I was going to end up loving it and these characters so much! And on a note for the future of the Marvel universe, this pretty much gives Marvel a free pass to try any zany characters and films they want. Who can deny the possibility of Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Ms Marvel working when Marvel made a space movie starring a fucking raccoon one of the highlights of the summer.
9 out of 10
