Welcome to another episode of
Lights....Camera....Popcorn!
Today's review is
Guardians of The Galaxy.
Directed by James Gunn.
Written by James Gunn & Nicole Perlman.
Based on the Marvel comics
"Guardians of The Galaxy" created by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning.
Review
#256
MPAA Rating:
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language.
Run Time: 121 min
Hulk Spoils Hollywood Podcast Page
Cast
Chris Pratt...Peter Quill
Zoe Saldana...Gamora
Dave Bautista...Drax
Vin Diesel...Groot (voice)
Bradley Cooper...Rocket (voice)
Lee Pace...Ronan
Michael Rooker...Yondu Udonta
Karen Gillan...Nebula
Djimon Hounsou...Korath
John C. Reilly...Corpsman Dey
Glenn Close...Nova Prime
Benicio Del Toro...The Collector
Marvel Studios has taken big time gambles with their comic properties. Starting with their Phase One set of films that eventually tied into
The Avengers.
Click to read review. Which is arguably the
BEST Marvel film of the lot. The massive success of Phase One set the tone for Phase Two and Three.
Phase Two had the same cast of characters returning for sequels.
Iron Man, Thor and Captain America. Then Marvel thought they would shake things up and bring the
Guardians of The Galaxy to the silver screen. Then added to the long shot was the choice of director James Gunn to helm the project. The geek world (myself included) was intrigued with both choices. After seeing this film I learned a very valuable lesson.
Don't bet against Marvel Studios.
Plot
Light years from Earth, 26 years after being abducted, Peter Quill finds
himself the prime target of a manhunt after discovering an orb wanted
by Ronan the Accuser.
The first thing to understand and appreciate about this film is the big brass balls Marvel Studious has to even make it. Anyone who walked around saying they were excited about this film when it was announced is
LYING! Why? Because
NOBODY knew who the
Guardians of The Galaxy were. The most recognizable character was a talking raccoon with a gun. It was very hard to take this film seriously once introduced to the eclectic cast of characters this team was comprised of. Then Marvel did something very clever. They incorporated these rag tag band of misfits into their shared universe and suddenly this made things more interesting.
I openly admit that I knew nothing about this group. So what does a legit geek do? Homework. Like most of my reviews, I researched info about the film I'm writing about. This time I did my digging before I saw the film to get a better sense of what I was about to deal with. This is where parts of my passion for movies collided. In doing my background check on The Guardians the first teaser trailer came out. The one that set off a fire storm of iTunes downloads of the song
"Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede. It was a well cut montage mixed with the Ooga Chaka Ooga Ooga Ooga Chaka hook that starts the song.
Here's the
(trailer) if you feel nostalgic.
It's worth a look.
In that trailer, the tone of the movie was set. At first viewing I was not on board. I thought that if a movie like this was going to succeed, a movie with characters that nobody knew about, the comedy would have to be reigned in. Shows how much I know. If that happened then this film would have
SUCKED! The biggest aspect this film presents to us is a team of heroes made up of a group that has no business banding together. The Guardians are the anti Avengers. Every character has their own singular focus that never merges with the others so in order to make this "team" work together the script needed a fair amount of levity and sarcasm. It makes sense considering that 2 of the 5 Guardians are clowns. Peter Quill and....
Rocket.
Going into this movie I had a similar feeling for Rocket that I had for another Marvel character making his debut in a film. You might know him. A small character named Wolverine. When
X-Men was released back in 2000 the geek world waited with baited breath to see how one of the most popular characters in comics would be portrayed on film. My opinion still remains that the entire X-Men franchise hinged on Hugh Jackman's performance. Lucky for Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox the Aussie
NAILED it and now the Clawed Canadian has become arguably the greatest Marvel character to appear on screen.
My point is that even though very few people know who The Guardians are, this film hinged on Rocket and Bradley Cooper's performance behind the mic. What ended up happening was a terrific blend of CGI, voice acting and a believable feeling that this was not a cartoon character running around with the rest of the group. There's no question that Rocket was the funniest character in the film but his comedic timing was only bested by his toughness. You were forced to take him seriously despite his diminutive stature. He was not a side show freak which is saying a lot considering all of the Guardians can be considered side show freaks. That's what in my opinion made this film so good. These guys are a bunch of misfits that would rather tear each other apart let alone work together for selfless pursuits. It was a fresh way to present a cast of characters that are worth rooting for and knowing more about. All this being said. Guardians of The Galaxy isn't perfect, and the biggest failure rests with this man.
Ronan the Accuser.
This is the main antagonist and not once do you fear him or wonder if he can defeat the Guardians. This has become a trend in recent Marvel films where the villain doesn't have as much stock or purpose in the film as he should. Particularly
Thor: The Dark World. Click
HERE to read review. Now we all know that these films are like Pro Wrestling. The outcome is predetermined before you buy your ticket. No studio has the balls to break the formula and have the bad guy win before the end credits roll. As a result the villains in these films are served as plot devices rather than true adversaries. What hurts Ronan further in this film is that the majority of the time is spent setting up the Guardians and getting to know them. Rightfully so but there's got to be a better way to balance the two. I wish I had an answer but it's a very tricky prospect.
You don't want to short change your heroes at the expense of a character that won't survive past the first film. However, how can you take the villain seriously when he gets a couple of cutaway scenes that quickly map out his dastardly deeds. Maybe if there was a scene or two that displayed Ronan's lack of mercy towards the Nova Prime planet or some show of random violence.
ANYTHING to get you to hate him.
It seemed that Gunn and company were more interested in reintroducing us to Thanos than giving Ronan the respect he deserves.
Thanos pictured above is name dropped a
TON in this film and has a brief scene with Ronan so it's clear as day that his presence is going to be prevalent in many of the future Marvel films coming up. It's no secret that Thanos is projected to be the main villain in
The Avengers 3 so setting him up now with the inclusion of more infinity stones is a good idea but it takes away what is more important for this film which was establishing Ronan as a force to be reckoned with.
That didn't happen.
The final word is simple.
Guardians of The Galaxy is a really good film and gets the cosmic arena of Marvel's library off to a great start. Is it the best Marvel movie ever made? No. Is it better than The Avengers?
NOT EVEN CLOSE! Is it a film worth watching?
ABSOLUTELY! James Gunn deserves a ton of credit for pulling off something that I thought only Joss Whedon could do. He made a terrific ensemble film filled with good action, well timed comedy and tightly written characters.
Guardians of The Galaxy is a nice change of pace from the "grounded" world Marvel has given us. Taking the universe into literally the universe was the next logical move and it has paid off.
So far....
On the 5 star scale.
Guardians of The Galaxy gets
4 stars with a
"Worth Every Penny!" recommendation.
That's a wrap for today.
Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"
"D"
