Guardians of the Galaxy

If you read my review on the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, you may have noticed that I was hesitant about this movie. I was of course going to see it mainly because its the next chapter of the Marvel Cinematic universe, why wouldn't I see it?

But I wouldn't say I was expecting it to get on the top of my list for favorite Marvel movies.

After seeing it, I'm not sure if I just only like this movie or if I really love this movie. Its one of those movies that the reaction isn't totally clear from the initial watching. However, I feel the more I watch this movie, the more I will enjoy it and the more I will come to love it.

Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in the universe set up by previous Marvel movies. The same way Thor takes place in the universe where Asgard and the Frost giants fight, The Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in a totally different world populated by different species and creatures. Right off the bat this was kind of a strange part of the movie because it just seemed like the different species of this universe were just different colored humans. I became a little confused on why everyone looked like humans except with blue or red on their face. Unfortunately, this was never explained. Is it a huge deal? Not really? I mean the people of the Nova core look a lot like humans and yet we're to believe that Avengers was one of the first instances where Earth has been exposed to the wonders and dangers of the universe, so why is Glen Close and John C Riley out there in Xandar looking all human like?

The world created by Guardians of the Galaxy kind of reminded me of the world created by Farscape. Now I have not seen almost anything of Farscape but the few episodes and clips that I have seen puts that guy that is in every sci fi thing ever and almost makes him the only human in a world of humanoid creatures and species.

(Disclaimer: Again, I have not seen all of Farscape so I'm sure there are other humans out in this universe, i just never saw them)

The difference is that with new special effects and just a better budget, Guardians of the Galaxy just pulls it off a little bit better and makes the world a little bit more real and not a world of crappy prosthetics.

But moving onto the story, it focuses on a human by the name of Peter Quill, or self named, Starlord. (played by Chris Pratt) In short, Starlord is a loser. He plays himself off as a mixture of Han Solo and James T Kirk but he's just not the legend those two are at all. At the beginning of the movie he finds a mystical orb that everyone seems to want to get their hands on.

In a movie like this, Chris Pratt is a really great choice. I don't know much of his previous work but he does a really good job playing a quirky and over confidence thief in a galaxy far far away... but not a Star Wars Galaxy far far away.

He plays a great leader as well. I'll get into more of that once all the characters are introduced but just remember that if they were going to have anybody play Peter Quill, Chris Pratt was a great choice for it.

So through a series of events of people trying to collect bounties on Starlord and take back the orb from him, he finds himself in prison with a band of misfits. You've got Starlord of course, but then you have Gamora, (played by Zoe Saldana) the daughter of Thanos working to get the orb as far away Ronan the Accuser, the main baddy in this film at all costs. Zoe Saldana plays this role as she plays every role, excellently.

And then you have Rocket and Groot.

I think everyone was expecting these two to really be fun characters. Its a giant tree who only says "I Am Groot" and a talking Raccoon who likes guns. How could they not make this awesome?

But I don't think anybody expected way came out of these two. They're funny in all the right places, they're badass in all the right places, they're dramatic in all the right places. I would be fine with a standalone movie just one these two. Think about that? A standalone film with just Rocket Racoon and Groot. If you haven't seen the movie, you're probably very confused. But they are just one of the best duos of the Marvel Universe. And for me, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper steal the show and it would be a shame if they didn't show up again. And these two just work so well together that in the short time we're allowed to see them develop their characters, they just become so beloved.

Then you have Drax...

Now, I don't necessarily believe that you can't go from pro wrestling to acting and be good... but you can't. The Rock took nearly a decade to actually be good and even still I'm skeptical, David Batista is not going to do it in a single movie like this.

That being said, he did what he had to do. He was an overpowered muscle who is not that bright. And honestly, he's funny. Not as funny as Rocket or Groot. But he's funny. He's so simple minded that its quite comical. I was actually kind of disappointed with his strength as a character because there's a lot of scenes where he gets his ass kicked. But regardless, he's a simple character who has his moments but mostly, he's more funny to me then relatable.

But that's another interesting thing about this film. How much of a comedy it is more than a sci fi Superhero film. Yes, its still a comic book movie, its still got that action but its funny. Its very funny.

I said this in my trailer review but it seems like Marvel knows exactly what they are doing with Guardians of the Galaxy and they know that not every movie is going to fall under the same formula as Captain America, or Iron Man, not even Iron Man or Captain America.

Because I liked this movie so much, I have hope for Ant Man, especially if you take a director like James Gunn who before this film was more known for Scooby Doo and make something awesome and different and yet it feels like it belongs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It takes away any doubts I have that Adam McKay will be able to deliver a different, funny and yet totally in character Marvel movie on Ant-Man.

Getting back on track, the team is formed and they must stop the evil Ronan the Accuser from using the secrets of the orb to destroy anything he desires to destroy.

There's a great line in this movie where Starlord looks at his companions and says, "I look around and I see losers. Losers as in people who have lost something"

Its just amazing because you put together this band of misfits and it really makes a fun movie.

Is it a little strange how quickly they become friends? Yes, it is.

It is a little bit funny and a little awkward at the end when they come together to fight the enemy, there is a part where they basically are brought together and summon the strength of friendship in order to fight Ronan.

That might seem strange but watch the end and don't tell you don't see a parallel to the old cartoons where the only way to defeat the bad guy was to grasp hands and come together with the power of friendship. Especially if these guys only know each other for a few days.

As far as villains go, I do have to say this movie was a little bit lacking. While I feel Ronan the Accuser had a little bit more of something going for him than the 8th Doctor did in Thor: The Dark World, he's still kind of a throw away villain, getting ready for the battle against Thanos.

I'm going to write a separate post on Thanos after this one so I won't talk too much about him.

Before I forget.

Karen Gillan rocks my world. She plays such a good villainess in Nebula and she really plays the antithesis of Gamora. Maybe its my bias towards Doctor Who but every time she was on screen, I really enjoyed her.

It makes the presence of Ronan the Accusers kind of underwhelming. There's no doubt he's a power house and has immense power, but in the end, the minute you see Thanos in this movie, it really kind of throws out the power of Ronan. I think it would have been better to leave the reveal of Thanos to the end of the movie. Like show Ronan doing his evil stuff, keep him in communication with Thanos but always by hologram, not showing him off until Nebula or someone returns to Thanos saying Ronan has failed. Then Thanos turns around and reveals himself.

Its a similar reveal that they did in Star Wars. You figure out later in the films that the Emperor is a greater threat, even more than the looming Darth Vader who the audience has feared the entire time. But the movies gave you time to get used to Darth Vader, while alluding to a greater threat in the Emperor. It pushes the reputation of the Emperor while developing Darth Vader. Now I know they're crunched for time, but Ronan the Accuser kinda sucked as a villain.

Even now, I'm looking at the picture above and I still don't know what Ronan the Accuser did or was. I mean I do, but I don't really care.

Personally I would have enjoyed that as an end credit scene more than the one they actually had. I'm not saying I didn't think it was funny but needless to say, I really hope Disney doesn't go ahead and try and make a Howard the Duck movie.

I want to talk more about Thanos in another post, a post I've been meaning to write for a couple days now. Regardless, I'm going to try and wrap this review up because its been a couple days since I saw it and my memory is getting fuzzy.

Before I get too ahead of myself, close this out and forget about important details, I have to ask, what is up with the Collector?

As you know, I haven't read the comics, Id on't know the significance of the Collector and what he brings to the Guardians of the Galaxy comics. Obviously he's not that great of a guy but he's barely in this film. Personally, I'm a little disappointed. They built him up as this big deal in the end credit scene of Thor: The Dark World and when he finally appears in his Cruella Di Vill outfit, he shows up for about fifteen minutes and then we never see him again. Maybe Benecio Del Toro only had time for 15 minutes of screen time, or someone couldn't pay his salary more than that but he shows up and leaves very very quickly in this movie so don't expect too much but some exposition, exposition that, while important to future movies, could have been explained by anybody to give the Guardians their future endeavors and adventures.

In the end, the more I think about Guardians of the Galaxy, the more I like it.

I still don't count it as the top of the Marvel movies but its hard to say any of the Marvel movies are worse then the others because not only does Marvel know how to make movies, they know how to take something totally alien and unfamiliar to us like Guardians of the Galaxy and make it something full of humor, heart, adventure, and just down right fun.

I have no doubt that if you see this movie, while some of the characters are under developed and could maybe spend an entire movie just focusing on them, its still going to be a fun ride.

But those are my thoughts. What did you think of Guardians of the Galaxy? Comment and discuss below.

I'll leave you with this. Here's a great mashup of Star Wars and Guardians of The Galaxy. Enjoy!