Guardians of the Galaxy Review by Robert Sousa
August 4, 2014 9:40 pm | Leave your thoughts
Star-lord and friends are here to shake up those “top 9 Marvel movies” lists we made a couple weeks back. Though I am not familiar with the source material, I have seen the episode of “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” featuring the crew and read some Wikipedia, however I have been counting down the days the last two weeks, and could not wait for this movie. Saw it Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all in 2D. Loved it more after every viewing. Everything you want in a movie: emotion, action, humor, visually stunning, just an enjoyable movie that keeps you engaged and smiling the entire time.
One of my favorite things about this movie is that it’s an origin story with very little origin. Especially for a rather large cast of wacky, alien characters the mainstream doesn’t know too much about. They throw us right in there as opposed to giving us a half hour scene where Rocket and Groot are being created. A scene or a line of dialogue for each character to explain their motivation was all we needed. The way they came together, after being arrested for the commotion on Xandar, gave us a good idea of what each character was looking for.
Every character in this movie worked. EVERY character. I could watch a solo movie on just about every personality here. All 5 of the guardians were special in their own way. Chris Pratt has bumped Peter Quill from a bench player into a hero that can stand with the Avengers. He perfectly plays the laid back, classic music loving, legendary space outlaw. There may have been inspiration from Indiana Jones and Han Solo, but no question Pratt has originated a character that will be a source of inspiration for future genre movies. Pratt is now a movie star and his popularity is soaring all the way to Xandar after this performance.
I didn’t know I’d ever say this phrase, but a talking raccoon was the star of this movie. Rocket completely stole the show. I usually watch the first 2 trailers of a movie, I don’t like to see too much before it hits theaters, and from those trailers I had no idea Rocket would be the player he was: comical and witty with an edge of badass to him. Much more dialogue than I was expecting and Bradley Cooper’s voice work was top notch. Along with his muscle, Groot, they were the Han Solo and Chewbacca of this film.
Another phrase I could not believe I would say: Batista was extraordinary as Drax the Destroyer. I am a WWE fan and was worried about this casting, but I was proven wrong. He did not overplay or dumb down the part, instead he brought a great blend of toughness and humor driven by a want of revenge. He really took it to the next level with this unexpected performance.
Gamora and Nebula introduced a new dimension as sisters with a complicated relationship. It didn’t help when Thanos said Gamora is his favorite daughter. The hatred from Nebula could be felt, while Gamora expressed the opposite and hoped her sister would change and help their cause.
Nebula wasn’t the only character from the malicious side to give an impressive performance. Ronan the Accuser was a superb and fitting villain for this movie (I smiled when he said “You stand accused”). Just a bad guy throughout who only sought destruction and pain. In terms of Marvel movies I do think he was one of the better villains, lacking just a speck of power and/or creepiness to put him on a level with Loki or Winter Soldier. Even a lesser villain like Korath was great every time he appeared. Michael Rooker as Yondu was a surprisingly notable character. Maybe not a villain, but he enhanced every scene he was in, especially when he was able to use his whistle controlled arrow to take out groups of enemies.
The reveal of the ‘real’ Thanos was chilling. We saw the post-Avengers scene, but now have Josh Brolin playing the part for the franchise. When you first hear his voice you feel the threat he poses. Very deep, powerful, and menacing they nailed that very important characteristic. Seeing him turning, sitting on his floating throne with his armor, huge chin and the grin was really an iconic moment. His size and structure looked well scaled, he didn’t stand up, but he looks about Hulk size. I am really looking forward to seeing him more fleshed out and the inevitably showdown with the Guardians and/or Avengers.
Every character deserves praise (I missed the Collector, Nova Prime, and more), it seemed like everyone just had fun playing their role. The effects in this movie were of the highest quality. Rocket, Groot, Thanos all looked believable as beings living in this world. None of them looked out of place. The makeup for Nebula and Ronan was remarkable. All of the planets and different locations looked majestic and lively. One of my favorite visuals was Star-Lord’s mask. It was so visually pleasing with the large red eyes glowing, particularly when he is shown in the distance and the “Man of Steel” type effect when he removes it. The action scenes were memorable: our first appearance of Star-Lord obtaining the orb, the prison escape scene, Groot swinging the bad guys from wall to wall of the corridor, and the last battle, reminiscent of Star Wars, with person to person combat and spaceship dog-fighting. The humor was real and none of it was forced. This was a legit funny movie that has great comedic delivery from each actor.
I had a couple very light criticisms. The story was somewhat basic (groups fighting over an object of great power), didn’t have the twists and turns of Cap 2 (not that we needed those, again just saying it was a basic plot). I personally do not need to see a relationship between Gamora and Peter. I think it fit his character if he was just trying to “get lucky”, but I do not need to see them as a couple. The very first slow motion scene (jumping into ship) didn’t really do it for me, I thought that one was unnesscary. These slights are me being picky, and in no way affected my enjoyment of the movie.
Going back to beginning of the review where I mentioned our “top 9 Marvel movies” list, I am on a high from this movie so I won’t put it at number 1 just yet, but I will say this easily lands top 3. From the title screen with Star-Lord dancing around the caves of Morag to the post credit scene, this movie was everything I wanted and more. I am GR…Tupperware!
Categorised in: Movie Reviews
This post was written by David Griffin
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