Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Guardians of the Galaxy
Dir. James Gunn
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Guardians of the Galaxy is Marvel's big gamble.  Even though this is the tenth film in the successful "Marvel Cinematic Universe," it's by far the most offbeat; it doesn't have any iconic hero like an "Iron Man" or "Captain America" to sell the movie, it's set almost entirely in space, and it's directed by cult-favorite personality James Gunn, writer and/or director of such violent, R-Rated films as Slither, Super, and a smattering of Troma movies - it's amazing that this film even exists.  Guardians, based off of the 2008 comic series (there's little in common to the original 1969 comic), follows a band of interstellar outlaws, including the man-child leader, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), the green-skinned femme fatale/daughter of Thanos, Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the muscle-headed, unaware-of-sarcasm Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), and finally Rocket Raccoon and Groot (Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel), the Han/Chewie of the movie, a gun-toting raccoon and a talking tree, respectively.  Every character in this movie is a ton of fun, and the world that Gunn created made me feel like a kid again.  Every inch of the film is littered with detail, and I'm currently thanking a God I don't believe in that Gunn's personality wasn't lost in translation.  Guardians of the Galaxy is definitely one of the best Marvel films yet.

As seen in the post-credits tease after The Avengers, Thanos also plays a part in this film - the legendary Marvel comics character who used the power of the five infinity gems to literally kill half of all superheroes with a snap of his fingers (but that's way ahead of ourselves, likely in Avengers 3).  But the MacGuffin in Guardians is one of the infinity gems, which all the characters, including the villain, Ronan, a Darth Maul-looking suck-up to Thanos, are after for different reasons.  Although I still hate that there's another random glowing object of power as the crux of the main conflict (like the Tessarect in Avengers), here the center of attention is almost entirely on the characters.  The "galaxy" isn't nearly as interesting as the "guardians" - this lovable rag tag group is just so well-written and realized that it doesn't matter what exactly the bad guy was after (Quill himself likens it to the Maltese Falcon and the Ark of the Covenant), it's just a ton of fun to go on this journey, exploring the universe through their offbeat personalities that are constantly bouncing off each other.

JJ Abrams has a lot to live up to with Episode VII, because after Guardians I feel like I've already seen an amazing new Star Wars movie.  Everything from the characters, the set design, the wonderfully funny script, the refreshingly practical make-up effects, the photo-realistic CGI of both Rocket and Groot, the groovy 70's soundtrack, and even the selected emotional beats worked for me.  I honestly couldn't have expected a better film, and its only downfall is that there may have been more side characters characters than were necessary (Glenn Close and Benecio Del Toro don't have much to do), and it does end up feeling a tad overstuffed, but I feel in a sort of good way.  Because each character is so unique and interesting, I never had a problem following who was who.  This film didn't have the advantage Joss Whedon had on The Avengers, which was that the characters were already introduced - Gunn managed to not only get the "origin story" aspect right, but did so while making us fall in love with this band of weirdos saving the galaxy.  I loved this movie, and I can't wait for the insanity that Guardians 2 will bring (the genuinely surprising post-credits scene assures me that it will be just as crazy).

Rating: A

I Am Groot.