Chad White
Loves: Comics, Crossovers, Galactic Events, Movies That Are Actually Funny
Likes: Chris Pratt, Anthropomorphic Animals
Hates: Marvel Vs DC, Fox Owning Marvel Properties
Last week, I reviewed Snowpiercer and said it was the comic book movie that made other comic book movies look like crap. I was so wrong. THIS is the definitive comic book movie. Guardians of the Galaxy is an ambitious, daring and all around terrific movie. Disney and Marvel pulled out all the stops when it came to James Gunn’s latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill, better (or rather lesser) known as Star Lord, a human outlaw that travels through space looking for trouble. Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, and Dave Bautista co-star as his team of rogues Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Drax The Destroyer respectively. At first, they hate each other. Then, they love each other. Just about the best thing coming from the heroes’ meeting is their subsequent escape from an intergalactic prison. From the beginning of the movie, you are just thrown into the lore of the Guardians’ universe. There is absolutely zero handholding whatsoever. And the only backstory given for Star Lord takes up about five minutes of the movie. It’s fantastic how much Marvel trusts us to get everything from the get go.
Lee Pace plays the delightfully scary Ronan The Accuser and ultimate bad guy for the Guardians. He is trying to get his hands on one of Marvel’s most daunting and mystical weapons: an infinity stone. There are five of these scattered across the galaxy but they’re just now being introduced. Well, save for the tesseract that played a prominent role in The Avengers. Karen Gillan gives a somewhat stilted performance as Nebula, a robot assassin that works for Ronan. And Michael Rooker does more angry countryman and it still works. Honorable mentions go to Djimon Hounsou, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Gunn, and Josh Brolin as Thanos who make every small scene they have count. There are so many actors in this movie that it feels great to see some of the comic book universe’s more otherworldly characters.
One thing I had trouble with was some aspects of direction. Some scenes were often hasty and left me wanting more but I guess that can be considered good directing. Writing was also a little uneven but these points were very few and far between. Gunn wrote and directed Guardians and it shows. Heart was put into every scene. Every joke came across as funny; nothing made it seem like he was trying too hard. Speaking of jokes, this is by far the funniest comic book movie. There weren’t moments where jokes were awkwardly ushered into the scene. Pratt and company were given extremely funny lines. Some were even too dark or dirty for Disney. I mean, they said “shit” like three times. I felt like I was watching a Quentin Tarantino film by that point.
Should you watch Guardians of the Galaxy?
Yes. Yes. Yes. If you’re a comic book fan like myself or you just like a good movie, you will love Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s truly funny, exciting and changes the game of comic book movies. Marvel went fully ambitious with this movie and it paid off. There is no other film in the genre that can stand against it at the moment.