Its been since May that I stepped into a theater. The Spring and Summer movies thus far haven't quite reached the hype that was once said to rival the record-breaking one last year. Days of Future Past didnt deliver quite like it could have, Godzilla was better than the 1998 version, but you didnt get to see much of the lizard itself. Amazing Spider-Man 2, got many mixed reviews and so on and so forth. You have to go all the way back to Captain America 2 to see a really good quality movie that reached if not surpassed the anticipation surrounding it. So, it was kind of up to GotG to save the summer. So let's see how it made out.
Guadians of the Galaxy, directed by James Gunn, is the next big thing from Marvel Studios. Its about a man named Peter Quill(Chris Pratt) who gets abducted by aliens, at a young age, and grows up to become a thief in space. Due to his actions, he gets the attention of bounty hunters Rocket(Bradley Cooper) and Groot(Vin Diesel), along with an assassin named Gamora(Zoe Saldana)looking for the orb he's stolen. After the four meet and clash, they get arrested and thrown in jail. This is where they meet Drax(Dave Batista) due to a personal vendetta against Gamora. They decide to team up because of the orb and take out the main antagonist, Ronan(Lee Pace)who is also after the orb, but wants to do very bad, villainy things with it(your typical bad guy stuff). And.....that is pretty much all I can say without spoiling anything. You get the basic gist, right? Good. Let's move on!
The performances were some of the best this year. As mentioned before, the conversations between Drax and Peter Quill were full of laughs. In fact, Batista was a pleasant surprise. I expected him to be the weakest of the group, but he ended up holding his own very well. The delivery of his lines was perfect, especially a certain quote about him catching things trying to get over his head. In my mind, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana can do no wrong. So asking me how they did is like me trying to describe the taste of pizza or tacos or taco pizzas or pizza tacos or something like that so we'll just move on. Vin Diesel was good because he didnt have many lines. His performance reminded me of that in Iron Giant. As for Chris Pratt, he was damn near perfection to play Peter Quill. Wait....you mean the fat guy from Parks and Recreation?
Yup.
As a guy who reads the comics, it was easy for me to understand the characters and to also follow along with the story and direction. Knowing the back story behind all the characters due to my experience, does make me wonder if the movie did enough for the average movie goer who doesnt know anything about where there guys come from. However, they do give you a quick introduction during conversations. You really get to learn what makes each character tick in subtle ways throughout the movie; why Gamora turns on Thanos, why Drax wants to kill Ronan so bad, why Rocket is an ass, etc.
Which brings me to the writing. Which was absolutely fabulous throughout the movie. Im a guy who likes subtitles. I like when movies that take place in other countries(or in this case, planets), speak their languages. It gives the movie a certain feeling of realism, even if its science fiction like Gaurdians of the Galaxy. A small gripe but easily can be forgotten since this IS a comic book movie. Moving on, I want to say this is probably the best written Marvel movie. Despite the movie being all in one language, there was an obvious separation between characters from different planets and galaxies. Drax is a perfect example. Many times throughout the movie Peter does a figure of speech, from Earth, that Drax does not understand. This brings on most of the hilarious dialogue throughout.
When Peter Quill was first abducted, he had his walkman with him. So, as he is playing his tunes in his ear, we're hearing it as the main soundtrack. Most, if not all of the music is from the 70s. It contrasts with the futuristic sci fi feel. But...there is a reason behind it and the music plays a huge role, more so than many movies' soundtracks have before.
The movie did seem like it had something missing. Ronan the Accuser wasnt that great as a main villain. He did the job that he was supposed to do, but he felt really cliche. The patience might be getting the best of some fans, since once again, Thanos(Josh Brolin) was pretty much just teased to everyone, again. The only negative about the movie was the fact that it felt a bit like it was just a stepping stone to the next movies in Marvel's arsenal.
That's not to say it was filler or bad at all. It was a great movie and really does rival Captain America 2 for best movie of the year, so far. Its actually commendable that Marvel is deciding to put some of their less popular comic books to the big screen. It shows they're not afraid to take risks despite being way ahead in the comic book movie rivalry, between DC and themselves. While Marvel is taking care of ALL their fans, DC is too busy not showing trailers to everyone, who pays their bills and having their characters go against the well known rules they have always followed *COUGH* Superman.
From: DC To: You and vice versa.
Guardians of the Galaxy was a great addition to the Marvel movie family. It held its own against Avengers and raises the bar for the following films. Great performances, soundtrack and story with very little negatives make this movie one of the best of the year.
9.25 out of 10
