Guardians of The Galaxy - IN REVIEW
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (AKA FARSCAPE) Directed by James Gunn and loosely based on the 2008 version of the team, the film tells the tale of space pirate/intergalactic hustler and pelvic sorcerer Peter Quill aka Star Lord (man) who upon raiding a temple of a mysterious orb, a bounty is placed on his head and he is thrust into a world he never made...wait, that's another guy. Anyway, after Quill is captured along with the bounty hunters who are after him, he befriends them and faster than you can say "Cowboy Bebop", they are off to recapture the orb from Ronan The Accuser who seeks to rule the galaxy with the power contained inside. But there is one thing he didn't count on....these guys!
This was probably one of my most anticipated films of the summer and it pretty much delivered. James Gunn hasn't' directed many films, this being his 3rd, but he does a great job and keeps the action and story well paced. He gives us characters we care about from start to finish. Even though we are never shown their backstory, when the characters tell their tales the stories have enough weight to them that, coupled with the characters, make them fully formed and giving a rag tag group of unlikely heroes we can root for. This was a very well cast film. Everyone was did a great job and did every character justice.Chris Pratt as Star Lord/Peter Quill was a fantastic lead. He really carried the film, he was very charismatic and handled the action scenes quite well. Right from the start, you're just onboard with his character and can't wait to see how he gets out of the constant problems he's gets involved in. He also has some great dramatic moments. Zoe Saldana as Gamora was great as well along with Dave Bautista as Drax (who did manage to steal a few scenes and gave a better performance than I thought he would. Seriously, he got some good laughs and character moments), Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradly Cooper as Rocket Raccoon, who pretty much got a lot of the best lines of the film. Lee Pace as Ronan was so intimidating and menacing. He gave a really intense performance, if you haven't seen him in Halt and Catch Fire, check it out, he's very good in that too but turns it up even more here. Also, Karen Gillan (of Doctor Who fame) turned in quite the dark performance as Nebula. She complemented Ronan's character quite well and was a great villain for as little as we saw her.
The action and effects were great, a little bland with some of the designs but not too bad. Shame the Nova Corps didn't have any powers but then it would've seemed like they're ripping off Green Lantern (which of course there are more similarities in the comics) which is understandable. Storywise, it was well paced and everything worked for me except probably the beginning. It felt a tad rushed trying to give us Quill's backstory which similar to almost every heroes's backstory nowadays that it's sort of cliched at this point. I mean, how many orphaned heroes do we need!? From a narrative standpoint having parents as supporting characters can be a problem (Re:Bay's Transformers) and taking them out of the equation means the character has less baggage to deal with. But for me it's getting a tad tiresome, but that's a minor gripe. The other thing was his Mother dying of Cancer at the very beginning was just not needed. It was a little jarring and seemed like it was inserted in, it could have been done as a flashback, as there are some opportunities for one while they could've just started the film off with actual opening scene. But that's really about it. Â Does it live of to the hype? Some of it. To call it the best comic book film of the year or EVAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!111 is really up to you. It depends on how much you get out of it. What speaks to you more? Either narrativly, emotionally or both. I personally don't think it's better than Captain America: The Winter Solder, but I also don't think it's fair to compare the two either as they're both totally different beasts. It's essentially James Bond vs Star Wars...although Moonraker technically did that...man, who thought that was a good idea?....Anyway, as I said, it's really up to your personal tastes. But definitely give this film a look. It has something for everyone and gives such a positive message about friendship and family (they almost beat you over the head with it really, but it works) and is a great time at the movies. It also happens to redeem Marvel and George Lucas's dirty little secret. You'll see. 9 John Crichtons out of 10
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