The wait is over. The tenth chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is here. I was lucky enough to score a pass to see the film on the exact same day it was released to Hollywood for its world premiere, so hopefully I can pass along some of that joy to you in this review.
So without further ado...
Let me start by saying I was a little worried how Marvel fast tracked 'Guardians' from their reboot in 2008, to Nova and Rocket Raccoon appearing in 'Marvel vs. Capcom 3', to the obvious new position as Marvel's flagship team. The film, directed and written by James Gunn, (Scooby-Doo, Super) seems to understand everything that makes the Guardians work as a team. He seems to understand that at their core, The Guardians, whether we're talking about the original team from the 60's, to the new team starring in this film, the group has always been about a bunch of...C-listers (*cough* 'losers') that band together to defend the cosmos. Guardians... takes, this basic formula and makes a very enjoyable film.
*Spoiler Alert* The film cold opens up on Earth in 1988 with the origin of Chris Pratt's character, Peter Quill, a young boy that loves his walkman. Peter's mom dies from what appears to be cancer, and upon running from the hospital in tears, he is abducted by aliens. Fast forward 26 years later, Peter is now Star-Lord, and Star-Lord is some sort of space treasure hunter, and he's just stolen some strange orb of great importance to a lot of people. Some of these people who put a bounty on his head, which land him directly in the crosshairs of Rocket Raccoon and Groot, voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel respectively. Zoe Saldana, as the deadly Gamora, joins the mix also after Star-Lord and his orb, sent by the nefarious Ronan the Accuser and Thanos. Finally, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Batista) completes the group on a quest to kill Ronan for the murder of his family The purpose of a mysterious orb that later is revealed as one of the Infinity Stones by The Collector (Benicio Del Toro), first seen in the post-credits teaser of Thor: The Dark World, who explains to the Guardians (and the audience) what these vast power sources are (the Tesseract from Captain America, and Avengers and the Aether from Thor: The Dark World) Ronan, played by Lee Pace, has a hard-on for destroying the planet Xandar, home of the Nova Corp- a military police force helmed by Nova Prime, (Glenn Close). Ronan has made a deal with Thanos (menacingly voiced and motion captured by Josh Brolin) to destroy Xandar upon giving him the orb. However, Ronan's ego doesn't take to kindly to Thanos treatment once he discovers what the orb is.
The movie moves along at a moderate pace, there aren't any moments that feel like it's dragging along other than the obvious that these five characters could get more done together, than at each other's throats. For their initial, jump into the space adventure genre Marvel does well. Chris Pratt channels some of his wife's (Anna Farris) comedic timing in Star-Lord's clumsy approach to the perils of his lifestyle. Zoe Saldana's role as Gamora, the living weapon is strong, deadly and independent. If the feminists who foolishly had a problem with Scarlett's Black Widow have a problem here, then they're just picking fights. Sure, she gets saved once by Star-Lord, but she returns the favor twice. Batista as Drax gets the job done, because none of his lines are meant to win any Oscars. Drax is a big meathead. He knows it, and he plays it very well. Rocket Raccoon, an anthropomorphic weapon smith, steals the show with his hilarious cynical approach to just about everything. You sorta miss when Rocket isn't on the screen, and Gunn delightfully gives us just enough of Rocket to be satisfied, but not be tired of him. Groot, Rocket's counterpart, is a warm character, almost child like, but dangerous if the need be. The friendship between Rocket and Groot play out much like George and Lennie from Of Mice and Men. But then again, the whole film plays on the theme of friendship/family and working together.Marvel has exhibited its ability to make great movies before but what really sets Guardians apart from the previous nine films can be attributed to 4 points.
1. It's the first Marvel space adventure: Sure, we've seen aliens and other worlds before, (Thor, The Avengers, and Thor 2) but this is the first film where the actual setting is NOT Earth.
2. It doesn't have the pressures of dealing with characters you know: Since the realization that these Marvel Studios films were a hit, everyone who has read the Marvel wiki, or has ever seen three episodes of the Fox X-Men cartoon of the early 90's is suddenly a comic fan know-it-all with their own inflated opinion of the direction of the films.
3. It stands alone:
No clever little inside jokes, or dialog that connect the film to the other films, with the exception of Thanos' appearance and The Collector's explanation of the Infinity Stones also, *slight spoiler* don't waste your time waiting behind after the film. There are no post credit trailers.
4. Marvel's got Mickey money and ain't afraid to use it:
The film has a fantastic soundtrack full of 60's-70's light rock, pop, and R&B which feature prominently in the film, playing a vital role in Star-Lord's progression as a character and setting the overall mood I imagine the clearing price of all the songs I heard throughout the film was half the film's overall budget alone. Apart from the music, there's a fantastic spaceship battle in the third act of the film, complete with massive city destruction and CG chaos. (In a weird way, it kinda makes you think if the space battles here look amazing, then what will the upcoming Star Wars look like?)
Aside from those, the film is fun! It manages to tackle the completely ridiculous subject matter of interplanetary war and obnoxious talking animals with great humor, well timed dialogs, and above all, personality.
Sure, there are several 'light at the end of the tunnel' cliches, and that campy 'friendship power overcomes all' resolution, but it's excusable, because at the end of the day it's a comic book movie. Unlike Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy, or the tone of the second Captain America film, it never loses sight of exactly what it is. A movie based on a comic book. It's a buddy-action film that will do fine among the other chapters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe it's that freedom of dealing with lesser known characters, maybe it's the wit of the script, or maybe it's Star-Lord's 'Awesome Mix, Vol. 1' (which is also the film's soundtrack, and I'm SURE it will sell like hotcakes- I bought a copy five minutes ago.) that ensures that.Whatever it is, it works. It works reeeaaaalllll good.
GO SEE. 3.75/5
