Hooked on a Feeling!
“Guardians of the Galaxy” introduces audiences to the cosmic side of the Marvel universe. If you are following Marvel Studio’s movies, then the Thor movies have dipped your toe in the water, but Guardians defiantly throws you in the deep end. In the late 1960s, artist Jack Kirby, along with several other writers and artists, began creating a cosmic universe full of aliens, empires, and other cosmic threats. The reason this was done, was mainly to indulge Kirby’s desire to create, push the envelope, and build new worlds. I bring this up because director James Gunn has done just that. The tone of this movie is what truly sets it apart and Gunn accomplishes this using a fantastic soundtrack, and a unique color palette. Seriously, there are zero shots of black space in this movie, just beautiful, almost painted backgrounds. Much like comic book art, this creates a full experience that submerges the viewer into a world that he or she may not have been aware existed. With the tone well established, it then falls to the characters and plot, to the audience on a ride.
One thing that has to be said is Marvel can cast the shit out of a movie. I know it’s not sexy to talk about casting directors but Marvel has some of the best in the business, and this movie is no exception. Starlord, even in the comic, has always been modeled after Han Solo and Mad Max, but with a light hearted feel. Chris Pratt nails this character, and much like what Robert Downy Jr. did with Iron-Man, truly inhabits this character and makes Starlord his own. Chris Pratt also has to deliver some of the most over the top moments in the movie, but it never feels out of place for character; even when Starlord challenges the main villain to a dance off. That happens, and it’s worth the price of emission for that one moment.
Gamora and Drax each have their moments, and are very well acted, however their characters don’t get a ton of screen time, which is a weakness of the movie that we will touch on in a bit, but both characters play off of Starlord beautifully. I knew Zoe Saldana would be great as Gamora, as she is tough and has tons of experience in Sci-Fi movies, since she has been in both Avatar and Star Trek. The real concern was Dave Batista as Drax, as he comes from professional wrestling and is making the transition to acting. President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, has been defending this casting choice by stating that Bautista nailed the auditions with Chris Pratt and seeing the two play off one another is what won Batista the role. What can I say, Kevin Feige is completely right. Batista delivers some great lines, and has some very funny moments, while still looking menacing as fuck. What else can you ask for?
This brings us to our dynamic CGI duo. The biggest success of this movie is convincing people a talking tree and raccoon exist and make us care about them. Both Bradley Cooper, who voices Rocket, and Vin Diesel, who voices Groot, do a great job bringing these characters to life, but I also have to say, the script also had a huge part. The relationship between the team and these two characters specifically is a large part of the charm in this movie. Rocket has to be the funniest character in the movie, and every scene he was a part of just felt more exciting, and was really pushed to the next level. Groot was definitely the soul of this movie, and always made you smile, no matter what else was going on at the time. These two will be fan favorites, so expect a lot of Rocket and Groot merchandise to hit shelves soon. Get paid Marvel! ..and by default also Disney.
The tone and characters were the highlights of the movie, but it did have some weaknesses, one of which was the villains. All of the villains looked interesting and very intimidating; however you didn’t get to spend any time with them to truly develop them as characters. Nebula gets the most attention and I loved her love/hate relationship with Gamora, and I am hoping Marvel will explore this character in a future movie, because there is so much more that can be done. Ronan was the villain that suffered the most from this lack of development. I understand he was the bad guy, but he was portrayed as just an evil character instead of giving him a character arc. This was clearly due to a lack of time in the movie, as it had to introduce the heroes and bring them together as a team, and any more time dedicated to the villains would take away from the heroes. This is a lose/lose situation that could not be avoided. The villains do get there moments to shine, but the best surprise was the appearance of Thanos, who is clearly being built as a future threat to the earth and the Avengers.
This movie had a lot to accomplish on its first outing; introducing our heroes, have them come together as a team, develop relationships, build the Marvel cosmic universe, develop several villains, and explain the infinity gems. Upon reflection, I am truly amazed at how much this movie was able to do, while still being funny, charming, and entertaining. The biggest complaint you are going to hear on the web, is that each character had a limited amount of time, but there was no way around this. Avengers had five movies to introduce characters, build relationships, and connections before the big team up movie, which of course, Guardians did not have the luxury to do. With this in mind, I have to say Guardians is a smashing success. Every character gets their moment to shine, the movie feels intimate and bombastic at the same time, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out how that is done, and I was there. A lot of credit has to go to James Gunn, because the script and tone of the movie was what made Guardians the cinematic cosmic experience we were all hoping it would be.
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