It was Marvel’s
riskiest film to date and it paid off big time. It became the highest grossing
domestic film of the Summer and has rekindled our love of music from the
seventies and eighties and baby dancing trees.
Guardians of the
Galaxy takes us to the stars in a universe far away from The Avengers but still
feeling very familiar. A group of "losers" must band together to save
the galaxy from an Avatard on steroids and too much eye make-up who has plans
to destroy the peaceful world of Xander for some reason that is not completely
clear and then the rest of the universe, you know, just because.
After some really
clunky, yet very important, exposition we are treated to some great visual
designs with regards to aliens, planets and spaceships, along with some great
casting choices for the entire main cast. Chris Pratt is going to be a huge
star after this and with Jurassic World hitting next year, he is going to be an
Indiana Jones-level star. One casting concern was professional wrestler Dave
Bautista who was not the train wreck many were expecting; as a matter of fact
he has some of the funniest lines in the movie.
The film does have
lots of humour, some that was incredibly risqué like the ‘Jackson Pollock’s
reference’ and most of the actors have great comedic timing, however, the film
is not really as funny as it like’s to think it is. Sometimes the humour is to
the detriment of the narrative and it often feels like some of the funny scenes
have been edited for a half-second longer than they need to be. Some jokes were
too obvious and other times I could see that it was a joke but not worth
laughing at.
The soundtrack is
a really defining feature of this film, and that's not something you can say
about any other comic book film, my apologies to all the Prince fans that
really loved the Batman soundtrack but seriously, does 'Bat-Dance' really hold
up today? The great thing about the GOTG soundtrack is how it is interwoven
into the film's narrative and a driving force for Chris Pratt's character.
The climax of the
film feels like many of Marvel’s recent efforts. It almost feels like Marvel
are using the same template for all their films: something dangerous/ominous
floating in the sky whilst a dog-fight occurs, chaotically edited battles with
action that is sometimes hard to decipher, and main characters surviving
insurmountable odds even when debris, explosions, lasers, or intergalactic
super-gems capable of destroying the very fabric of reality are in play.
Another one of
Marvel’s issues rears its ugly head again in this film with Marvel once again
under-writing and under-using their villain. Ronan The Accuser was cool and had
some good moments but he was no more developed than Malekeith in Thor 2. It
really does feel that unless your character’s name is Loki, Marvel are afraid
to create a villainous character that can detract any attention from the
heroes.
Fingers crossed
Avengers: Age of Ultron brings a little something different to the big final
battle and the development of their villain.
Overall, this film
has achieved what The Avengers was able to achieve without five films prior to
set up the story and that truly needs to be acknowledged despite all else. A
really really good film, but just not on the same level as Marvel's best films.
Three Stars (from a galaxy far far away)
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