Marvel took a large gamble on Guardians of the Galaxy. A not very well-known comic series that bringing to life would require some real outlay, a director who, up until now, never had the budget he had here, and how the material is presented in a very quirky, non-comic book fashion. I think it’s safe to say that the gamble will pay off big time as GotG is not only a well-made comic book film, it’s also funny, and engaging with a cheeky streak a mile long. In short, GotG may just be one of the current Marvel universe’s best and most enjoyable films.
Starting out on earth, a young Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) who, after a traumatic event, is abducted by a spacecraft. Fast forward and see what has become of Quill. He has become a cocky, self-assured criminal. From here, we start to meet each of the (soon to be) Guardians: Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Drax (Dave Bautista). Each character gets their introductions per se and, to be honest, it is an exposition dump. This itself isn’t a crime, but considering that the audience has to be introduced to five new characters they haven’t seen before, I don’t think there was any other way to do it. After all, The Avengers had all the backgrounds set in each character’s individual film(s), so I think they did it as best they could here.
James Gunn absolutely gets the tone right from the start and never let’s it go. The smart-alec vibe is evident all the way through the film and it adds to the enjoyment (for me anyway). Gunn has it dialed in and it seems that space melodrama and action are also his bag, creating a terrific balance and keeping it all together. Whether it be an out-and-out CGI scene, one of the unexpected emotional scenes, which are always under cut by a great one liner, or knowing that the particular scene has drifted into comic book film trope. Gunn, who wrote the film with Nicole Perlman, has scenes like this throughout the film. It’s a welcome relief to know that they aren’t taking this too seriously.
The acting is all good. Everyone seems spot on, in what would have been a tough environment to act in. Pratt has the boyish, rouge charm that is expected and he totally nails it. Saldana must be getting sick of being turned different alien colours, but she is a very good straight foil considering the huge amount of wise cracks. Bautista is also good playing Drax, with a total matter-of-factness that really does help later on, especially when he gets a chance to crack a joke or two and it pays off. Now, the tricky part of the equation in GotG are the 
two CGI main characters, Rocket and Groot. In theory, it really shouldn’t work as well as it does. Rocket could well have been a lame character relegated to being a stuffed toy after the film, but even the CGI racoon has his emotional moments and, I have to be honest, they totally work. Groot, despite only ever saying ‘I am Groot’, is well done. Taking the Star Wars path of when he talks it is: A) said in a manner conveying an emotion and B) Rocket is generally there to translate for everyone (audience included). The villains, Ronan (Lee Pace) and Nebula (Karen Gilllian), exude the required amount of hostility and threat.
Gunn has filled the film with well-known pop hits from the ’70s and ’80s. If he was solely responsible for this, then he is a very smart man. Taking something so familiar to people and marrying it to something that it so outlandish and strange to make people feel more comfortable with it all is just a masterstroke. It fits beautifully with the rest of the film. GotG is a great film with some excellent performances and, above all else, a sense of fun and excitement It is a worthy addition to the Marvel film universe and I for one cannot wait to see the characters really come to life when they have an entire film to be themselves. The ground work has been laid.
Check out our other review for Guardians Of The Galaxy:
Iain McNally
January 20, 2015
Guardians of the Galaxy is nothing short of an amazing movie. If there’s anything I can say, it’s that it is the best superhero movie I have seen. Not only does it have the impressive set pieces and enough action to last you a lifetime, it has an emotional core and you actually get to care about each and every single character. Overall this movie is filled with all the required thrills and spills and is a first class action movie. It also has a great mixture of comedic value and a deal of seriousness.
The film’s unlikely hero is Quill (Chris Pratt), an eccentric gunfighter in the Han Solo mould who we meet stealing a metal orb coveted by the evil warlord Ronan. When he dispatches his top assassin, the green- skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldana), to recover the artifact, the pair find themselves locked up, along with the galaxy’s most unlikely bounty hunters – a gun-toting raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and his sidekick (Vin Diesel) who just happens to be a walking tree. All the actors do a great job at portraying there characters, they feel real beings. You get to know about them and their struggles and you become attached to them. Every character in the movie got their time to shine, especially Rocket Raccoon who is voiced perfectly by Bradley Cooper. Everyone is pitch perfect in their roles even Batista!
For those that want specifics: effects were top notch, acting was excellent, story lines were compelling, the comedy was perfect 99.5% of the time and surprise there were a lot of one line typical superhero zingers that worked really well. What really can’t be stressed enough is just how insanely fun and entertaining Guardians of the Galaxy is for literally its entire two-hour-plus run-time. I still have a hard time wrestling with who was my favorite actor in this. all in all, the film is brilliantly well done, action scenes are engrossing and genuinely done, you genuinely worry about certain characters and I for one was thrilled with it. Go see this.