And hello yet again, readers! Lucky you that you are getting so MANY reviews ALL at once….so even though two of the three I have published this evening (or morning or afternoon, depending how you look at it or where you may be..1:22am where I am!) are from LAST weekend, I have reached the point where this THIRD review is for a brand new release from THIS weekend! So at least I am getting current! Trying my best and I truly hope you are enjoying the reviews and that they are at least assisting you in SOME way when it comes to seeing (or NOT seeing) any of the films highlighted. That stated, I now give you…..”Guardians of the Galaxy”.
Directed by James Gunn (“Movie 43“, “Slither“), this newest entry from Marvel Studios into the OVERALL, unfolding saga of “The Avengers” and related characters (though let me be clear, this actually IS a STAND-ALONE story that happens to have SOME elements SEEN in and TO be seen in upcoming “Avengers” films) starts us with a flashback to the childhood of one Peter Jason Quill (Wyatt Oleff) who sadly witnesses an event that forever changes the path of his life and ultimately takes him away from Earth. Fast forward to current time as the now grown-up Quill (Chris Pratt) is running a “go fetch!” mission for his boss Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) to retrieve an orb of unknown use, origin, or importance. But we see that Quill is most certainly NOT your average thief and has his own…..unique…..style and approach to doing things. After this almost gets him captured by Korath (Djimon Hounsou), a servant of the alien Kree race’s ruthless galactic judge, Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), who HIMSELF is a servant to HIS master, the extremely powerful warlord Thanos (voiced by Josh Brolin), Quill (who also goes by the moniker “Starlord” now, even if his FAME with this is in his own mind apparently) decides it’s time to get away and turn the orb over to the intended party he is supposed to relinquish it to. Once circumstances cause THIS to not work out as planned, Thanos has already dispatched his daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) a highly trained, enhanced assassin, to hunt Quill down and retrieve the orb, much to the disapproval of his OTHER daughter, Nebula (Karen Gillan). In the chaos that ensues, OTHER interested parties wanting the bounty placed on Quill’s head also enter the picture, including a genetically enhanced raccoon, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), and his compatriot and “bodyguard” Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a member of a race of alien tree creatures whose vocabulary is decidedly…..limited. When all of these individuals collide and gets them into a galactic prison courtesy of the Xandarian police force, the Nova Corp, even MORE insanity and hilarity ensues, and they come into contact with the final member of their newly forming, dysfunctional, motley crew, Drax The Destroyer (Dave Bautista) who has his OWN grudges against Gamora (as do MANY in the prison) in particular. But once together and trying to learn to at least get along in SOME form, the group realizes they all have a common enemy, therefore some mutual goals, and this even moreso once the contents of the orb are revealed in a visit to The Collector (Benicio Del Toro). And so the greater part of the now named Guardians of the Galaxy’s journey truly takes off and is nothing short of outlandishly crazy, filled with conflict, learning about each other, battles, escapes, humor, and a unified determination to stop Ronan and a plan HE has involving the Xandarian home planet. There is SO much that goes on in this film and as always, it would REALLY be giving away a LOT of details to explain anything else from here. So, you all know what that means….the foundation has been laid, but the rest is up to you choosing to go SEE the film….or not if it just doesn’t grab you!
Ok…so when I FIRST heard about this film coming out, I was SO against even wanting to SEE it. Marvel Studios had been going in SUCH a FANTASTIC direction with the Avengers and related solo films and they were all characters people had at least HEARD of in SOME form, even if not having read any of the actual comic books. Then here comes this TOTALLY obscure group of characters that I honestly figured NOBODY has heard of UNLESS you’ve read the book, and even then, I had never felt invested in them at ALL. So the trailers for this movie initially kept prompting me to advise my friends I would NEVER see it, had NO interest in seeing it, and that it was a serious risk for Marvel Studios to take given their track record being SO awesome. Well…I am SO GLAD I was WRONG about this film! It is a fantastically entertaining ride, delightfully light in execution and tone, but still containing enough seriousness so that the material that IS truly campy in nature DOESN’T go TOO far. It really is a perfect blend of comedy, action, and drama and the character interaction is priceless! Just like the book, this is a SERIOUSLY eclectic group of beings, and the film brings that out SO well!! The banter between them all as they try to learn how to get along, much less function as a team in the face of overwhelming odds is so well written and delivered by an equally perfect cast. Pratt’s Starlord, Saldana’s Gamora, Cooper’s voice for Rocket, Diesel’s voice for Groot, and Bautista’s Drax ALL just fit BEAUTIFULLY together and are portrayed just like they should be….flawed “losers” who are forced to grow up (some, anyway!) and grow together (ALL of them!). The pacing of the movie is very well done, so the 2 hour 2 minute “fun”-time (hey, it IS!) is well handled and not noticed…so much going on! Pace as Ronan was awesome, and of course the appearance of Thanos was SWEET! Per usual, an excellent supporting cast helped everything move along as well. Setting up the Nova Corp for the future was interesting to me, too. Visually the film is CRAZY good, especially with SO many alien races and locations to portray in the story. The visual scope made it even more amazing, and 3D was cool for this. I even had the unique opportunity to see the film sitting in a “D-Box” seat…which is actually set up to move and vibrate with the action sequences in the film…so talk about experiencing a movie!! I mean, I cannot praise the amazing job that Gunn and crew did with this story and everything involved with it, and this is coming from someone who was originally ADAMENT about NOT seeing it! And to top it all off, the MUSIC they use was SO hilarious because relative to the story you are seeing, you’d honestly NOT picture ANY of these tunes showing up! But even THAT works to great effect! And there are really TWO extra scenes, the first of which takes place immediately after the film is done but the POST-credits scene…..all I can say is….it was one WHOPPER of an extra and HILARIOUS for those who will understand its significance! An unexpected hit to say the least and if the box office estimates are any indication, a HUGE success awaits it. “Guardian of the Galaxy 2” has already been announced for 2017, which is NOW no surprise and a welcome film to await. If you love a lot of REAL Summer fun and be willing to try something a little different from Marvel Studios, THIS is the movie to see!
As always, this is all for YOUR consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
