Wednesday, 22 October 2014

“Guardians Of The Galaxy” Movie Review

Year: 2014

Director: James Gunn

Writers: James Gunn, Nicole Perlman

Stars: Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper , Zoe Saldana, David Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker

“Guardians Of The Galaxy” is funny, action-packed, full of adventures and most importantly – unique and lovable characters. In the first part of the movie we see how The Guardians meet and their formation as the group of outsiders that will save the galaxy. This part is a bit rushed and their motivations don’t seem completely clear. However, you can let that slide, knowing that this movie has the big task to present not only a whole new team of largely unknown heroes without doing origin stories; it also has to introduce the audience to the huge cosmic Marvel universe for the first time. And it does these things pretty well, while watching the movie you are immersed in this vast and colourful world. Besides The Guardians, you see other important personas and places in the galaxy, new races and essential entities from the Marvel universe like the Nova Corps, Yondu (Michael Rooker) or The Collector (Benicio del Toro).

“Guardians Of The Galaxy” is arguably the funniest Marvel movie and it can be easily classified as comedy. It has kind of goofy, cheeky humor and it’s very self-aware (in a good way). If you like that kind of thing, you will definitely love it. I saw it twice in the cinema, the second time the audience wasn't very excited, but at the first screening there were people around me who laughed so hard that scared me. There were also audible reactions to some of the songs. It was just one of these rare movie-going experiences when even if everyone is a bit noisy, there’s this feeling of shared excitement.

Of course, as everyone already knows even without seeing the movie - the soundtrack is great, with the songs perfectly fitting the scenes and keeping the humanity and its culture at the heart of this crazy, alien world. It’s not just great achievement as a music collection, but the way it is integrated as a central part of the story, even as a character by itself.

The story in its essence is not very unique or different from that of the other Marvel movies. But it’s presented in a fresh, heartfelt form, revolving around a few memorable and intriguing badass characters. Chris Pratt as Star Lord (Peter Quill) is… well, he is THE Star Lord. He is funny, charming, a bit heartbroken and lost in this crazy world, where he is the only human. Peter Quill is the most fleshed-out character and he is at the heart of the story. The other big stars of the movie (and not just for the kids) are definitely Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel). With their unique friendship and backstories, along with the amazing CGI, these two can easily steal the show, providing some of the most emotional and funny moments in the movie. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (David Bautista) aren't exactly on the same level, but I hope that they’ll have more screen time in the next movie. It is also true that the villain is quite plain, but that didn't really bother me. The only character (or the acting – I’m not really sure) that actually annoyed me was Nebula (Karen Gillan) - there’s just something about her manner of moving and speaking (it’s probably subjective), but I guess there wasn't much time for her backstory as well. Outside the Guardians the most intriguing character for me was definitely Yondu. And his weapon… wow!

The movie looks great and it is certainly the most colourful Marvel film with some really amazing space scenery. The space imagery, along with the action sequences, would probably look even better and clearer without the 3D. Still, the 3D wasn't bad and it was actually used in a really fun way for a few scenes.

“Guardians Of The Galaxy” makes me very excited about the sequel, because now that it has laid out the basics we can get more character development. And I can’t imagine how excited I would be if I watched this as a kid (especially for Rocket and Groot). So, I will give this charming and refreshing space opera 5 Kubricks, although I realize that it might be the geeky part of me speaking… 

8,6 from users and 76 from critics on MetaCritic - http://www.metacritic.com/movie/guardians-of-the-galaxy


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