Friday, August 1, 2014

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Alright folks, this is one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Let's pray that it's used to our advantage so that it will get a higher box office than Transformers: Age of Extinction, so that we may sleep better at night.

Plot:The movie revolves around a thief named Star Lord, an assassin named Gamora, two bounty hunters named Rocket and Groot, and a killer named Drax. Star-Lord finds this mysterious orb that everyone wants to get their hands on, while he and the rest of the gang are trying to sell it. But a Kree named Ronan the Accuser begins to chase them with the intent of taking the orb and to use whatever is in it to destroy the galaxy.

This...was part just as good and part better than I thought it was going to be. Granted, it's no The Dark Knight or Captain America: The Winter Soldier as far as comic book movies go, but from the kind of premise and characters they had - especially considering it's based on a comic series and characters almost nobody knew about, they did a pretty darn good job with it. The characters were particularly handled better than I thought. They each had their own distinct characteristics about them that made them not only likeable, but really memorable. And that's a rather impressive accomplishment to say that since, again, almost nobody knows about these guys, and they're introducing them from this film instead of each of them getting their own movie first like The Avengers. Star-Lord - as I expected - was a ton of fun to watch whether he was fighting or being funny. He was basically one of the Han Solo characters in the film. I say ONE of the Han Solo characters because we have two that fit that description, and the second might be more likable; Rocket. I personally hoped that Rocket would be enjoyable considering his personality and...well, the fact that he's a talking raccoon in a sci-fi film and all that, and he was better than I hoped. He was fun, he was funny, he was awesome in the fight scenes, he even had some dramatic moments and the CGI for him was great. He looked so realistic from his fur to his fangs, and had very well thought out movements and facial expressions. And as skeptical as I was at first, Bradley Cooper delivered the voice acting for Rocket surprisingly well for both the comedic and even the dramatic moments. I would probably go so far as to agree with Jeremy Jahns when he stated that Rocket stole the show in this movie. Groot was basically the Chewbacca to Rocket's Han Solo in that how he's tall and doesn't say much but is awesome when they're fighting. But I like how he also came out funny and and have some sort of sweet side to him. Gamora also had some fun fight scenes and some deep dramatic moments. Though personally I really wished they actually showed her past when she was telling it. I feel this way for all of the characters that just talked about the past instead of showing it, but I feel it should've especially happened with Gamora because...well... this is the adopted daughter of Thanos that we're talking about. Showing what he did that made her who she is should not only develop her character more, but also strengthen this atmosphere that indicates how big of a threat Thanos is. The same goes for Drax. I feel he could've been fleshed out more with us actually seeing what made him what he is, and so he kind of came off as the least interesting member of the group. Which is not to say that he wasn't likable just like the rest of the group. Far from it. But sadly I found myself being more interested in Star Lord, Gamora, Groot and Rocket then I was for Drax, which is a bummer. But again, he's still likable, and the five characters as a group play each other perfectly. Their relationships are likable, and the comedy and drama between them worked out very well. And I really enjoyed how much more of the Marvel universe we got to see. We have a teeny tiny bit of Thanos, we have The Collector, heck, we even have an army of Sakaarans, which was awesome. And while it was not the main focus of the story, (which is a good thing for the movie just by itself), we started to go into more of what's to come in the future Marvel movies. On top of that, the galaxy itself was pretty nice to see. The aliens had fantastic makeup, the places they went to looked great, and the mere designs for a lot of the ships looked very new and artistic. What I mean by that is that they could've gone pretty generic when it comes to how they look and what they do, especially considering that this film is a means for the bigger picture. And In some cases they do, but then you have little elements like the movement in the Ronan's ship and this thing that the Nova Corps fleet does to try to stop his ship that, without going into detail, came out as something new and inventive. If there's one thing that would really come close to a genuine negative thing, it would be the same problem Thor: The Dark World had; that being the villain, Ronan The Accuser. Now that's not to say that we was just as one dimensional as Malekith. I want to make that clear. He was more fleshed out and interesting. But at the same time, if you know enough about the Marvel universe - whether you read the comics or not - you know that we also have Thanos to worry about, and so that kind of makes Ronan appear less of a threat. But again, for what they had for the story himself, he was interesting and fleshed out enough for this story by itself.

And that's my review for Guardians of the Galaxy. It was fun, it was funny, it was dramatic, it was inventive, it expanded more of the Marvel universe, and above all, it gave as a group of characters that practically none of us know about, and make them very likable and memorable. Is it the greatest thing Marvel has made yet? No. But on it's own, it's a very enjoyable film to watch. If you have not seen it yet, head to the nearest movie theater and do so. 

Rating: 90%

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