Guardians of the Galaxy
With relatively unknown characters and a completely new
setting for the Marvel movies it would seem that this is an extremely risky
venture for Marvel Studios. However it has managed to pay off big time with Guardians
of the Galaxy quite possibly being the best Marvel film to date and one of the most entertaining films of the year. Coming from cult hits such as Super and Slither James Gunn brings his own unique style to the Marvel universe and manages to give this new team of superheroes and incredible introduction.
Most of the film revolves around Peter Quill, played by Chris Pratt, who was abducted from Earth in the late 80s as a child and brought up by aliens. As he grows up he ends up becoming the legendary outlaw Star-Lord who spends his time raiding ancient tombs on distant planets and trying to sleep with as many species of alien as he can. With an incredible opening title sequence the film reveals its sense of humour with Peter Quill dancing around to Redbone's 'Come And Get Your Love' in a dark abandoned tomb as he searches for the treasure within. Due to Peter having only ever experienced the 70s and 80s on Earth much of the characters humour come from pop culture references from that era. The same goes for the films amazing soundtrack which is filled with classics from the 70s and fits perfectly with the films tone.
The rest of the 'guardians' are introduced to us via The Usual Suspects-esque line up as they are being sorted to be placed in prison. The first of which is Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana, a stone cold assassin sent by Ronan to retrieve the orb who quickly ends up befriending the rest of the group and helping them on their mission. Next up is Bradley Cooper voicing the genetically modified wise cracking raccoon Rocket with his partner in crime Groot voiced by Vin Diesel. While it may not be the most demanding performance of his career Vin Diesel manages to create an incredibly lovable character similar to that of his role in The Iron Giant. Lastly there is Drax the Destroyer played by wrestler turned actor Dave Batista who has some of the funniest lines of the film bringing a great sense of comedic timing and deadpan wit. We then follow these bunch of misfits as they must protect this mysterious orb from the clutches of the super villain Ronan and his henchmen.
The only place where this film slips up is with the villains, Ronan the Accuser and his henchmen, Nebula and Korath, are simply not interesting enough when compared with the standards that The Avengers set with Loki. We are shown a little glimpse of Thanos who is Marvels major antagonist for the third Avengers film. While it is cool to see Josh Brolin's Thanos in action, this makes this films antagonist Ronan feel like a waste. This could however be a deliberate choice as this film is meant to be an introduction to this new team of superheroes. If this is the case then it was a good choice as the film focuses more on the relationships between these new heroes rather than the relationship between hero and villain.
The supporting cast on the other hand are fantastic with Michael Rooker as Quill's mentor and super bad ass Yondu. While not having a lot of screen time for an important character in the Marvel universe, Benicio Del Toro gives a short lived but sweet performance as The Collector. John C. Reilly and Peter Serafinowicz are great as two of the members of the Nova Corps with Glenn Close playing their leader. Even though not being an interesting character Lee Pace is sinister as hell as Ronan the Accuser whereas Karen Gillan as Nebula falls flat most of the time. Overall the casting for the film is superb with Chris Pratt being the stand out of the crowd bringing a great sense of charisma to the role similar to that of Harrison Ford's Han Solo.
The film manages to not take itself too serious and plays with a lot of the conventions of modern super hero movies. There is a lot of emotional depth between this group of characters and you become attached rather quickly. In the wrong hands this film could have been a disaster and Marvel knew it was a risk however from beginning to end James Gunn provides one of the most enjoyable films of the year with Guardians of the Galaxy being the best space opera since The Empire Strikes Back.
