Review: Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy is unlike any film Marvel Studios has put forth so far. It’s filled with the kind of humor you’d expect from the Amazing Spider-Man series from beginning to end, and still manages to weave together a decent, coherent plot without skipping pace. It also gives Marvel a convenient jumping off point for the next installment and even a means to tie in this series with The Avengers, as a powerful item in the Marvel Universe is revealed to be the desired object between the Guardians and the villain Ronan.
Set to the beat of an awesome 70s rock soundtrack, the story follows a young boy, Peter Quill, who was kidnapped from Earth and grew up alongside his captors. He was trained to be a “ravager” (a space pirate, if you will) by this band of thieves and by Yondu (Michael Rooker), their leader. However, Quill sees an opportunity to make it rich by selling a highly-sought after orb he was tasked with finding. While attempting to pawn it off, his story becomes entangled with those of the bounty hunters Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voiced by vin Diesel), the assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the warrior Drax (Dave Bautista), and the oncoming war between the malevolent ruler of the Kree race, Ronan (Lee Pace), and the planet Xandar. Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, and Drax eventually team up to confront this threat to achieve their own goals, but manage to aid each other in ways they hadn’t expected.
Not a moment goes by without a laugh, thanks to Chris Pratt’s hilarious antics as the Guardians’ leader, Quill, or, as he would say, Star-Lord. He’s just as goofy in this role as he is as Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation. Seriously, there’s almost no difference in their personalities, but it works tremendously well here –making the lead character only able to think 12% into a plan lets us root for not so much a hero but a person.
The other Guardians each play their own, crucial roles in the narrative which are critically important for achieving one another’s goals. They become closer as they face their issues head-on, they grow to become more trusting of their teammates, and learn to work successfully with them as they learn more about each other. When times get rough, moments were tough decisions need to be made leave the viewer with all of the suspense they could ask for, and sometimes end in both heartwarming and heart-piercing turns.
Guardians seems to define a new superhero movie standard, one all its own, as we get the sense that no one character emanates pure evil; everyone is humanized through humor, and that’s really where the charm comes from. Each member of the Guardians team and the scoundrels they encounter has something comedic about their character revealed to separate the “man from the myth”: Drax the Destroyer is delightfully unaware of sarcasm and can’t understand metaphors, and Yondu the feared space outlaw likes to collect dashboard knick-knacks. In this way, no character is meant to be truly hated -even the main villain Ronan only formed his destructive plan as a result of crimes against his people, giving him some redemption. This culminates in one of the most feel-good movies of the year.
This movie could function plainly as a comedy had the source material not come from comics, but it also embraces the elements of drama that make a fantastic story, which is why it invites the entire spectrum of movie fans to view it. Everyone who gives it a try will appreciate at least one aspect of Quill’s journey through the cosmos, whether it be for the history of Gamora and her family, the heartwarming moments of sacrifice the members of the team make for each other, or the amazing soundtrack. This is one you shouldn’t miss.
The Good
- Great music
- Colorful characters and great story
- Chris Pratt is hilarious
- New Superhero standard (for movies and heroes)
The Bad
- Not much exposition on Ronan or Thanos
The Score
9.1 /10
I know it’s been out for a long while, but my RA asked me to write a review to put on our floor’s bulletin board for something that’s out, and this one seems to still be in theaters (proving how great it is).
