I
am going to begin this review with writing a little bit of film history, in
particular, Marvel Studios film history. For those who are unfamiliar with the
studio’s history, it would be beneficial for your personal movie knowledge.
Knowing a thing or two about the studio’s background would make it easier to
relate to the movie I am reviewing in this posting. I will try to be brief as
possible.
As
with many comic book companies, the Holy Grail is to see their stable of characters
be made into feature length films. In the 1980s, Marvel Comics tried several
times with made-for-TV movies (airing on American television) of Fantastic Four, Thor, etc but without success. The notable success would be The Incredible Hulk TV series starring
Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno which some of you might be familiar with. In the
1990s, Marvel Comics (who now has a subsidiary called Marvel Films and
eventually renamed Marvel Studios) commissioned the rights of their
best-selling comic book characters to big name Hollywood studios; X-Men and Fantastic Four to 20th Century Fox, Spider-man to Sony, and The Incredible Hulk to Universal Studios.
In this deal, the studios would profit from image rights of the characters and
box-office receipts from distributing the films around the world. Marvel Comics
only profits a certain percentage from these profits. Personally, I call this
group of comic book characters, the ‘A-List’. These movies would eventually
became a success financially for all business entities involved. As what any
business company would do, the goal is always to maximize profit. Therefore,
Marvel Studios attempted to regain back the rights to their characters which
they commissioned to these Hollywood studios. And as what any business company
would do, these Hollywood studios would not relinquish the rights back to
Marvel. The only character Marvel was able to obtain back the rights was The Incredible Hulk.
Sometime
in the mid 2000s, Marvel Studios made a gamble. They signed a distribution deal
with Paramount Pictures in which the studio would share movie receipt profits
and Marvel Studios would retain all image rights to any of their characters.
Since their ‘A-List’ characters are distributed by Paramount’s rival movie
studios, Marvel decided to bring other characters from their stable to the
forefront. I call this the ‘B-List’ characters. Hence, the world was presented
with film adaptations of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and other characters in various sequels. Let me remind you
that these characters are not second-rated in the world of comics but in terms
of sales, the ones mentioned in the previous paragraph are ahead. The gamble
which Marvel Studios took eventually gave birth to the Marvel Cinematic
Universe where all their characters are connected in multiple storylines.
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| Marvel's The Avengers |
From
a financial standpoint, the gamble made by Marvel Studios paid off handsomely
and they continue to find more comic book characters in their vault which has
potential for a film adaptation. One such potential is the relatively new and
unfamiliar to many (even to me) Guardians
of the Galaxy, which was created in 2008 by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning,
and is also a remake of 1969 short-lived version of the same name.
Guardians of the
Galaxy
is directed by James Gunn who helmed another superhero-themed movie titled
Super in 2010. The film is co-written by Gunn and Nicole Perlman. The huge
ensemble cast consist of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel
(voice only), Bradley Cooper (voice only), Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen
Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Benicio Del Toro, and Glenn Close. As
usual with almost all Marvel films, Kevin Feige serves as producer. If you have seen the trailer for the film, a character
played by Djimon Hounsou quips “Who?” when confronting Star-Lord played by
Chris Pratt. That was MY reaction when the film was announced. Maybe I am not
as well-versed in comic book land but Guardians of the Galaxy seemed like an
odd choice and a risky decision to be adapted into film.
Will
another Marvel gamble pay off for the company and satisfy audience worldwide?
Do read on…
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| Guardians (L-R, clockwise): Star Lord, Groot, Drax, Gamora, and Rocket Raccoon |
SYNOPSIS:
A young Earth boy named Peter Quill is kidnapped by
extraterrestrial beings from outer space and brought onto a spaceship
comprising of thugs and renegades. He grows up to be like one of them and
declares himself Star-Lord. While on a quests to steal an orb-shaped object, he
encounters rivalry from another group serving under the villainous Ronan The
Accuser. As Quill tries to investigate the importance of the orb, he comes
across several odd-ball characters; Gamora the adopter daughter of Thanos and
servant of Ronan, Rocket Racoon the wise-cracking bounty hunter, Groot the
bodyguard of Rocket Raccoon in the shape of a humanoid tree, and Drax the
Destroyer who is known for his menacing physique. Quill and his new-found band
of ragtag misfits are constantly at odds amongst themselves but as Ronan gets
increasingly close to obtaining the orb in their position, they must put aside
their differences and safe all life forms as Guardians of the Galaxy.
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| Chris Pratt as Star Lord |
SCRIPT:
Smart and fresh. As you may have read the opening paragraphs of
these posting, the source material for this film is pretty new which makes
establishing back-stories crucial. Since it is an ensemble cast of heroes, the
focus zeroes in on the leader Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) as its primary
character back-story. As the movie progresses, we are introduced little by
little into understanding more of who are the guardians and who are the
villains. This is neatly done by writing their back-stories in passing remarks,
humour, and brief monologues. Despite the film’s setting being in the far
reaches of outer space and distant galaxies, the story occasionally harkens
back to various cues (through music, humour, and set design) to remind the
audience that Peter Quill is still an alien among other life forms in the
galaxy. I think this is essential so we the audience can relate to what the
lead character is going through. Each character is outlined with their own
distinct ambition to succeed and slowly we start to like these characters.
Another positive aspect of the film’s script is how the storyline manages to
infuse several positive moral values in particular family and teamwork. Other
ensemble superhero films do convey such values but with Guardians of the
Galaxy, the feeling has much more impact. There are plenty of witty humour in
the film and I dare to say the wit is almost at par with The Avengers (2012). You are bound to leave the cinema with some
memorable lines of dialogue. The core of the film’s story centers around taking
risks and making the best of any given opportunity.
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| Zoe Saldana as Gamora |
ACTING:
Convincing and memorable. The choice of casting by the
filmmakers could never have been better. Each guardian is given relatively
equal screen time and every single actor portraying them gave top class
performances. Pratt as the leader Peter Quill a.k.a. Star Lord gave both his
dramatic and comedic sides pretty good balance. Saldana as the tough
no-nonsense strong female lead Gamora, managed to hold her own against Pratt.
The surprise package here is Dave Bautista as Drax. Being tough does not
necessarily lead to being intelligent and Bautista carried that characteristic
really well. We only here the voices of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper as Groot
and Rocket Raccoon respectively. All I can say for both of the CGI characters,
they brought their souls to life. The villains were slightly overshadowed by
the heroes in the film. I would love to have seen more of Ronan the Accuser
(Lee Pace) becoming more bad-ass as his physicality and weapon gave such an
advantage. Bautista as Drax is the
surprise package her.
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| Dave Bautista as Dra |
FILMING:
When Marvel hired Joss Whedon to direct The Avengers
(2012), it felt like a surprise choice. Whedon had only done one feature film
prior, and the appointment of him was a huge gamble on the part of Marvel
Studios. For Guardians of the Galaxy,
Marvel Studios made another gamble in hiring a relative new director with 3
films under his belt James Gunn to direct and co-write the film. Just like the
decision of Whedon as director, I too had my doubts of Gunn’s ability. And boy,
I was again proven wrong. James Gunn is a genius! What Gunn brought to the
table was keeping the story simple yet explainable while being surrounded by an
action adventure atmosphere. The action sequences were reminiscing of Star Wars
films and the cinematography captured it beautifully with various colour
facades. The set designs, wardrobe, and make-up did a good job in creating
other believable alien worlds. The Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) looked just
convincing enough to give that alien world ‘look’. Somehow, I felt the CGI was
a little too much and quite the overkill. However, this does not damage the
movie entirely as whole. I have to give extremely high praises to the movie’s
soundtrack. The soundtrack (not to be confused with background orchestral
motion picture score) is a pure genius of a music compilation. Gunn utilized
songs from the 1960s and the 1970s to enrich the story further by associating
them at key scenes in the movie. The songs featured are very popular. I won’t
be surprised if the music from the film becomes a talking point after the film.
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| Bradley Cooper voices Rocket Raccoon |
PACING:
No complaints. Fantastic! The film gets
increasingly interesting as the movie progresses. Almost every scene that comes
along, there are
more unexpected surprises for the audience to enjoy. What
surprised me is how the film managed to balance between just the right amount
of action, drama, and humour. These elements are juggled back and forth to
avoid the film having a dull pacing.
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| VIn Diesel voices Groot |
TONE (MOOD):
A group of reluctant anti-heroes juggling between revenge and
redemption sets out to safe the galaxy they once had issues about. All done in
a light-hearted and funny mood.
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| James Gunn directing his brother Sean Gunn who was the CGI double for Rocket Raccoon |
DOWNSIDE:
A
little bit of a CGI overkill. It doesn’t affect the story. A lot of
‘blink-and-you-will-miss-it’ moments so when watching it, you have to pay real
close attention.
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| Before CGI... |
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| After CGI... |
UPSIDE:
Two
words: Fun and funny. This film will surprise from all aspects; action,
adventure, comedy, drama, and many many more.
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| This is one film that I can't wait to see them in a sequel. |
OVERALL:
As you reached this section of the review, I thank you
for reading all the way. It was a gamble to read such a long review. I
mentioned the word ‘gamble’ a lot in this review. To me, it seems to have some
sort of ‘theme’, not only in the production behind the film but also the story
of the film. Guardians of the Galaxy
is Marvel’s greatest gamble and could potentially be Marvel’s greatest film.
.
RATING:
9.2 out of 10
