REVIEW: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

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 20^th 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.

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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Before CGI...

 

After CGI...

UPSIDE:

Two words: Fun and funny. This film will surprise from all aspects; action, adventure, comedy, drama, and many many more.

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.

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RATING:

9.2 out of 10