Thoughts and Paper: Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel studios has been on a great ride with their past films from 2008 upto 2014, but their films were mostly earth based and a bit restricted to cosmic space travel. This time however, Marvel took the opportunity to widen their universe in a much more ambitious way with Guardians of the Galaxy, a team from the comics that is probably not well-known and also expanding the universe of the Marvel films. So, will Guardians of the Galaxy a successful or will it be the start of Marvel's downfall? Click on the jump check out my thoughts on it!

Synopsis:
From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team-the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy's fate in the balance. (C) Walt Disney

We all know now that Marvel Studios is damn successful with all the movies under their belt and majority of the people liked or loved most of their offerings so far. "Guardians of the Galaxy" is probably the biggest gamble that Marvel Studios took, and it was damn worth it. The movie is lead by Chris Pratt's character Peter Quill and we follow him as he gathers his band of misfits to protect the galaxy. The plot is a very simple one, it maybe the typical Marvel formula but it works in this film because the way they showcased it was very entertaining and a whole lot of fun. What really fueled my love for this film though is how well they integrated the cinematic universe in the overall plot of the film because it wasn't handled cheaply or done in a cheesy way but it was rather done in a subtle way that can actually make you excited for future installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

That being said though, I still had some negativities towards the film but most of are nitpicks. The things that I didn't like in the plot is what I thought was also a good thing for the movie, and that is aspect is the typical Marvel formula, sure it's alright to use that formula but sometimes it gets overdone especially when it's done right good thing that it worked for this movie though. Another thing that I disliked is how they utilized their villains, this is probably the weakest link of the MCU films because aside from Loki, Obadiah Stane and Abomination, the villains in this film befell the same fate as the rest of the MCU villains and falls down on the category of forgettable and it just made them look like the typical mustache twirling type of bad guys, but maybe those problems arose mainly because of the lack of development between those characters.

Leading the pack of our band of misfits is Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/ Star-Lord (who?) and he was a damn perfect choice for the role and he was the most developed character in the film. Pratt's timing is just perfect because he can really tickle your funny bone and can make you really invested with his character because while the character is full of joy and fun, there's this underlying aspect that this character much more dramatic than you know. Basically Quill was the Tony Stark of space (except for the genius and billionaire stature of Stark). Following this leader are Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax and featuring the voices of Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket Racoon. First and foremost, Saldana was a freaking badass in the film, she certainly one of the strongest female characters in the MCU and you can sympathize with the character even though her backstory was told through exposition. Batista was also a solid choice for Drax because even though Batista's acting skill is limited he was still able to shine in this role and showcase how good of an actor he can be if given the right material and role. Diesel and Cooper's character though eventually ended as two of my favorite characters in the film, even though only their voices was present in the film it was still great because you can still be invested with both of these characters because of their ideals and the emotion that they are showing especially Diesel as Groot, even though he basically had three lines all throughout the film, you can still feel the emotion that this character is conveying.

Now let's talk about the supporting characters, firstly let's talk about the villains. Playing the main baddie in this film Lee Pace as Ronan and with the material he was given, he made the most out of it and even though his character is basically one-note, he was still entertaining to watch because of Pace's performance. Alongside this baddie are Karen Gillan as Nebula and Djimon Honsou as Korath, like Pace, they made the most out of what they were given but ultimately at the end of the film, they were not developed properly and I actually felt that they were wasted especially Honsou because this guy is such a great actor and to see him just to be brushed off on the side is disappointing. This next character is not necessarily bad guy but more of an anti-hero and that is Michael Rooker as Yondu. I cannot stress at how much I loved this character, it's like everytime he appears on screen I can't help but smile at how badass Rooker is in the role. To round off this acting category, Glenn Close played Nova Prime, John C. Reilly played Corpsman Dey and Benicio Del Toro played The Collector, even though they were very minor roles, all I have to say is that they were memorable in the film. Oh and we got our first look at Josh Brolin as Thanos and all I have to say is this, I almost screamed out for joy.

We got the major things out of the way now so let's talk about the technicalities of the film. Firstly is the VFX, it was brilliant and it was so well done because it showed how advance the visual effects nowadays but what I liked more is how well the practical effects integrated with the CGI in the film because it just made the look of the film a hundred times better. Another technical aspect that really caught my eye (or should I say ear) is the soundtrack, it was pure awesomeness and really brought a joy to my eardrums (can I say eargasm?!). Ben Davis was the one responsible for the film's look and I liked his work in this film because even though this film is heavily sci-fi related, he was able to make shots look authentic and he made the action scenes pop out of the screen.

Lastly is of course the man responsible behind the lens and that is James Gunn. Gunn's previous full length feature efforts were Super and Slither, I was only able to watch the former but generally I liked it. He definitely is the perfect choice to direct this film because he was able to balance out the different genres of the film like the comedy, the action, the drama and the sci-fi, it was the perfect mixture and it didn't feel forced especially the humor in the film because it just works all through-out and it had me laughing from start to finish. His choice of pacing for the film was great too because the first, second and third act of the film felt even and it was never boring and as a whole, mad the film entertaining.

Overall:

"Guardians of the Galaxy" is one of Marvel Studios' best films and it is not only one of the most entertaining films of this year but also one of the best comic book movies this year. It was a fun ride from start to finish, it can be dramatic hen it needs to and it is one funny film with great performances from it's leading characters. This film definitely exceeded my expectations and at the end leaves me wanting for more.

Grade: