Film Review: Guardians Of The Galaxy.

 

So I've just seen Guardians of the Galaxy and I actually really, really liked it! I wasn't too keen at first to see it when the first teaser trailer came out because it was a completely new Marvel film altogether and didn't include any of my favourites like Iron Man, Captain America or Thor. But as it's a Marvel movie, I just had to see it to see what they had in store for us.

If you don't already know, Guardians of the Galaxy is about a superhero team made up of Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) who finds himself in the middle of the conflict unknowingly, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who is a powerful assassin out for revenge against her master, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Batista) who is avenging the death of wife and daughter, Groot (Vin Diesel) who is an alien tree of royal descent and of course, Rocket (Bradley Cooper) a genetically engineered, foul mouthed raccoon. They fight against extraterrestrial enemies after reluctantly making an alliance together and defend a desired orb.

Directed by James Gunn, the plot of the movie is far from original as it's the same old thing of an unlikely team of misfits all struggling with their own troubles, fighting against enemies who are determined to obliterate them. Enemies that include Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and at times Thanos (Josh Brolin). It was actually quite terrifying to finally see Thanos in all his glory after we only caught a 5 second glimpse of him at the end of The Avengers.

I'll be honest, Chris Pratt really surprised me in this film. I have always liked him after seeing him in What's Your Number? and the TV show Parks and Recreation, being the supporting player and never taking the lead role.. his scenes always allowed him to steal the spotlight for a couple of moments, making him an unforgettable character. Here, he turns it around and becomes the leading man and definitely shines in all his magnificence. It was like he was born to play Star-Lord as he made the character his own by playing both emotional and comedic parts which displayed his versatile acting skills. His introduction to the film is pretty cool as he makes his way through an ancient temple by putting on earphones that blast Redbone's 'Come and Get Your Love' as he moves across the path in style, fighting off creatures. His effortless shift from a struggling loser to hero is brilliant to watch.

Another person that surprised me was Zoe Saldana. Covered entirely in green makeup and long flowing locks of dark hair with a hint of pink, she remained a complete and utter badass throughout the film. Of course, she was still in a skin tight suit that showed off her curves but I didn't actually mind this time because she proved she can handle herself and take care of anything that stands in her way regardless of what she was wearing. This is probably thanks to the fact the film's screenplay was actually co-written by a woman, Nicole Perlman, for the first time ever in Marvel history. She writes Gamora and her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) as tough, strong, and unforgiving characters that kick ass which is something refreshing and great to see!

The film did well to incorporate all five of the Guardians actually and fit in their individual stories to allow the audience to see them for who they really are. To be honest, they did it so well that none of the villains ever stood out for me. Sometimes, I forgot who was the real enemy and who was double crossing who. Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser did well to play the baddie but I felt they didn't use his power to its full potential.

The comedy was actually on point for most of the film, I thought. The script (written by James Gunn himself and Nicole Perlman) was brilliant in dividing moments of catastrophe and moments of amusement. The dialogue was quick witted and a bit tongue-in-cheek at times ("pelvic sorcery" "he's an a-hole but not 100% a dick" hahaha!!). I was surprised, however, at the amount of swearing in the film. Yes, I know this may seem a little bit conservative of me but considering it's a 12A I was a little shocked at some of the language they used and especially when Chris' character gives the finger at one point!

But this film just shows that there are definitely no limits to Marvel's ideas for films as there are clearly other worlds to explore and other extraterrestrial enemies that we are still in the dark about, especially Thanos who still remains a mysterious, sinister villain. Not only that, at the end of the film there is a sureness that the five misfits will return as James Gunn boldly announces that "The Guardians of the Galaxy will return" which is a daring move considering there was an uncertainty of how the film was going to be received by the public. Apparently the second one has already been announced to be coming to cinemas in 2017!

Thankfully for Gunn, the film opened to a very big $94m going ahead of X-Men: Days of Future Past ($90m) while being just a bit behind Transformers: Age of Extinction ($100m) considering it's one of the lesser known franchises from Marvel. I've also reviewed both of those films as well by the way if you fancy checking them out!

So did you see the film? What did you think of it?

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou for reading.
Laura.