Da'Mon Guy brings us his review of Marvel's latest offering, Guardians of the Galaxy.
Guardians of the Galaxy is Marvel's boldest film yet, a great intersection of humor, action, and creativity which manages to create the perfect influx of all its aspects to produce an extremely fresh take on comic book based movies. It utilizes the talents of Chris Pratt (Delivery Man), Zoe Saldana (Out of the Furnace), Dave Bautista (The Man with the Iron Fist), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Vin Diesel (Riddick), Michael Rooker (Super) and Lee Pace (Lincoln). It also features appearances by John C. Riely (Wreck-It-Ralph), Djmon Hunsou (Baggage Claim), Benico Del Toro (Thor: The Dark World), Glenn Close (The Stepford Wives), and Josh Brolin (Oldboy).
Nearly six years after starting their own movie production company Marvel is finally getting the hang of making movies. Guardians of the Galaxy, is nearly flawless. It captivates and dazzles and doesn't have many of the shortcomings that have plagued a number of the earlier films Marvel Studios have released, such as non-epic climaxes, flawed villain performances, and being forced to adhere too much to an origin story.
“Guardians” much like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is not shackled by the confines of a well-known story, this film flourishes because of that. It features all of the necessary aspects to make a comic based film great, and then some. In addition, it has an epic climax that befits the film. Guardians of the Galaxy is the most original story by Marvel and a great story of science fiction. The story is well written and creatively embeds a number of characters as well as references to multiple aspects (Nova Corps, The Kree Empire) of the Marvel universe that hardcore comic book lovers will recognize and love, while still being extremely relatable to the casual fan. Those aspects thoroughly increase the enjoyment of the film exponentially. A quote from one of the Guardians, Rocket Raccoon, sums up the film completely "Ain't no thing like me except me."
"Guardians" has great pacing and moves along very well. It’s not too fast that you can’t enjoy its better moments but it’s very upbeat. The movie manages to blend the humorous aspects extremely well so that they accentuate the story and don’t feel like they’re forced. It is also complemented by great cinematography/special effects, they are first rate and blockbuster caliber, meaning the overall look of the film, and the characters, is fantastic.
The cast of the Guardians of the Galaxy mesh extremely well. Bradley Cooper stands out in his role as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, he’s easily one of the best aspects of the film. Nearly all of Rocket’s snarky attitude and witty dialogue deserve applause. Chris Pratt has his first real breakout role and will surely garner a lot of attention because of it, much like Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and other lesser known stars before him that made a good performance in comic book based films. We will surely be seeing much more of Mr. Pratt because of his role as Peter Quill aka Star Lord. The other members of the Guardians, Gamora (Saldana), Draxx (Batistua), and Groot (Diesel) each have great contributions to the story. Michael Rooker is excellent in his limited screen time as Yondu and Lee Pace gives a dastardly evil performance as Ronan.
Guardians of the Galaxy is the first Marvel film to feature lesser known characters
as the studio continues its expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This film may not be the best movie of this Summer, but it is the most fun you'll have at the movies. While it’s not as good as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes or Maleficent, it can certainly hold its own and legitimately stake a claim for it. The Avengers may be the film that everyone measures new comic book movies by, and for as great as it was, The Avengers isn’t nearly as enjoyable as Guardians of the Galaxy.
Guardians of the Galaxy has a legitimate claim to being Marvel’s best overall film. I’d personally rank it behind The Incredible Hulk (2009), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and tied with the Avengers. I had my reservations about this film and even prejudged it in thinking that it would flop. I was completely wrong and loved every minute of it. It’s clearly a must see.
Da’Mon Guy is a
writer and artist. He’s a graduate of Coppin State
University and an avid, life-long lover of film. Da'Mon has been actively
writing movie reviews since 2011, for a number of publications. Check out more of his work at Examiner.com, where he has published over 400 reviews.
Visit his Blog and follow him on Twitter.
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