Review of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) by Closeremperor16 — 02 Aug 2014

I hate to keep giving high review scores but let me clarify, I only review things I love.

AND I FREEKING LOVED THIS MOVIE!

If I listed every scene I loved from this film I would be listing nearly every scene. To be honest I felt a fewI hate to keep giving high review scores but let me clarify, I only review things I love.

AND I FREEKING LOVED THIS MOVIE!

If I listed every scene I loved from this film I would be listing nearly every scene. To be honest I felt a few of the action scenes where a bit choppy and had to many fast cuts but A, that's personal preference and B, when you enjoy a movie this much, things like that seem like niggling issues.

The group dynamic in this movie is easily on par with the avengers and they didn't have individual movies to set up each character. This movie is a fresh of breath air, it is like the Anti Marvel movie, it simultaneously delivers everything you expect from a marvel movie (great action, over the top set pieces, excellent special effects) but delivers so much more.

This movie is one of the funniest blockbusters of recent memory not just compared to other marvel films, the pacing timing and acting from everyone involved is spot on.

But more then that this film has real heart, Nearly made me tear up a couple of times which I really didn't expect. The cast coalesce from a disparate group of misfits in to feeling like a family.

Gunn does a fantastic job of making you care for the characters and subtly subverting expectations, Ronan’s big finale being a prime example that you will instantly understand what I mean when you see it.

All of the main cast where excellent, Chris Pratt exudes such easy charm and confidence that he deserves to be called the new Han Solo, Zoe Saldona as Gamora manages to pull hidden strength from probably the most under used of the main cast and gets one of the funniest lines in the film (Kevin Bacon! I say no more).

Bradley cooper brings such vicious life and subtle humour to the angry, crazy, and tragic Rocket and has one of the most heart breaking moments in the whole movie.

A lot has been said about Vin diesel and his 1000 times of recording Groot's only Three lines (I AM GROOT) But let me be clear, I have never seen (or heard) an actor pull so much subtlety and emotion out of three words. Every time he says I AM GROOT it feels different and like it has real hidden meaning behind it (which makes sense, as Vin said his version of the script had pages and pages of what Groot was actually saying) and it really shows.

Just to clarify the relationship between Rocket and Groot is probably the strongest element of the film and both of them work perfectly, both Bradley Cooper and Vin diesel give Outstanding vocal performances. However, I feel the Special effects team deserve a special shout out, they did such a fantastic job of bringing them to life and making them seem like real believable living creatures when they could have easily ended up being ridiculous.

As much as I love Groot and Rocket I think this films real Hidden gem is Dave Bautista As Drax the Destroyer, The trailers for this film really didn’t show you a lot of Drax but let me tell you he is fantastic. I think why I love him is that he is everything you expect, brutal, quick tempered and hell bent on Revenge, but Bautista (and the script writers) infuse him with such a sly intelligence that often belies his appearance. Drax constantly surprised me with often incisive and intelligent comments and a surprising amount of heart and compassion for a brutal killing machine. Also Drax (minor spoiler ahead, but I’m sure you will have heard this before) comes from a Planet whose inhabitant’s are completely Literal minded and therefore have no understanding of metaphor or symbolism. And Gunn as director and the Bautista and the rest of the cast milk every ounce of potential humour out of it.

Whilst this may be a little more risky then most marvel movies with more instances of bad language then any other Marvel Movie (mostly hecks, damns, **** and the occasional Prick) and a few near the knuckle jokes it remains an hugely enjoyable film that the whole family can enjoy.

What you will really take away from this film, is the real sense of honour, family and heartfelt goodness that Gunn manages to pull out of this disparate bunch of thieves, thugs, murderers and Maniac’s.

The fact that Gunn manages to do so in a way that feels natural and not at all forced like a lot of other films is a real triumph, Guardians will make you laugh, it might make you cry, it will certainly make you care more about the protagonists then many block busters have ever achieved.

I don’t know if this is better then Avengers Assemble but it is at least on par and definitely funnier and more genuinely touching, With guardians 2 already confirmed Joss Whedon has some serious competition as best director in the MCU.

Lastly as a closing note, it may seem that I have given the villain’s short shrift here and I suppose I have but the reason is that whilst the villains in this film give perfectly solid and respectable performance and certainly drive the narrative forward this isn’t really there film, this film belongs to the guardian’s.