Image courtesy of theartmad.com
Next up in the "Marvel-thon" is the first movie to show that Marvel truly can take risks, and that is Guardians of the Galaxy.
While on the planet Morag, scavenger Peter Quill takes a mysterious Orb, but upon learning of its discovery, a bounty is placed on him by Yondu Udonta, leader of a band of space pirates called the Ravagers, and a radical member of the Kree named Ronan sends an assassin named Gamora after it. That's the least of Quill's problems, because while trying to sell it, he's spotted by two bounty hunters, an enhanced raccoon named Rocket and his partner: a tree-like creature named Groot. After the four of them are sent to the Kyln and encounter Drax (one of the more powerful prisoners), they realize they have to work together to stop Ronan, despite their differences... and their motives.
What Worked: One of the first highlights to talk about is the cast, as usual, but for an ensemble piece such as this (especially centering on a more obscure group), the chemistry definitely works between the main five.
There's Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, who insists everyone call him Star-Lord. He's basically Marvel's version of Han Solo, with hints of Indiana Jones in there. This movie proves that Chris Pratt can be capable of more than comedy, and that he could be a legitimate action star for our generation*. He has the charisma you'd expect from both Han Solo and a character like Iron Man.
Then there's Zoe Saldana as Gamora. It shows here that she has probably become accustomed to being in sci-fi movies at this point, having been in the reboot of Star Trek as Uhura, and Avatar as the love interest Neytiri. With this, she brings a bit of both to Gamora, having a "take no nonsense" attitude like Uhura, and the aspect of Neytiri where she doesn't quite understand certain parts of human culture, like figures of speech. With Gamora, she's kind of a slow learner and a bit naive about it. That is, when compared to someone like Drax the Destroyer, at least.
Professional wrestler Dave Bautista plays Drax, and this movie is proof that if given the right material, wrestlers can be good actors. I remember watching one review of this when it first came out, and he was described as the best wrestler-turned-actor since The Rock. Since I saw the movie, I've believed that to be true. He's awesome in this. Drax is the comic relief at points, because he gets some of the funniest lines. Whereas Gamora is somewhat naive to how parts of our language work, Drax is so stoic and deadpan he takes them literally, and it's hilarious.
Then there are two voice performances with Rocket and Groot. Rocket is voiced by Bradley Cooper, and Groot is voiced by Vin Diesel. The best way to describe them is that while Star-Lord has the personality of Han Solo, they have a relationship similar to Han and Chewbacca. Groot has his own version of Chewbacca's speech where all he says is, "I am Groot." Despite his limitations in vocabulary, Rocket is still able to understand him. Bradley Cooper is really good at showing Rocket's personality: he can be full of himself, but is also skilled with planning and weapons. With Groot, Vin Diesel may have another iconic role. Even though he has the same line, his voice makes him intimidating in addition to his height.
In regards to the chemistry they all have, it works because they feel like a dysfunctional family. They bicker occasionally, but find a way to compromise. They also have a connection to either the Orb or anyone else who wants it.
For the supporting cast, this movie has Michael Rooker as Yondu, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Djimon Hounsou (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) as Korath (one of Ronan's allies), Benicio del Toro as The Collector, and the last one I can really talk about, Lee Pace as Ronan himself. With Korath and Ronan, I'll get to them later.
Yondu has kind of a "love/hate" relationship with Peter Quill; he leads a group of pirates, yet he has a father figure quality to him, hence why he wants him taken alive. Through Michael Rooker's performance, he feels like that type of father figure where they do something that's not quite right, but it's done out of love. He's probably the best supporting character in the movie for both his performance and one scene in particular where it's him against an army of bad guys.
With Nebula, she has an interesting relationship with Gamora; she goes after her out of loyalty for Ronan, but more because it feels personal. Karen Gillan channels that aggression really well, making Nebula seem more threatening than Ronan. For a supporting villain, she's very good.
The Collector is not necessarily a villain here, but rather more of a somewhat quirky character. Benicio del Toro embraces that, and plays it up to where his personality makes sense without detracting from what is a very important scene. The Guardians go to him so they (and the audience) can find out why the Orb is so valuable to everyone. All I'll say is this: it ties back to the mid-credits scene of Thor: The Dark World.
Now for the positives aside from the cast. Much like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and so many previous MCU installments, this movie proves once again that Marvel knows what they're doing when it comes to picking directors for their projects. Here, they picked James Gunn, who's known for doing B-movie-style work: the material won't win any awards or anything, but it's made more for the purpose of being fun to watch anyway. This is like that, except with the effects and makeup, it's more likely to be nominated there. His direction shows that the material here blends perfectly, as does the script, which he also contributed to. The script makes this one of the funniest installments in the MCU.
Where this movie really shines, though, comes with the effects, the cinematography, and the music. I'll also mention the action here.
The effects are some of the best the MCU has to offer. They make this feel like the franchise equivalent of Star Wars even more than the story and tone already do. It has the tone of a space opera like that, and you can even see parallels to Star Wars. Of course, a lot of the effects had to be CGI, like the ships, locations, or even characters like Groot and Rocket that would also use motion-capture. However, anything that did not require it would use practical effects and makeup, like Gamora and Drax, for example.
The cinematography is excellent because it visually conveys the tone. This is one of the best-looking movies in the franchise.
The biggest positive here aside from the effects is the music. Similar to Baby Driver, the soundtrack is a character to where it has a certain significance. It features music from the 60s and 70s, and also like Baby Driver, it's set to specific scenes, rather than the other way around. The same can be said for the score, because that's how James Gunn chose to direct it.
All of these contribute to the action sequences, which feel fresh and fun as a result. Some of them have become franchise highlights, like the prison scene and the aforementioned scene with Yondu.
What Didn't Work: There's one major issue here. I mentioned that Nebula feels like more of a threat than Ronan, which is an issue because she's not the main villain. Developing the main characters may be more important since it focuses on them, but a compelling villain helps. Ronan doesn't have much of a motivation other than he wants to get the Orb and be all-powerful. Lee Pace does make a good villain, but he could have had stronger material to work with. Also, Korath is an interesting character, and Djimon Hounsou is great at playing villains, yet he's not really impactful either because he's not in the movie that much. This means the movie goes back to the villain problem.
Aside from that, there is a slight, but very minor, pacing issue. That can be overlooked.
Overall: Guardians of the Galaxy does what the original Thor did: show that Marvel is capable of going into territories within their universe that could not possibly translate well to the big screen, even more so here. With Thor it was mythological, but here the intention was to introduce the audience to the cosmic perspective with a property that they had likely never heard of prior to seeing it. Plus, Thor was in the middle of the setup for The Avengers, whereas this is placed front and center.
However, it somehow manages to get the audience invested in the characters much sooner than in The Avengers, as they are each developed enough by the halfway point. This movie feels like its own story even with some minor connections to previous installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It takes an obscure property that shouldn't have worked, and makes it work. It's lighthearted, fun, hilarious, and full of great action and music with a cast to suit the material.
Not only does Marvel know who to choose to adapt one of their properties, they know when the right time would be to do so and how to approach it. Guardians of the Galaxy is evidence that some risks are well worth taking.
As with the previous two movies, there is both a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene. This also has Phase Two's second-best Stan Lee cameo so far.
*A few movies from now, you might just see an action star that will bring both a sense of nostalgia and a smile on your face.