Guardians of the Galaxy

When "Iron Man" came out in 2008, courtesy of the newly formed Marvel Studios, I loved the film but I did not appreciate the importance of its success. I made the mistake of filing it alongside other Marvel hits such as "Spider-Man" and "X-men". When I became aware of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that was kicked off by "Iron Man", I then had doubts concerning "The Avengers". It felt quite the monumental task of taking all these superheroes, introducing them separately in their own films and then putting them together in one blockbuster. I was thankfully proven wrong in so many ways. When I saw the second trailer for "Guardians of the Galaxy", which I feel is one of the greatest movie trailers of the decade, it peaked my anticipation level. As with "Iron Man" and "The Fantastic Four" before it, I was unfamiliar with this comic until this movie adaptation came about. While I was excited for this new movie thanks to the preview, I wondered whether the film itself could live up to the hype that the trailer was getting. I guess a source of my doubt stemmed from the fact that the first three movies of Phase Two of the MCU were not as good as their Phase One counterparts. Just as "Captain America" gave me hope for "The Avengers", "Guardians" gave me hope for other original films upcoming in the MCU. "Guardians of the Galaxy" follows the same story rules as the other Marvel films do but a new director and new characters create the needed freshness or originality. The casting and use of music also does its part in creating one of the best films of 2014 and my personal favourite from that year.

Director James Gunn has experience in adapting something for the big screen. He wrote both "Scooby-Doo" movies in the last decade. I was a little disappointed with the crude humour in "Guardians" but it could have been worse and DC proved that exactly four years later. I just hope that Disney keeps their eye on that in future Marvel films. The references to "Footloose" and John Stamos were awesome. When I first saw this movie, I didn't catch some of the humorous lines in the film because they were coming fast and that is smart. I desired to see it again in order to appreciate all the film has to offer. The movie is fun every time you watch it thankfully. I really appreciated the Walkman that Gunn incorporated into the story and the music on it. This resulted in an "old school meets new school" feeling for the show. Any scene could be accompanied by an oldie in order to generate a certain mood or to increase the entertainment level (I love oldies having grown up on music from the 60's to the 80's). "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in my opinion will always belong to "Remember the Titans" but it has been 14 years though and both films have a Disney connection. As a fun fact, "Hooked on a Feeling" was up in sales by 700% the day after the aforementioned trailer was released. As you might expect, there are little references to other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Other makes an appearance and the Infinity Stones (first mentioned in "Thor: The Dark World") get a more detailed explanation courtesy of The Collector. This movie introduces the purple Power Stone. The distraction during the climax was funny but the cool thing is that it both relieves and retains the tension of the scene. One thing I applaud about the story is that these characters have to set aside their "normal" lives in order to work together to help others. They are losers and the scum of the universe but they rise from this to become heroes. They all recognize mistakes they have made, even Rocket, and have a desire to change (but not too much). It is like what happened to Tony Stark.

Zachary Levi and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were considered for the role of Star-Lord and either would have been great to see. I have seen Chris Pratt here and there previous to "Guardians of the Galaxy" on the movie screen but this film and "The Lego Movie" cemented him in my memory as well as in pop culture. He has become a Hollywood regular since the release of this show. Apparently, Joss Whedon was excited to have Pratt as Star-Lord. Pratt's approach to play Peter Quill was to create a combo between Han Solo and Marty McFly. This was perfect because a good-hearted mercenary is appealing and a guy caught up in an adventure he never asked for is relatable. The best performance in "Guardians" however goes to Bradley Cooper. His vocal work for Rocket was funny, unique and unforgettable. He has been part of ensemble casts before so this role probably came easy to him. Sean Gunn, the director's brother, stood in for Rocket during shooting and so the final performance is a mixture of Sean Gunn and Cooper's work. Sean Gunn also plays Yondu's second-in-command Ravager, Kraglin. The runner up for best performance ironically would have to go to Dave Bautista. He isn't much of an actor but he was born for this role, much like Andre the Giant was perfect as Fezzik. Vin Diesel has previous experience as a voice actor. The Iron Giant seems a bit similar to Groot. I was pleased to learn that Diesel did motion capture for Groot as well. Bautista and Vin Diesel both stared in "Riddick" by the way. I am not surprised to see Zoe Saldana with green skin. Some of her previous film characters from sci-fi either had blue skin or were roommates with a green female. Lee Pace auditioned to be Quill but I am so glad he was cast as Ronan because he was great as the villain. He is better in this show than in the Hobbit Trilogy. I first saw Djimon Hounsou on "Gladiator" and nothing since until this year where he was both in this movie & a voice in "How to Train Your Dragon 2". John C. Reilly and Glenn Close each deserve a shoutout as well. This was Josh Brolin's first time playing Thanos by the way. Stan Lee's cameos always generate laughs out of the audience members. Finally, Tyler Bates score sounds perfect for a Marvel movie.

The first time I learned about this movie and the Guardians themselves was a poster with the tagline: "You're Welcome". Normally, that would sound a little overconfident but deep inside, I knew Marvel was being serious and unapologetic. Apart from being a great movie, Disney did a very smart thing in choosing the August 1st release date that they did. In the summer of 2014, almost all blockbusters were a let down and the fall movie season was never designed to make up for lost profits. When "Guardians of the Galaxy" came out, it was what moviegoers were waiting all summer for and they continued to show their appreciation in the following weeks when Hollywood had a very low grossing September. The soundtrack album "Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1" went platinum and that proves how important the songs were in this movie. I was hoping that this movie would win both Academy Awards that it was nominated for (Visual Effects and Makeup & Hairstyling) so that was disappointing. All Marvel movies follow the same rules to entertain an audience. One big rule is the balance between drama, comedy and action. They just brought in a new director and new characters to create the necessary originality for success. Another important rule is to maintain a certain look and feel in any movie to allow for crossovers. As a consequence of this consistency, what we enjoyed last time around will be experienced in new films that Marvel will produce. There was more than enough room in "Guardians of the Galaxy" for a sequel and crossover. The cast in this movie seemed to have fun. The show has made it onto my top 20 list for favourites movies based on a comic book for good reason.

4.5 Stars out of 5