Well here's my first review in a good long while. Still wasn't feeling great but last Thursday I was able to drag myself to the cinema to see Marvel's latest cinematic offering. As you can see it's taken a while to get the review written up, again as a result of how I've been feeling. As for the film itself I certainly greatly enjoyed it but feel my enjoyment was still slightly inhibited by my health. Coming out of the cinema my instinct was
+ but in reliving the film through the review I've felt it was more of a
. I've stuck with my initial score but feel the chances of it going up are very good. More often than not my score for a film goes down on repeat viewings, but I think it will be the opposite in the case.
Year of release
2014
Directed by
James Gunn
Written by
James Gunn
Nicole Perlman
Starring
Chris Pratt
Zoe Saldana
Dave Bautista
Bradley Cooper
Vin Diesel
Lee Pace
Guardians of the Galaxy
Plot - Earth, 1988. A young Peter Quill stands by his mother's hospital bedside as she passes away from cancer. Distraught, he runs out of the hospital and is promptly abducted by a spaceship. Jump forward 26 years and we now find the adult Peter Quill (Pratt) out amongst the stars. More specifically we find him on the planet Morag in search of a mysterious orb. When he locates and steals it he believes he's in for a large cash windfall; instead he finds a bullseye painted on his back as all manner of individuals start hunting him down for the orb. The main danger to Quill's life lies in the form of Ronan the Accuser (Pace) who desires the orb so that he can see his mortal enemies, the Xandarians, eradicated. Arrested by the Nova Corp, Quill finds himself thrown in prison. To escape the prison and still profit from the orb he forms an uneasy alliance with a band of his fellow prisoners. His new allies are the deadly assassin Gamora (Saldana), vengeful warrior Drax the Destroyer (Bautista) and the bounty hunting duo of Rocket (Cooper), a gun-totting raccoon, and Groot (Diesel, a tree-like humanoid. With a plan to sell the orb and split the profits the group are successful in their prison break, but still have to deal with Ronan. When Quill discovers the true power of the orb however and the threat it poses to the entire galaxy he realises that no-one should possess it. He is unable to stop Ronan alone however; can he somehow galvanise this group of misfits into joining together to save the day? This is a galaxy in need of some Guardians.
Guardians of the Galaxy was billed as being Marvel's biggest risk to date. A film based on an almost unknown property, one that even within the comic community is considered fairly cult, and whose lead characters include a talking tree and a psychotic raccoon with an unquenchable thirst for violence? Not obvious blockbusters material. After their excellent run it was predicted to be the film that could be the studio's first major flop both critically and commercially. So the film was a gamble and the pressure was seemingly on. Well apparently no-one told that to Marvel or to James Gunn because there's no sign of it whatsoever; from start to finish Guardians of the Galaxy exhibits just an incredible swagger of assurance and self-confidence, rarely if ever putting a foot wrong. For those contemplating its possible failure one of the main issues working against it was that it would prove to be just too 'weird' to find a large audience. If that was a concern for the filmmakers it certainly doesn't show. At no point does the film ever come across as if it is shying away from the weirdness, in fact it is actively embracing it. After all, what other blockbuster would have a climactic battle that sees the hero attempt to instigate a dance off?
Much of the film's success can be attributed to the efforts of its cast. Prior to the film's release, the cast of
Guardians of the Galaxy had thrown up a number of questions and issues for rabid fanboys to pore over. Could Chris Pratt, a novice when it comes to blockbusters, carry such a big film? Could Bradley Cooper find the voice that would somehow bring to life and make plausible a gun-toting raccoon? With a vocabulary of just three words at his disposal could Vin Diesel make a talking tree into anything more than a gimmick? Well as tough as it may be to imagine the answer to all three of these queries is a resounding yes. It seems that the Hollywood powers-that-be are positioning Chris Pratt for a run at the A-list, and on this evidence he seems set to grasp that opportunity with both hands. A rookie he may be to headlining big movies but you never doubt he's capable of it. From his first moments on screen, strutting and dancing on a desolate planet to the strains of Redbone's “Come and Get Your Love”, you just feel “oh he's got this.” And whether it be through Indiana Jones or Han Solo it's not difficult to trace Pratt's turn back to Harrison Ford. Like those two iconic characters his portrayal of Peter Quill, aka Starlord, is one full of arrogance, ego and a smart mouth whose bluster you feel is very much a front to hide the pain and the good heart that beats below that façade. While he's good at what he does, he's not as good as he thinks he is. More often than not he just seems to bumble about and fall ass backwards into success. With an immense amount of charm, Pratt makes Quill an incredibly likeable leader for this bizarre group and a character that has the chance to perhaps become almost as iconic as those Harrison Ford creations that came before it.
The main topic of conversation going into the film was definitely the character of Rocket Raccoon. It was with that hot-tempered, bloodthirsty furball that much of the movie's success was predicted to lie. Get it right and he would be the breakout star of the series; get it wrong and the whole film could collapse upon itself. Now the voice may not be exactly what I imagined for Rocket, and it maybe didn't work 100% of the time for me, but for the large majority of the time Bradley Cooper pretty much nails it, making him into a sort of New York, Joe Pesci-like wise guy. Brimming with sarcasm to burn he brings lots of laughs, but also a surprisingly sorrowful edge. He really is quite a tragic little character, stung by the pain of being a lab experiment which sees him labelled as a monster or vermin.
Film Trivia Snippets - The role of Peter Quill/Star Lord was quite the coveted proposition. Amongst the many individuals that auditioned and screen tested were Joel Edgerton, Eddie Redmayne, Jensen Ackles, Lee Pace, Wes Bentley, Garrett Hedlund, James Marsden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Aaron Paul, Michael Rosenbaum and John Krasinski. /// And in fact James Gunn didn't even want to see Chris Pratt audition. He was convinced later by his assistant, at the end of the auditions. After Pratt read for 30 seconds, Gunn stated that then he knew that Pratt was perfect for the role. In fact his audition was so good that Gunn said he was prepared to offer him the role even if Pratt did not lose weight and get in shape in time. Gunn joked that he was willing to CGI a six pack on Pratt's body. However, Pratt asked him to give him 6 months to lose 50 pounds and he ended up losing 60 pounds. /// Djimon Hounsou wanted to be part of a comic book film for the sake of his son, saying that "I have a son who loves superheroes from Spider-Man to Iron Man to Batman. One day he looks at me and says 'Dad, I want to be light-skinned so I could be Spider-Man. Spider-Man has light skin.' That was sort of a shock." He actually auditioned for the role of Drax but lost that to Dave Bautista. After seeing Bautista and how ripped he was, Hounsou said that he knew why he wasn't cast and admitted Bautista was the perfect choice. /// Peyton Reed was considered as a possible director for the film before James Gunn was signed up. Reed has however been chosen to replace Edgar Wright and direct Ant-Man.
So Rocket pretty much lived up to expectations. The biggest surprise for me though was the character of Groot, and just how much I ended up loving him. In fact he ended up being my favourite character. For someone with such a limited vocabulary that is an incredible achievement. The film was able to achieve this through a mixture of Vin Diesel's vocal efforts, the incredible CGI of ILM and by giving him some wonderful character moments. ILM's animation really is extraordinary, giving Groot's face so much character and room for expression. As for Vin Diesel, he's able to do a hell of a lot with just three words of dialogue for the entire film, imbuing his utterances with unique cadences and tones. In fact towards the end of the film I could almost begin to understand the character myself, no longer requiring the translation of Rocket. And the character of Groot is given several of the film's best character moments that really make us take him to our hearts; the moment he grows and hands a flower to a young girl, the moment he releases luminescent blossoms to light the darkness or his great moment of heroism at the film's conclusion. There's a wonderful dichotomy to Groot in that he's this really gentle, almost childlike soul who just also happens to be capable of incredibly vicious brutality. That is most evident in perhaps my favourite moment of the whole movie where Groot eviscerates a horde of enemies in one of the film's most violent outbursts, and follows it up by turning around to his comrades with wide eyes and a big beaming smile as if to ask, “did I do good?”
So you had those three questions dominating the cast discussion. As it turns out however the film had a bit of a secret weapon hidden up its sleeve, something that had not really been glimpsed in any of the film's promotional material, and that is the character of Drax as played by Dave Bautista, a man known for his time not on the big screen but in the wrestling ring. Now I remember Bautista back from my days of watching WWE, and based on that I wasn't exactly too positive about what he may bring to the film. He wasn't exactly the strongest when it came to his mic work, not coming close to the charisma or skill of the likes of The Rock. And yet here he kind of knocks his contribution out of the park, displaying pretty fine line delivery and comic timing which allows him to steal many of the film's biggest laughs thanks to his character's very literal approach to language. Last but by no means...oh no wait it actually is least!
No lastly we have Zoe Saldana as the green-skinner assassin, Gamora. Saldana is lumped with the least interesting character of the group, forced to play the straight man throughout. What makes it even more disappointing is that you feel real drama should be mined from her situation given that she has turned her back on her father, Thanos, and is battling her sister, Nebula. Despite this, Saldana does give a game performance which promises she could deliver in the future if given more to work with, and she has quite nice chemistry with Chris Pratt. And on a side note I have to mention that this is the second time I've found her attractive in alien form. In
Avatar I found her rather attractive as a 9ft tall blue cat, and here her beauty still shines through as a green-skinned alien.
If there's one area where the film does admittedly come up short to an extent that will put off 'proper' filmgoers and not just comic book fans then it's perhaps the plot. The actual story about a mystical orb and the power it holds is extremely slight but I don't think it really matters all that much, because I don't believe that was the real story here. No the real story was just the introduction and assembling of these characters into this peculiar group. And on those terms Guardians is a terrifically well written effort by James Gunn. He introduces each of these characters so well that every single one of them becomes likeable/loveable as separate entities, whilst also managing to form little bonds between them. The whole orb nonsense was merely the catalyst to bring these five misfits together. We are in pure, 100% unadulterated MacGuffin territory, and the film seems completely aware of this. In fact at one point the film pretty much flat out acknowledges it, with Quill describing the orb as having an “Ark of the Covenent, Maltese Falcon vibe” to it. Likewise the villains may come up short, not making anything close to the impact of our heroes. We only get to know them and their motivations on the most basic of levels. The villains, particularly Lee Pace's Ronan and Karen Gillan's Nebula, are still able to make an impression however thanks to some terrifically striking character design and make-up. In fact the biggest impression made by a non-Guardian would have to be their sometime-villain/ sometime-ally, Yondu. Played with great strength and colour by Michael Rooker he is a pretty bad ass character; one that I hope to see more of in the future. Oh and that whistle-controlled arrow weapon of his? So freaking cool!
In the wake of the Alfonso Cuaron technical marvel that was
Gravity, I'm sure that a lot of people will feel for a while that any other space-faring film that comes along is going to pale in comparison when it comes to the visuals that brought to vivid life the stars, galaxies and solar systems that surround us. And that may be true, perhaps nothing will come along for a considerable time that can match Gravity for its authenticity and for making you feel like you're truly there. That does not however stop Guardians from still excelling with its visuals because it is a frequently gorgeous film to look at. From the first moment to the last the CGI is absolutely flawless, with not a single instance where it looks ropey even for the briefest of moments. While the CGI's main achievement may be in its realisation of Groot and Rocket it also helps to deliver some absolutely beautiful spacescapes and planets.
Film Trivia Snippets - According to Vin Diesel, he recorded Groot's iconic line, "I am Groot," over 1,000 times. He also recorded all of the lines in several different languages, including Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Portugese and French so they could use his real voice around the world. /// When Dave Bautista found out he got the role of Drax the Destroyer, he broke down in tears, overjoyed at getting a Marvel comic-book role. He immediately signed up for extra acting classes in order to prepare for the role. /// In the film, Peter Quill's ship is named The Milano. James Gunn has confirmed that Peter named it that after his childhood crush, Alyssa Milano, who he watched on the TV show, Who's the Boss? /// Jason Momoa auditioned for the role of Drax the Destroyer and was actually offered it, but turned ir down because he didn't want himself to be pigeonholed as a brute by the audience (having played several action roles) and to free himself up to direct Road to Paloma. /// When Vin Diesel started recording his lines for Groot, he was pleasantly surprised to find himself working with an old friend - the sme sound technician he'd worked with on The Iron Giant. /// Bradley Cooper was eventually chosen to voice Rocket Raccoon but before that Adam Sandler, David Tennant, Sharlto Copley and Jim Carrey were all considered. /// Zoe Saldana only landed the role of Gamora after Olivia Wilde turned it down, while Gina Carano, Rachel Nichols and Adrianne Palicki all auditioned for it.
If the film looks great then it perhaps sounds even better, it's excellent soundtrack just continuing the film's great sense of fun. We were given a hint of the musical tone it was going to adopt from the trailers and its a vibe that continues in the film itself. Its collection of 70s rock songs is just a perfect fit. For a film set in the modern day, and in space no less, it's an eccentric choice that mirrors the eccentric nature of the whole film. And for a film that doesn't play by the normal rules of the superhero film the pleasingly anarchic vibe of 70s rock feels very fitting. But importantly it never comes across as a mere gimmick. The reason being that beyond just how fun it is the soundtrack also has a rare connection with the actual story and character played by Chris Pratt. With the songs sourced from a mixtape his mother made for him; the last connection he has to her, the soundtrack also has an emotional resonance that makes it a poignant and touching addition.
Going on the strengths of its concept and its trailers we could predict that we were in for lots of action and lots of humour. What came as more of a surprise was just how much unexpected heart the film has. In fact it arguably has a stronger emotional core than just about any Marvel film before it, strange as that may be to imagine. In general it doesn't achieve these moments through big, sweeping moments but through smaller beats and character interactions; moments such as Quill noticing the mass of scars that adorn Rocket's back from his origins as a lab experiment. I've already talked about the emotion found in the characters of Groot, Rocket and Peter Quill elsewhere in this review. These five characters are all pretty broken individuals, but when brought together they forge an eccentric but touching family. And it's a unique film that makes you empathise with a raccoon or weep for a tree.
And then there is the film's post-credits sequence. These sequences have gotten to the point now where they almost feel like they're as big a deal as the films themselves, and as such they generate a huge amount of fascination and discussion. In the past we've perhaps had an inkling what these sequences were going to be beforehand. That was not the case with this one however and had led to numerous predictions across the web as to what it would be. Well I think I can pretty much guarantee that no one would have called that particular scene. These scenes pretty much fall into two categories; a fun little send-off or a set-up for a future film. While Marvel may surprise me by following on from this scene I imagine it is one of those purely for a laugh scenes. It's a scene that I imagine will leave many people puzzled and asking just “what the f*ck was that?!!!”, but I think it was just about perfect for this particular film. It ensured that the film ended just as it began, as an irreverent and unique escapade unlike anything so far seen in the superhero genre.
Conclusion - As far as big blockbusters go it's hard to think of anything that
Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't deliver. It looks great, it sounds great, the performances are strong, its exciting, it's action-packed, it's funny, it's even got an emotional pull and never for a single second is it dull. In fact Marvel and James Gunn have perhaps delivered one of the most purely, unashamedly fun pieces of escapism since the first Pirates of the Caribbean film hit cinemas all the way back in 2003.
Oh yeah and this is one just for the people who have seen the film and will know what I'm on about. The release of the film has seen a whole slew of merchandise released in conjunction with its arrival in cinemas - action figures, T-shirts, Lego, pyjamas, costumes etc. Well all I can say to those in charge of merchandising is that I need a dancing Groot figure in my life!
Easter Eggs - The Collector's museum of treasures is quite fittingly the treasure trove of easter eggs for fans. Amongst the creatures glimpsed in cages are a Dark Elf from Thor: The Dark World, a Chitauri alien from The Avengers and a slug creature from James Gunn's previous movie, Slither. / The dog in an astronaut suit is Cosmo, a Russian dog sent into space who developed psychic powers. In the comics he was an ally of the Guardians and at one point a fully fledged member of the group. He does however have an ongoing feud with Rocket, perhaps not surprisingly given the whole dog-raccoon thing. / Another interesting object in the museum, and one that could turn out to have major impact in future films is a cocoon. James Gunn has confirmed fan theories that it is the cocoon of Adam Warlock, an artificially engineered 'perfect human' and one time member of the Guardians. The character also plays an important part in the Infinity Gauntlet storyline which is rumoured to be a future storyline for the third Avengers film. In the post-credits scene we see that the cocoon is damaged and now empty, apparently indicating that Adam Warlock is now running around the MCU.
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