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Year Of Release
Director/s
Producer/s
Writer/s
Cast
Notes And Trivia
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Synopsis:
Peter Quill, who at the age of about 10, was abducted by Aliens on the day of his Mother’s death, has been living the past 26 years in space with a group of mercenaries and thieves called the Ravagers.
Quill has been basically working as an intergalactic garbage man and scavenger, who finds/steals and sells anything he can.
When Quill comes into the possession of a mystical Orb, he will be taken on an even bigger adventure.
The Orb you see, is a rather sought after item… and there are some pretty nasty beings looking for it. In particular, there are two despotic warlords called Thanos and Ronan.
Along the way, Quill will become entangled with the most rag tag bunch of cretins, murderers, warriors and, well, weirdoes, that you can imagine.
Review:
I didn’t really like GotG on first watch. Well… ok, I liked it, but didn’t think it was worth the hype. Sedai on here has said the same.
However, my curiosity was sparked and a couple more goes at it has seen me loving this movie.
It starts out pretty sombre with Quill seeing his Mother die.
Then there’s a leap in time and we’re thrown into the world of adult Quill. And what an introduction we’re given, and what a world it is too.
This film is one of the funniest and well pieced together adaptions of a comic book I’ve seen.
There’s an air of untold, hinted history and mysterious backstory going on too. Some of Quill’s history as well and a few future surprises in store that are hinted at.
It’s not the sort of sloppy, bog-standard writing usually found where there are slaps in the face with explanatory dialogue. This film keeps things held back and allows the script, plot and screenplay to unfold over a period of time.
The other thing is that if you’re not in on the comics, like myself, the movie is still so well put together that you can watch it and know exactly what’s going on. Even among the twists and turns that take place.
It’s great to see a film that does this these days, especially a comic book film.
The humour is also bang on. There’s a mix of slapstick and choreography that add fun to the scenes and some of the dialogue, especially between our titular Heroes during some of the action, that had me laughing out loud.
Pedantic, cutting, witty, insulting humour that is recognisable within modern standards of comedy.
There are also a handful of scenes that are touching too. A couple of them serve as exposition in the story as well, which is another good piece of writing.
The bad points, in terms of the comic to film transition… I’ve never, ever read the books, so I guess my liking of the movie is down to not really being an original fan boy. I have however seen a few comments from the comics’s’s fans about how they didn’t like certain changes.
The filmmakers have changed a few of the characters from what I’ve read up on. Including the way some of them physically look. Drax for instance was originally green-skinned in the comics, but in the film, he’s like a reddish rusty colour so he doesn’t look like Hulk.
That sort of thing.
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The acting is also top notch.
Chris Pratt as Quill starts the film as he means to go on. Funny, charismatic, holds the action well and has some great one-liners that he delivers with such a deadpan and also original style, makes him a Hero love really love. Pratt has proven he’s a worthy leading man with this role.
Zoe Saldana plays Gamora, our “Warrior” Guardian. She’s kind of a dual role in this and she’s very, very slinky and sexy. There’s also some scenes of peril for her, particularly when they end up in jail and Saldana holds it all together really well.
Dave Bautista as Drax is second only to Pratt. Bautista, is exceptional. He started out as a Wrestler and Mixed Martial Artist in real life. But wow… his charisma and chemistry with everyone around him is second to none. He pretty much steals any scene he’s in too. By far one of the best turns I’ve seen from a guy who isn’t really an actor. He’s also immensely funny at times and even has an air of emotion about him as well whenever he talks about his (Drax’s) wife and daughter.
Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon is also on form. Cutting with his humour and dialogue and seems to be the genuine brains of the group. Cooper’s voice is also unrecognisable at times. He doesn’t sound like Cooper.
Vin Diesel plays motion capture and voice for Groot. Groot seems to be the most memorable of the characters yet I can’t help but notice it’s really the animators and the editing that made him so good. All Vin has done really is move about a bit and say “I am Groot”. He’s still a ton of fun though and by far the ugliest, yet cutest character in the group.
The post credits scene for Groot though is really funny though.
Lee Pace adds some villainy for the proceedings, and he’s like a mixed villain really. He’s pretty darned threatening when he wants to be and then suddenly throws in a funny performance, almost like an inept villain at times too. Pace is brilliant.
Michael Rooker (in another of those rewritten roles), Djimon Hounsou, John C Reilly (brilliantly underplayed), Glenn Close and Benicio Del Toro (fantastically evil) add some back up as various supporting characters.
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The action, choreography and effects really tie this film together.
Highly charged action on more than several occasions and the choreography, mixed with the slapstick elements and funny dialogue make GotG stand out from other comic incarnations.
The CGI is also tip top.
There’s a highly stylised look the the film that crosses comic-looking with some cartoony elements and other hits of realistic looking effects. The whole effects side of things are rendered exceptionally well.
Add to that a banging 70s and 80s soundtrack with a Heroic original score, this film is top trumps within its genre.
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Review #235, Movie #306
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Year Of Release
2014
Director/s
James Gunn
Producer/s
Kevin Feige
Writer/s
James Gunn, Nicole Perlman
Based on Guardians Of The Galaxy by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning
Cast
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, John C Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio Del Toro
Notes And Trivia
The soundtrack for the movie was released on tape cassette and vinyl and reached #1 in the US. It’s the first time in history that a movie soundtrack album made of already existing songs has ever made the #1 slot.
Chris Pratt’s audition was so good, that James Gunn offered him the role even though Pratt was out of shape. Pratt had put on a lot of weight for another film which he had yet to lose, but the filmmakers had seen him in the past in the movie Zero Dark Thirty, in which he was pretty muscular.
In fact, Pratt was so good in the auditions that Gunn offered to use CGI to “buff” Pratt up. In a move of mutual respect though, Pratt worked out and lost 60lb of fat and built up a load of muscle in just 6 months.
Pratt called his fitness regime “torture” but admitted that his shirtless scenes were worth the effort when he saw how good he looked on the playback monitors, marking a moment of personal pride for his physical achievement.
Zoe Saldana pushed the production to use makeup instead of CGI and Motion Capture for her character.
Vin Diesel recorded all of his dialogue (repeated lines of “I am Groot”), in Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, German and French so his voice could be used in different language cuts of the movie.
Even though Diesel only really has one line of dialogue (I am Groot), he still repeated that line over 1000 times in post-production for the character.
After 10 weeks of training for a fight scene, Pratt and Bautista were then told their scene would be changed as it wouldn’t work on camera. They then had barely a couple of hours to learn a new fight scene.
James Gunn then threw another spanner in the works by wanting the new fight to be filmed in one continuous shot… which took Pratt and Bautista 22 takes to get right.
Bautista was a proven trooper on the film. His full body makeup took 5 hours to apply every morning. Bautista though would stand throughout the entire process, would then go out and film for several hours, and then spend another 90 minutes having the makeup removed… and he never complained once. Not once.
Djimon Hounsou wanted to play Drax, but the role was given to Dave Bautista and Hounsou was offered the role of Korath. Hounsou was a little miffed at the choices though but later admitted Bautista was the better choice after seeing how muscular Bautista is.
Rocket Raccoon was based on a real raccoon that lives in the UK called Oreo.
Bradley Cooper, who voices Rocket, based the performance on Joe Pesci’s performance in Goodfellas.
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Peter Quill, who at the age of about 10, was abducted by Aliens on the day of his Mother’s death, has been living the past 26 years in space with a group of mercenaries and thieves called the Ravagers.
Quill has been basically working as an intergalactic garbage man and scavenger, who finds/steals and sells anything he can.
When Quill comes into the possession of a mystical Orb, he will be taken on an even bigger adventure.
The Orb you see, is a rather sought after item… and there are some pretty nasty beings looking for it. In particular, there are two despotic warlords called Thanos and Ronan.
Along the way, Quill will become entangled with the most rag tag bunch of cretins, murderers, warriors and, well, weirdoes, that you can imagine.
Review:
I didn’t really like GotG on first watch. Well… ok, I liked it, but didn’t think it was worth the hype. Sedai on here has said the same.
However, my curiosity was sparked and a couple more goes at it has seen me loving this movie.
It starts out pretty sombre with Quill seeing his Mother die.
Then there’s a leap in time and we’re thrown into the world of adult Quill. And what an introduction we’re given, and what a world it is too.
This film is one of the funniest and well pieced together adaptions of a comic book I’ve seen.
There’s an air of untold, hinted history and mysterious backstory going on too. Some of Quill’s history as well and a few future surprises in store that are hinted at.
It’s not the sort of sloppy, bog-standard writing usually found where there are slaps in the face with explanatory dialogue. This film keeps things held back and allows the script, plot and screenplay to unfold over a period of time.
The other thing is that if you’re not in on the comics, like myself, the movie is still so well put together that you can watch it and know exactly what’s going on. Even among the twists and turns that take place.
It’s great to see a film that does this these days, especially a comic book film.
The humour is also bang on. There’s a mix of slapstick and choreography that add fun to the scenes and some of the dialogue, especially between our titular Heroes during some of the action, that had me laughing out loud.
Pedantic, cutting, witty, insulting humour that is recognisable within modern standards of comedy.
There are also a handful of scenes that are touching too. A couple of them serve as exposition in the story as well, which is another good piece of writing.
The bad points, in terms of the comic to film transition… I’ve never, ever read the books, so I guess my liking of the movie is down to not really being an original fan boy. I have however seen a few comments from the comics’s’s fans about how they didn’t like certain changes.
The filmmakers have changed a few of the characters from what I’ve read up on. Including the way some of them physically look. Drax for instance was originally green-skinned in the comics, but in the film, he’s like a reddish rusty colour so he doesn’t look like Hulk.
That sort of thing.
-
The acting is also top notch.
Chris Pratt as Quill starts the film as he means to go on. Funny, charismatic, holds the action well and has some great one-liners that he delivers with such a deadpan and also original style, makes him a Hero love really love. Pratt has proven he’s a worthy leading man with this role.
Zoe Saldana plays Gamora, our “Warrior” Guardian. She’s kind of a dual role in this and she’s very, very slinky and sexy. There’s also some scenes of peril for her, particularly when they end up in jail and Saldana holds it all together really well.
Dave Bautista as Drax is second only to Pratt. Bautista, is exceptional. He started out as a Wrestler and Mixed Martial Artist in real life. But wow… his charisma and chemistry with everyone around him is second to none. He pretty much steals any scene he’s in too. By far one of the best turns I’ve seen from a guy who isn’t really an actor. He’s also immensely funny at times and even has an air of emotion about him as well whenever he talks about his (Drax’s) wife and daughter.
Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon is also on form. Cutting with his humour and dialogue and seems to be the genuine brains of the group. Cooper’s voice is also unrecognisable at times. He doesn’t sound like Cooper.
Vin Diesel plays motion capture and voice for Groot. Groot seems to be the most memorable of the characters yet I can’t help but notice it’s really the animators and the editing that made him so good. All Vin has done really is move about a bit and say “I am Groot”. He’s still a ton of fun though and by far the ugliest, yet cutest character in the group.
The post credits scene for Groot though is really funny though.
Lee Pace adds some villainy for the proceedings, and he’s like a mixed villain really. He’s pretty darned threatening when he wants to be and then suddenly throws in a funny performance, almost like an inept villain at times too. Pace is brilliant.
Michael Rooker (in another of those rewritten roles), Djimon Hounsou, John C Reilly (brilliantly underplayed), Glenn Close and Benicio Del Toro (fantastically evil) add some back up as various supporting characters.
-
The action, choreography and effects really tie this film together.
Highly charged action on more than several occasions and the choreography, mixed with the slapstick elements and funny dialogue make GotG stand out from other comic incarnations.
The CGI is also tip top.
There’s a highly stylised look the the film that crosses comic-looking with some cartoony elements and other hits of realistic looking effects. The whole effects side of things are rendered exceptionally well.
Add to that a banging 70s and 80s soundtrack with a Heroic original score, this film is top trumps within its genre.
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All in all, one of the best adaptions I’ve seen. There’s a couple of little hints of experimentation that almost didn’t work and some fans of the comics might not like the handful of changes, but overall it’s a brilliant comic book adaption.
Very funny, tragic at times, great action and set pieces, top story and writing.
This film is an absolute beauty.
My Rating: 98%
