'Guardians of the Galaxy' is the newest Marvel movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time we're not following the adventures of Captain America or Thor or the Avengers, no... this time we're sent to the cosmic side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as seen briefly in 'The Avengers' and 'Thor: The Dark World'), and focusing on these ragtag bunch of aliens. In the movie, we follow Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket as they try their best not to kill each other and form a team, so that they can protect the galaxy.
I love myself some ensemble films. I love seeing a big cast of characters play off one another's personalities, the different character interactions, etc. I'm glad to say that is one of the film's strengths. James Gunn takes the director's chair, and is able to give us this entertaining ensemble film with a lot of heart.
The cast takes center spotlight in this one, and they're all incredible in their respective roles. Chris Pratt does a great job as Star-Lord, really making the role his own. He brought his loveable charisma and charm to the role, that it's hard to not like the guy. Zoe Saldana plays a green alien this time around, and she doesn't hold back, as she gives us a very strong performance as Gamora. Dave Bautista makes his debut into big blockbuster movies in this film where he plays Drax the Destroyer. Unexpectedly, I thought he nailed his performance, as he brought physical presence and even more surprisingly, some sense of humor to Drax. I also have to give huge praise to Vin Diesel for his performance as Groot. His completely CG character only say three words. THAT limited Diesel to only his voice to send across emotion, and he completely delivered. Groot is hands down my favorite character of the film. Now, we get on to the soon-to-be star of the group, Rocket. Bradley Cooper was great as Rocket, he delivered a very maniacal and crazy performance, yet it was also very touching.
However, what the actors did individually pales in comparison to what they did as an ensemble. The characters played off of each other perfectly. The comedy was well timed and very true to the characters themselves.
If you went in to this movie expecting a Marvel movie, that is what you'll get. The movie is extremely fun, but it is also very emotional as well. James Gunn really does nail the "extremely fun, bordering silly" kind of tone, and the screenplay written by he and Nicole Perlman really hits the right emotional beats perfectly. The action and the visuals are incredible. The action was exciting, shot beautifully, some fight scenes were character driven, and above all else, it was entertaining. The movie looked gorgeous. A lot of set designs looked fantastic, and some shots of space... uhm, wow.
If I had to name a few weak points of the film, I'd say it was the villains. The villains were pretty weak in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, Lee Pace does an incredible job as the main antagonist Ronan the Accuser, it's just I found his character to be a little weak and forgettable. You don't really get his character's motivation. He just felt like another power hungry villain, and that kind of disappointed me. Karen Gillan's character Nebula, on the other hand, could've been a great villain, had her character not taken the back seat to give way to Ronan. No spoilers, but Nebula has a very interesting and compelling backstory that would've made for a great villain.
However, that doesn't take away from how genuinely fun and emotional the movie is and how great of an experience it was to watch it. 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is a fun, entertaining, hilarious, emotional, and a character driven summer blockbuster. Everything there is to love about Marvel and James Gunn is all in here, and all you need to do is strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.
