Guardians of the Galaxy SPOILER review

Well, I'm guessing everyone saw 'Guardians of the Galaxy' by now, so here's a SPOILER FILLED review of it. If you want a spoiler-free review, go click the link in the sidebar for my spoiler-free review.

In my previous 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movie review, I wrote about how funny and energetic the movie is. The movie really is funny and energetic, but I bet you guys didn't expect how dark the comedy would get. Yeah, I never thought I'd see a raccoon and an alien get into a drunken bar fight in a movie (much less a Marvel movie), but it happened. That aforementioned raccoon even started insulting another character at one point after that character talked about his family dying. Yes, the movie has some dark comedy, it's characters are a bunch of tough guys and girls, but the movie and its characters also have a very soft spot deep within them.

There are some scenes that really stuck with me, probably because they were really strong emotional scenes, something I didn't expect going in. Rocket's drunk rant about himself and Drax's realization that all his anger and rage will only affect the people around him were nice touches to show that the characters have more depth to it. Yes, in the overall scheme of things those two very deep moments (moments that could be misread as dark comedic moments) were 'nice touches'.

I'll get to the scenes that really impacted me later, but for now I got to tell you that I believe this "rough exterior complimented by the very emotional interior" personality is inherited from the film's director James Gunn. Gunn is no stranger to dark comedy, having directed the films 'Slither' and 'Super', prior to this, and while I was watching some of his press interviews for the film, I really got the sense that this was a guy that had a genuine passion and love for what he was putting in this movie. 

You also really feel James Gunn's stamp on this film with the 70s music he added to the film, which brings me to, what is in my opinion, the third most emotional moment of the film - when Star-Lord reads the letter from his mom. The narration by his mom was a nice close to his arc in the film, and it was a touching moment at best, but it's when he opens Awesome Mix Vol. 2 and plays Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Valerie Simpson and Nickolas Ashford. 

That song simply propelled that scene into a whole new other level (tears were almost shed), and that's really the best (out of a lot of very great) examples to why the music played a part in the story telling of the film. A lot of people may not know it, but the soundtrack really helped move most of the scenes along.

Now we have Groot. As I said in my earlier review, Groot was my favorite character in the movie. Why? There is just something about Groot that simply captures a universe of imagination. There's just something beautiful about this simple creature who can only say three words (I, Am, and Groot, exclusively in that order). My fourth favorite scene in the movie is when Groot walks up to a little homeless alien and gives her a flower. It was magnificent. It captured the personality of the creature perfectly. My second favorite scene (another Groot one, surprise surprise) is the part where the Dark Aster is plummeting from the skies of Xandar, and the Guardians of the Galaxy are going to be killed, and Groot turns himself into a giant cocoon around them to protect them. Rocket asks why is he doing that, and Groot says "We. Are. Groot." I absolutely loved that. You know the saying "One picture can tell a thousand words"? Well, Groot is basically three words that paint an extraordinarily beautiful picture. 

Now, that scene flowed well into my favorite scene of the movie - when the Guardians of the Galaxy came together. When Peter Quill took the Infinity stone of the Orb, and nearly died, but he took the hand of Gamora, Drax, and Rocket. The thematic build up to the scene was spot on, and when Peter takes the hand of his mom (metaphorically) hit me in all the right places. This is the scene that cemented that these Guardians of the Galaxy aren't just another superhero team that has characters that need to get a long, they're a family, a family who have personality clashes here and there, a family who may not be perfect (or even all that good) individuals, but a family that loves each other nonetheless.

Yup. 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is actually my favorite movie of the year now. Surprising, I know. 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is just ripe with beautiful and imaginative colors, character-driven action, GREAT characters, and James Gunn's directing, man. Rating? Man, there ain't no mountain high enough.