Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): Review

When going into watch Guardians of the Galaxy I was expecting a fun, campy, big budget blockbuster movie and I am very happy to say that I wasn't disappointed.  Going in I was trying not to get my hopes up and this movie ended up meeting and exceeding what I hoped it would be.  It was fun, entertaining, with explosions, and kept me interested and didn't seem to lag anywhere.  I think that everyone should go see it so that I get a second installment because that is what I wanted when I left the movie theater, more.

Guardians of the Galaxy is the new Marvel Comics movie and it is different from the Avengers Movies as it takes a more fun, campy approach to the movie.  The Averages movies has some comedy and fun to it but all of them have a serious mien to them, Guardians, at least to me, was more focused around the fun and with a the ensemble of characters made it more difficult to have a truly serious movie. Plus it is set in space which just makes it more fun and brings out the childish glee in me.  Guardians is based around an ensemble of five characters.  First there is Peter Quill AKA Starlord, played by Chris Pratt, who is a boy born on earth but raised in space by Ravagers (space pirates); Gamora, played by Zoe Saladana, the adoptive daughter of Thanos who has a change of hart when she is assigned to help destroy the galaxy but instead teams up with the Guardians; Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, an genetically altered raccoon who is drawn into the plot by wanting money and  being a total badass; Grout, voiced by Vin Disel, a tree humanoid who has a heart of gold but fiercely protects those that he cares about, he also has serves as muscle for Rocket; and Drax, played by Dave Bautista, a man who doesn't get metaphors and is set on revenge against Ronan (the main villain of the movie) for killing his family.

  These five get together to try and save the Galaxy from Ronan, played by Lee Pace who is set on reeking havoc in the Galaxy. Can these five work together to save the Galaxy from destruction without turning on each other and overcome the obstacles that they face?

Like I said I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and am looking forward to seeing it again. I will not be surprised if it becomes one of the blockbuster movies that goes into my watching rotation when I want a fun big budget flick to watch.  It has explosions, banter between characters (which to me can make or break a movie and in this one the sometimes ridiculously stupid banter was fantastic), well balanced chemistry and interplay between characters, jokes and fun, and keeping the story going without spending too much time on any particular battle.  This movie had a really good pace and kept the story going but it did have a lot going on. 

 

It wasn't too complicated that it was hard to follow what was going on and wasn't that distracting but there were a lot of characters thrown in that if some where eliminated could have had more dedicated to them.  

The main negative for me in this movie is that I didn't really care for or think that the villains were scary.  Ronan felt like he was just their so that there could be the conflict that drew the Guardians together and keep them focused on the same mission while they bonded as a group. I think that if it focused more on Gamoras adopted sister Nebula, played by Karen Gilian, and built up the tension there and just the mysterious references to Ronan it would have been better or done the same thing with moving the plot forward without me thinking that the main villain of the movie was lame.

The CGI of the movie was well done, especially with Rocket and Group. I saw this movie in 3D and it mainly wasn't distracting, plus it did my favorite way to utilize 3D with things hovering in space and floating around.  I continue to think this is cool and like when it fits in organically with the movie and action sequences.

The action sequences where good and varied in tip, from hand to hand, to guns, to space ships and the pace kept movie so I never thought that they were extending a sequences just because they could.  They did do the thing that I will continue to complain about where there was really tight up fighting and jumping from clipped shot to shot.  I really just want the camera to back up and show what is going on.

Basically I really liked this movie and it was a lot of fun.  It is not a movie to be taken to seriously but to go in and just enjoy.  I liked the eighties references and the soundtrack had iconic songs to it.  It was the type of big budget campy fun that is enjoyable for the whole family.

My Rating: 3+

There is an extra scene at the very end of the credits (which run for about 8 min).  It is one that will be hit or miss for your enjoyment but seems to be there just for a fun reference.