Hello readers, sorry I haven't done anything in the past month, for life
has been getting in the way of this blog a little more than I expected. But I'm
back and ready to talk about movies again!
I finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy after being in theatres for two weeks (life getting in the way again), and I must say: THIS YEAR IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!
Yes, I know I said that before in my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes review, but my god! 2014 has produced some awesome stuff and Guardians of the Galaxy is right up there with some of the best movies of this year. So let's talk about this thing...
This is an adaptation of a rarely talked about group of Marvel space renegades. People who don't know the GotG are introduced to Star Lord (played by Non-Lego Emmett), Gamora (played by the Gorn Uhura), Drax (played by Batista), Groot (played by the Iron Giant), and Rocket (a Hungover raccoon who's Limitless when it comes to how awesome he is... Yes I know those puns aren't funny, but who fucking cares?). Together they must stop Villain Von Baddie from using an orb that can wipe out entire planets, yet can be absorbed by three humanoids, a talking tree and a piece of vermin... Ok...
We start out with a young Peter Quill who's at his mother's death bed. After a very emotional scene in which Peter's mom gives him a present just before she flatlined, Peter freaks out and runs out of the hospital... Where gets abducted by a UFO of some sort.
Jump to 2 decades (give or take a few years) later, we see a now adult Quill trying to capture a mysterious orb, in a scene that pays homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark. After a pretty badass battle with some space cops, he manages to get away with this orb. We then learn that his boss Merle Dixon originally wanted the orb, and Dixon places a bounty on Quill's head so large that every bounty hunter in the galaxy is looking for him. Von Baddie sends genetically engineered assassin Gamora after him, while Rocket and Groot go after him as well. All three manage to track him down at the same time on planet Xandar. After another cool fight scene involving all of them, they're all arrested and taken to a huge space prison... There, they meet Drax... And now we have our movie!
I finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy after being in theatres for two weeks (life getting in the way again), and I must say: THIS YEAR IS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!
Yes, I know I said that before in my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes review, but my god! 2014 has produced some awesome stuff and Guardians of the Galaxy is right up there with some of the best movies of this year. So let's talk about this thing...
This is an adaptation of a rarely talked about group of Marvel space renegades. People who don't know the GotG are introduced to Star Lord (played by Non-Lego Emmett), Gamora (played by the Gorn Uhura), Drax (played by Batista), Groot (played by the Iron Giant), and Rocket (a Hungover raccoon who's Limitless when it comes to how awesome he is... Yes I know those puns aren't funny, but who fucking cares?). Together they must stop Villain Von Baddie from using an orb that can wipe out entire planets, yet can be absorbed by three humanoids, a talking tree and a piece of vermin... Ok...
We start out with a young Peter Quill who's at his mother's death bed. After a very emotional scene in which Peter's mom gives him a present just before she flatlined, Peter freaks out and runs out of the hospital... Where gets abducted by a UFO of some sort.
Jump to 2 decades (give or take a few years) later, we see a now adult Quill trying to capture a mysterious orb, in a scene that pays homage to Raiders of the Lost Ark. After a pretty badass battle with some space cops, he manages to get away with this orb. We then learn that his boss Merle Dixon originally wanted the orb, and Dixon places a bounty on Quill's head so large that every bounty hunter in the galaxy is looking for him. Von Baddie sends genetically engineered assassin Gamora after him, while Rocket and Groot go after him as well. All three manage to track him down at the same time on planet Xandar. After another cool fight scene involving all of them, they're all arrested and taken to a huge space prison... There, they meet Drax... And now we have our movie!
That’s all the spoilers I’ll give, so what did I like about this movie? Well
first of all, I liked the fact that the tone of the movie was a throwback to
many 80’s action-adventures. The movie pays homage to Star Wars, Back to the
Future, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Masters of the Universe, and to a lesser
extent, Howard the Duck. The nods to Star Wars are the least subtle, with
Rocket and Groot being very reminiscent of Han Solo and Chewbacca in terms of
friendship and character traits, not to mention Yondu going all Jabba the Hutt
and put a massive bounty on Star Lord’s head. The main villain Ronan nearly
reminded me of Skeletor, and did I mention how the opening scene was kinda like
the one in Raiders? All of these throwbacks, not to mention a soundtrack full
of retro-hits being played on cassettes, really made me feel like I was
watching an 80’s action-adventure movie with modern special effects. So that’s
one thing I liked.
I also liked how the movie played on the joke that no one knows who the Guardians
of the Galaxy are, it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s quite the
knee slapper.
The story itself is solid and satisfying, with the main focus being on how this team comes together. By the end of the movie, you really see how well they've bonded, and all you want to do is watch them work together more! It may get clichéd at times, but it really shouldn't hurt the movie, unless you're a nitpicker.
The acting is great in the movie, with an exception that I'll get to later. Chris Pratt pulls in another great performance this year as Star Lord, Zoe Saldana does great as the ass kicker Gamora. But the stand out performances are the voice actors, with Vin Diesel conveying many different emotions just by saying "I am Groot" throughout the whole movie. Bradley Cooper just does fucking fantastic as the voice of Rocket. Who knew that the guy from The Hangover could have the acting chops to make us take a talking Raccoon seriously? Awesome performance!
The story itself is solid and satisfying, with the main focus being on how this team comes together. By the end of the movie, you really see how well they've bonded, and all you want to do is watch them work together more! It may get clichéd at times, but it really shouldn't hurt the movie, unless you're a nitpicker.
The acting is great in the movie, with an exception that I'll get to later. Chris Pratt pulls in another great performance this year as Star Lord, Zoe Saldana does great as the ass kicker Gamora. But the stand out performances are the voice actors, with Vin Diesel conveying many different emotions just by saying "I am Groot" throughout the whole movie. Bradley Cooper just does fucking fantastic as the voice of Rocket. Who knew that the guy from The Hangover could have the acting chops to make us take a talking Raccoon seriously? Awesome performance!
The protagonists themselves were great, even though some were more
fleshed out than others. Quill’s character was the most developed of all as the
movie focused on him throughout, and by the end of the movie, you really start
to feel for him, especially when he opens his mother’s gift. Gamora is an
absolute badass in this movie, then again you probably expected that, since she
was molded that way. Drax does a fine job being muscle of the group, and Groot
is terrific as the loveable yet dangerous talking tree. But the show stealer is
Rocket without a doubt, like I’ve mentioned before, he’s the Guardians
equivalent of Han Solo. He’s constantly kicking ass, and when he’s not, he’s
being ill-tempered and wisecracking. I won’t give away too much, but he’s
definitely the film’s strongest point.
Now with all of that said, you’re probably asking “Does this movie have
problems?” Well, the answer is yes… so let’s dive into that.
While the characters that make up this Guardians team are pretty damn
cool, a few of the members aren’t as developed as would’ve liked them to be. We
know that Drax’s family was killed by Ronan and he’s out for blood, but that
about it, it’s too bad this movie could’ve opened up a whole new window of
emotional depth if it dove deeper into Drax’s backstory, but unfortunately it
didn’t. We get to know Rocket and Groot only on the surface, but not much else,
we just know that Rocket is a bounty hunter who hates being called vermin and
that Groot is his muscle. So yeah, it’s too bad these characters didn’t get
fleshed out more. But I can slightly forgive the movie for that because we’ll
likely get to know them more when the sequel arrives.
My other problem is that the main villain, Ronan, is pretty weak, kind of
like Nero in the first JJ Trek movie. He’s there for the sake of our Guardians
having someone to go up against, and that’s pretty much it. He’s that
conventional, “I want to take over the world” type of bad guy. But with that
being said, it can be forgiven since the focus of the movie is on how Guardians
come to be, not how diabolical they’re villain is.
I also wasn’t a big fan of Dave Bautista’s performance. However, with
what I’ve seen from other wrestlers-turned-actors, it could’ve been much worse.
All in all, Guardians of the Galaxy is a fun thrill ride that will make
80’s kids feel like they’re… well… kids again! And It’ll make 90’s and 00’s
kids go “what the fuck is Star Lord using to play music?” Is it the best movie
I’ve seen this year? No. Is it the best Marvel movie I’ve seen this year? No
(Captain America 2 wins that one). But it’s still an awesome summer movie and
it will go down as one of the high points of an absolutely legendary year in
movies!
I’m giving this movie 92 ooka chakas out of 100. Love it!
As usual, feel free to troll my fat ass in the comments below…
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