Guardians of the Galaxy | Review

I recently re-watched Guardians of the Galaxy after receiving it for Christmas and fell in love with it and it’s characters all over again. From Marvel we have been brought the global blockbuster franchises such as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, and now this 2014 hit which has everything a epic fantasy film should, and more.

We start off with a young boy, Peter Quill. As a newly made orphan, he is alone in the world; until he is abducted by Ravagers. From there we fast forward 26 years, until the young boy transforms into a - still -boyish testosterone driven male, played humorously by Chris Pratt. 

Trained by the Ravagers who took him from his earth - we find him with a reputation as the self-proclaimed legendary outlaw 'Star-Lord', working for the pirate Yonda Utonda (leader of the Ravagers). During his time with them, he became disloyal, eventually planning to leave them in pursuit of his own selfish gains.

With this double cross in mind, Quill travels to Morag, where he poaches an orb- which was located by the ravagers. From there the main plot unravels, bringing in a variety of characters who are all hunting for the orb that he swiped or Peter himself. These characters include bounty hunters like the snarky racoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) the word-limited, lanky sapling. The assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is also a party with great interest for the orb, with motives of protection she seeks the orb to Quill in Xandar.

After a confrontational escapade in Nova Empire capital world, Xandar; the orb remains out of all their hands as they are arrested by Nova Corps. In prison they meet Drax The Destroyer, a burley alien who tries to kill Gamora for being related to Ronan; the killer of his family (and another searcher for the orb). After Quill prevents the cell slaughter, Gamora announces that she has betrayed Ronan and her family- in search of the orb to sell to a buyer, as she cannot trust Ronan with the power; he would use it to be all powerful and destroy planets, starting with Xandar.

With murder, betrayal, and greed as their common ground, the five inmates strike a temporary alliance to help each other reach their respective goals; but when the entire galaxy is put in danger, each outcast learns that sometimes, thieves, murderers, thugs and madman are the exact types needed to save the day. 

This film is definitely a world different from any previous marvel film, as it is features humour beyond the cheesy lines of the likes of The Avengers and X-Men (don’t get me wrong I love them). Upon visiting the cinema for the first time to watch the film ‘sceptical’ was the least of it, I was absolutely set on disliking it; I thought it would be gimicy and tacky. I was happily surprised with what the film actually turned out to be- hilarious.

The variety of characters bring everything needed to make an oddball group of memorable heroes. They each bring something different, with a different humour, backstory and looks (to name a few) Entertainment radiates off of them all in alternative ways, from the relatable Peter Quill, to the - alienated to pop culture - Drax, who is unable to grasp the idea of metaphors. 

The green-skinned Gamora appears to be a hard shelled warrior princess, daughter of Thanos, the slaughterer of many at first… however she is brought to life during a conversation with Quill about Footloose and Kevin Bacon, which is frankly hilarious; a scene that should stand the test of time in film culture. 
The only thing I question about the characters, is the need for the unnecessary shot of Pratt topless and steamy from the shower (still not complaining), although it feels as if parts like this are used to appeal to certain audience members and show off Chris Pratt's newly toned physique, which is frankly petty and unneeded.

After all, my favourite characters are the duo team of Groot and Rocket. Who would have thought a tree, speaking a total of 5 different words in the entire film could make you cry? Or that a racoon who reminds you of Joe Pesci would be so adorably acerbic. Together all of these characters work to create the perfect team, with the right intentions overall.

The main characters are well thought out and brilliant, however a character that didn't convince me was Ronan. I feel that marvel villains - except for Loki - never quite reach up to my expectations stemmed from DC films, for example Batman’s The Joker. Ronan was one of these underwhelming characters which was neither likeable or detestable. This is the same for Gamora’s sisters Nebula- who brought nothing to the story. Neither of the actors playing these parts did a bad job, in my opinion the script wasn't catered for them correctly, therefore they were unable to be the villains everybody loves to hate.

Overall the film’s visuals were breathtaking and exciting, James Gunn's script was hilarious in parts, but also emotionally heart wrenching and the soundtrack was pure genius. Even if the plot was parallel to 'The Avengers' (with the Tesseract replaced with an Orb), there is no doubt that Marvel struck a cinematic gold mine with this one, with many instalments (I’m sure) to come, I suspect we haven't seen the last of the 'Guardians of the Galaxy’. 

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