Guardians of the Galaxy
How does Marvel Studios handle a fan favorite yet sidelined group of Galactic Superheroes? They do it with style of course! For the uninitiated and ardent fans this movie will hold its charm. The introductions of the cast and characters, the brief histories, and the unrelenting action interspersed with comic relief is classic Marvel to the core.
The first half of the movie is well spent detailing the background of our Stellar Band of Heroes as well as the Villains. Short dialogs instantaneously give the viewers a sense of what the base character represents and the who and the why is developed as the movie progresses. At first it all appears to be chaotic with multiple shifts between characters and locales but, true to the style of Marvel Studios, it all comes together beautifully in the end. Most loose ends pertaining to this particular film are left for the sequel, and other bigger threads have been opened by GotG alone, thereby setting up the culmination of Marvel Phase 2 nicely.
As we have come to expect from Marvel Studios the special effects are breathtaking, and the people over at Marvel have outdone themselves this time. Depiction of intergalactic and sub-galactic outer space is refreshingly familiar to anyone who has read Marvel comics, and those who haven't will be blown away all the more. Their previous movies have been mostly concerned with Humans and the rare Alien (Avengers), and to go full scale outer space and showing so many extra-terrestrial species with none of them the same is a spectacular treat for us viewers.
All the characters lived up to their roles. We could have had a slightly better Star-Lord than the cool-hipster-American-dude-in-an-old-western-outfit guy we have here, but the rest of the GotG make up more than enough. Rocket Raccoon is the best of them all with his characteristic tongue-in-cheek humor and snappish words, Groot stands tall and mighty, Drax comes to many realizations over the course of the movie, ending up a more heroic version of himself, and Gamora is the obligatory femme fatale. Curiously she kept reminding me of She-Hulk and if she was in that role in a different movie, I think she would pull that off pretty well too. Thanos makes a brief appearance with the grand plans of Marvel Studios saving him for Infinity Gauntlet based story. The rest of the not so well known villains do their part in helping our rag-tag team of mercenaries and bounty hunters and the good at heart to finally come together to their full potential as a super powered team of heroes. The Collector re-appears in the main movie rather than in the post-credits and that seems to be the only area where the director seems to have somewhat wasted a character of epic proportions. I am pretty sure that The Collector and his personal helpers' stories will be told in later movies, so no harm done there. In fact it creates an anticipation with so many juicy tidbits being dangled in front of the discerning viewer.
The character of Yondu is very well written with the full lore of the man displayed on screen. There is nothing more and nothing less with him. That cannot be said of Nebula and Ronan. While Gamora's history was briefly explained and it is sufficient for this standalone movie, Nebula was left high and dry with no special flashbacks or dialog. Ronan the Accuser playing true to the original character was left stunningly stark. There is history, a lot of it, with Ronan and only the basics were touched upon in GotG. What wouldn't the fans give for a new Fantastic Four movie with their confrontation with Ronan at the core? Wishful thinking.
So, who should watch this movie? Everyone. Kids will enjoy it, summer blockbuster watchers will like it, Marvel Comics and movie fans will love it. As a Guardians of the Galaxy movie it does very well on it's own, and the best part is that it ties into the grand plans of Marvel Phase 2. Does it live up to the hype? Oh, absolutely!
My Rating: 8/10
PS: Stick around for the post-credits scene.
