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| Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) |
Like I said earlier, this really feels like the most unique MCU movie up to this point. The fact that it's almost entirely set off Earth not only helps the movie strike a unique visual style, but it also helps to flesh out the world of the MCU a lot more. We know aliens exist now. We've seen the Thors and the Avengers, but this is the first film that really explores what life off Earth is like, and I really like seeing it. Granted, you only really see it as it pertains to our main characters, but what we see is really fun to watch. I've heard this movie described as 'Star Wars meets Star Trek', and based on my limited knowledge of either series, I can't say that's inaccurate. The film doesn't jump around so much that the movie feels cluttered or unbalanced in any way, but it's enough that we get to see a lot of the galaxy and how it essentially operates. The film also just looks amazing in general. Gamora and Drax look great, Groot and Rocket feel real in pretty much every scene, and space looks absolutely gorgeous. This is certainly the best looking MCU film so far, though that's probably just for its variety. You also can't talk about this movie without mentioning its soundtrack. I've mentioned in the past that I'm not the biggest music guy, but a lot of these tracks really won me over. They picked the right song for every spot they used it in the movie, and Hooked On a Feelin' is basically the anthem of the Guardians. The original score is also great, and I love how the main Guardians' theme is almost purposefully Avengers-lite, as this really is the Avengers of Space. Whenever that theme kicks in, a big smile stretches across my face. It's just great.
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| Dave Bautista as Drax, Zoe Saldana as Gamora and Chris Pratt as Peter Quill |
The humour in this film is really great. Rarely does a joke not land, and when a joke lands, it really lands. The film somehow manages to find a good balance between general MCU humour and its own unique style, which would help later when combining the world of Guardians with the rest of the MCU. Rocket and Drax are comedic highlights for me, but all of the Guardians have ample time to make me laugh. The 'standing in a circle' scene is pretty consistent in that pretty much every joke in that scene hits bullseyes, but they also do a good job of balancing the comedy with the action. When the action scenes hit, they're really engaging and exciting, which is especially impressive considering the majority of the characters in this really have no 'superpowers' in the traditional sense. Groot is always great to watch in action, and just giving a raccoon a big-ass gun was always going to win me over, but much like the comedy, every Guardian gets a lot of time to prove why they belong on this team. I wish we got more Nebula in this movie, though, as, even outside of what we know they'd do with her character in future movies, I always wanted to see more of what she could do. What I saw of Nebula really intrigued me, and I wanted to see her in action a lot more than we did. Maybe it's just because I'm a Doctor Who fan and I love seen Karen Gillan get work after she stopped being Amy Pond.
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| Karen Gillan as Nebula |
Speaking of the cast, an ensemble movie like this had better find the perfect actors to bounce off each other, and this cast is outstanding. All the chemistry between all the members of the team is perfect, and they all do a great job on their own as well. Remember back in the dark ages of merely five years ago when no one was sure if Chris Pratt could carry a movie? Boy, does that seem like an eternity ago. Pratt was the only ever pick for Peter Quill, and he nails the humourous moments, but what really impressed me about him was when the emotional moments kicked in, since he nailed those too. Zoe Saldana was impressive as Gamora, and I love how they handle her character in the first half of the movie. All the hate she's getting because she used to work for Thanos, I always wanted that idea expanded on in the second half of the film. We eventually get it in Infinity War, and a little in Guardians 2, and I feel it would have made the back half of this movie feel a bit too cluttered, so I'm not upset it's dropped for other things, but still. Dave Bautista is also perfectly cast for Drax. I honestly feel like no one else could have brought Drax to life how Bautista did. He crushed it in the more serious moments, when the character had to be darker and more brooding, but he also delivered the comedic moments flawlessly as well. Rocket is one of the best characters in the entire MCU. Like I said, simply making a raccoon this much of a trash talker basically sells itself, but throw in Bradley Cooper and you have perfection right there. I also love the hints we get at Rocket's tortured past, and what little we get of it here is really enough to keep Rocket interesting and likeable during his more d***-ish moments. Also, I just love that we got to a point in the MCU where they could cast someone like Vin Diesel only to have him say 3 words. It works, though. Groot is awesome.
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| Bradley Cooper as Rocket and Vin Diesel as Groot |
As much as I've gushed about how all these characters were practically perfect in every way, the one thing that really lets this movie down is its villain. Ronan was honestly really boring here. I get that he's not the focus, and I'd rather the focus be given to the Guardians to flesh them out, but I honestly think Ronan is the weakest MCU villain we've ever had. His motivations are just so one-note, and when you boil down to it, his character is basically just a Xandar-racist. That kind of character can be interesting, but we learn next to nothing about him in the entire movie. Even now, I've seen it 2 or 3 times, and I can't remember a single line of dialogue he has. Whenever he's on screen, the pace comes to a grinding halt, and it is a problem since the rest of the movie is so quick. His powers and attributes are also poorly defined, so I don't really know what he can do that made him the high-ranking character that he is in this movie. The other thing I'll say about this movie is that it is somewhat predictable. That's not to say that every other MCU film kept you guessing, but here you essentially know what's going to happen: the Guardians will meet up, they'll be at odds, but they'll come together to defeat the evil guy. I think a part of that is that Ronan is so generic that he doesn't do anything to twist the plot in any big direction, like a lot of the other MCU villains do. I don't need every movie to surprise me with the direction it's heading, and I was sufficiently entertained throughout, so it's not that big a deal, but it is worth mentioning.
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| Lee Pace as Ronan |
So, is Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) the best MCU film? No, but it's certainly up there, and I can definitely see how this gained its status it achieved at the time. There were better things that came before it, and even better things to come, but this remains a fantastic introduction to Marvel's biggest underdogs. 9/10.
Next, it's Avengers: Age of Ultron.
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