Let There Be Movies

Review by Elliott

Drax the Destroyer: [about Drax] Metaphors go over his head.
Drax the Destroyer: NOTHING goes over my head!… My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.
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Peter Quill: I come from Earth, a planet of outlaws. My name is Peter Quill. There’s one other name you may know me by. Star-Lord.

Until this movie was announced, I had never heard of Guardians of the Galaxy. I enjoy reading comics, but have only read a handful or so and GotG hasn’t been one of them. My first impressions after seeing the movie trailer was that this was going to be a less than serious scifi adventure. For starts there is a talking racoon and a humanoid tree. But that wasn’t about to scare me off. Marvel isn’t known for dark, serious films, they tend to be action packed with a good amount of lighthearted humor. Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t break that trend in fact it delivers the humor in spades.

I’m of the philosophy that movies are much better if you know as little about them as possible, before seeing them. Because of that I intentionally avoided looking up any information or history about GotG or that entire part of the Marvel Universe. So my review will be from the perspective of ignorance. Since I’m posting this the weekend of its release, this will be a spoiler free review. I’ll stay away from specifics and just give a brief overview of the plot and then my feelings overall.

Main Cast
Chris Pratt as Peter Quill (“Starlord” the legendary outlaw)
Vin Diesel as Groot(Marvels version of an Ent)
Bradley Cooper as Rocket (The one and only intelligent racoon)
Zoe Saldana as Gamora (Soldier, Assassin,and wanted for murder)
Dave Bautista as Drax (A maniac, looking for vengeance)

The story begins on a once inhabited planet. Peter Quill, the self proclaimed “Starlord”, discovers an ancient stone sphere. Little does he know, that Ronan, a powerful villain is bent on taking it and using it to threaten the entire universe particularly the planet Xander. Once he discovers the power contained within the sphere, Peter teams up with an unusual and “slightly” odd group of less than reputable characters. Rocket, Groot, Gamora and Drax join forces with Peter, to save the universe from Ronan. Along the way, they find purpose, friendship, trust, and a whole lot of trouble. Despite the trouble, they have a whole lot of fun along the way.

As with many superhero movies, it can be difficult to make much moral application. Often times the heroes are vigilantes, doing good, but doing so without regard to laws or authority. GotG doesn’t stray from this, all of the main characters are criminals to some degree and are driven by less than honorable motives. However as the movie progress, they begin to look beyond themselves and find new motivation. Vengeance and money are replaced by a desire to protect others, even at the potential cost of ones own life. As with almost all super hero flicks, sacrifice is a central moral theme.

A note to parents: This movie definitely earns its PG-13 rating. As you would expect there is lots of violence. There isn’t any sex, but there are more sexual innuendoes and more language and crude speech than a typical Marvel movie.

Conclusion
So first off, did I enjoy this movie? Yes, quite a bit. It’s not my favorite Marvel movie. Avengers still holds that title. However, it was still very good and had me laughing from start to finish. This isn’t your typical Marvel movie. 1. It’s based in space. 2. All the characters are brand new.
3. It is by far the least serious of the entire series. The first 5 min set the tone for the rest of the movie. You can tell right from the get go that this is going to be half humor and half action. I can see this not appealing to some, but I thought it was great. My only complaint is that it was a little more crude than the typical Marvel movie. With that said, most of the humor isn’t crude. Aside from that, it was everything I expected and more. A friend that I watched it with, said that they faithfully portrayed the tone and characters from the comics. The soundtrack is awesome and sets the tone perfectly, as well as fits in with the plot. The songs are classic 1970’s hits, like “Hooked on a feeling”. The way the soundtrack added to and was part of the story was unique and really cool. As expected the visuals are awesome and the cast does a great job with their characters. I particularly enjoyed Michael Rookers(Merle from the Walking Dead) character, Yondu and his whistle controlled arrow of death. Overall, this is an excellent addition to the series and by the end you’ll begin to see the bigger picture that Marvel is painting and see where the series is headed. There aren’t really any tie ins to the other movies aside from Thanos, who appears at the end of the credits in Avengers. So there isn’t any need to watch the other movies prior to watching this. If you’re wanting to see a movie this weekend, this is the movie to see. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Be sure to stay till the very end of the credits.

I give it 4.5 stars!