Marvel Studio’s second film of the year is out now, and after Captain America: Winter Soldier it has a lot to live up to.  Guardians of the Galaxy is without a doubt the riskiest move that the MCU has pulled so far, and it is receiving a lot of praise, but was the risk worth it, and does it fulfill the hype?

As always, spoilers after the break.Story and Characters

The film’s opening introduces us to Peter Quill/Starlord (Chris Pratt) in the highly emotional moments that lead up to his abduction from Earth, and show him again as an adult in arguably one of Marvel’s best and most hilarious opening sequences (also one of its most heartbreaking,)  Quill is tasked with recovering an orb from an abandoned planet and pawning it off to a client, an orb that just happens to be desired by every major player of the film for reasons that touch heavily upon the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  
While Quill chases the orb in search of profit, the film’s antagonist, Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) intends to acquire it to fulfill a bargain with the big bad of the MCU, Thanos.  Ronan intends to trade the orb and its contents for the complete destruction of Xandar, the home of the Nova Corps, and uses Thanos’s daughters Nebula (Karen Gilian) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to acquire it.  
Through a brief series of interactions and conflicts, Quill and Gamora are captured and imprisoned, alongside Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel), as well as Drax (Dave Bautista), and are forced to work together to escape, and eventually to stand against Ronan in defense of Xandar and the rest of the galaxy.

Despite having a fairly sizable main cast, every character sees an admirable amount of screen time, and each one feels fleshed out despite the film’s 2.5 hour run time.  Quill is quickly defined as a fast talking, manipulative, charismatic thief (great heroic leader material), but is allowed, and left plenty of room in which to grow and adapt throughout the movie.  Gamora’s motives are slow to be fully revealed, and she benefits from it, in a manner not dissimilar from Black Widow in other Marvel films.  Meanwhile, Drax and Rocket both deal with their anger and lots in life in manners that are understandable, and played amusingly.  All while Groot remains rooted and hilarious in the back and foreground.  The characters work very well off of each other, and every one balances humor, with some rather traumatic and oftentimes dark pasts.

Unfortunately, the villains are not as strong in this one.  While Ronan is fairly well established as a fanatic outside of the law or scope of his own people, his motivations are fairly flat, primarily being revenge for his forefathers.  There is little to no sympathy for Ronan, and there really shouldn’t be, as he is built up and portrayed as a sociopathic megalomaniac.  Nebula, sadly, suffers from much of the same issues, although there are better established relationships and motives in her character, primarily in the relationships and feelings she bears towards Gamora, and their father Thanos (Also, Thanos looks and sounds awesomely intimidating, I cannot wait to see him do stuff down the road).  Side characters/villains like The Collector do add to the storyline, but only just so.  All in all, the villains are not great.  They’re not poorly written, or portrayed, they’re just not the forefront of the action, and they don’t need to be.  There’s enough drama among the Guardians as there is.

Music and Sound

As Peter Quill was abducted by the alien bandit group The Ravagers in the late 80s the movie is peppered with pop songs of the late 70s and early 80s, as well as some orchestrated pieces that complement their scenes wonderfully.  The placement and working of the songs are brilliant and do nothing to distract from the visuals of the movie, even though some of the songs seem to clash with the events they are played in, i.e. Stuck on a Feeling while being processed at the Kyln prison.

Though the bulk of the cast is live, the voicework that is present is played very well, particularly with Groot, and to a slightly lesser extent Rocket.  I did not think it possible to get such a range of emphasis and emotion out of an “I am Groot”, nor did the voice of Rocket feel off.  Bradley Cooper does a fine job of voicing the talking vermin, and making him sound as sentimental as he is made to look.

Presentation

This movie is gorgeous, in the grand scale, and in the detailing.  Because 99% of the movie takes place in space, and much of the cast is some form of hominid alien there are many many many different races and species portrayed, some familar and some decidedly less so.  This is perhaps most apparent among the Ravagers, where some fantastic practical makeup comes into play to portray many different, but familiar looking species and races.  Outside of the Ravagers, the same techniques come in across Xandar, the Nowhere, and the entire film.
Though less prevalent than hominid designs, the creature designs are also done very well, in concept and motion, and they feel organic to their settings because of it.

Speaking of settings, yes please.  Alien worlds look and feel alien (just watch the opening) and urban areas feel urban, albeit different and foreign from those we may be accustomed to, and for obvious reasons.  At once the movie portrays locales as being different from those one might find on Earth, but also being recognizable enough and complete enough to work as they are intended, and to have a lot of depth.  From the streets of Xandar, to the back alleys of Nowhere, things feel different and familiar, and many times there is plenty of stuff in the background to keep one busy, even upon multiple viewings.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look in the Collector’s rooms and try to find every last easter egg from a Chitauri, to Beta Ray Bill.

Colors are vibrant and play well with their environment, and the objects within them.  This is especially apparent in the skies of Xandar in the film’s climax that feels like Star Wars done right several times over.  Though the cinematography is nothing special or great, it never feels out of place, and does nothing to hurt the characters or storyline, and even has some great shots.  Pacing is also done very well, and kept a movie that was more than 2 hours long from dragging at all.  I wanted more.

Verdict

Guardians is definitely Marvel’s biggest risk so far, and it pays off in spades.  These are not characters that have been done to death, they’re fresh and new, comparatively, and they work wonderfully together.  Unlike certain other comic company movies, Guardians is not afraid to play around with its characters, or to use characters that no one has heard of before.  Its source material is recent instead of stemming from decades past (this group first met up under the name Guardians of the Galaxy in ‘08).  It has a female lead that has depth and build up, that has motivations, and will literally cut someone’s balls off if they start to hit on her.

It’s not a traditional hero film, or even a traditional Marvel film.  It’s a film that took huge risks with unknown characters and made them work well.  It’s a film that was at once serious and campy, that didn’t rely on great villains to carry it because everyone already knew its heroes’ stories 20 times over.

It was a big risk, and it has had a huge payoff.  I can’t wait to see more.

Suck it DC.

9.4/10

As always, if you liked the review then feel free to suggest the next movie/series/game to be looked at.