Jasonic's Favorites: Guardians of the Galaxy
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
Like with The Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy are not one specific character, but rather a group of characters, all of which I enjoy so I'm including them alongside the Avengers in this blog anyway -- that and both groups have some of my favorite MCU movies.
Released in 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the first unexpected hits of the MCU with its sci-fi B-movie tone, befitting Earthly soundtrack, memorable, likable characters, and overall talent involved. I, initially, wasn't hugely interested despite the film coming out on my birthday (August 1st), but I had seen an iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy group in the Marvel cartoon, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Prior to getting the film on Blu-ray the following year, I knew somewhat what I was getting from certain characters such as Star-Lord (Peter Quill), Rocket Raccoon, and Groot, a zany list of characters that sound and -- and in the case of Rocket and Groot, look -- ridiculous on paper, but despite their appearances, this film's direction manages to make them and their personalities the heart of this film. Despite the movie looking ridiculous at first glance, I soon gave it a chance and was completely in on its success with the following two movies and other Marvel projects featuring the team. A big reason for this first movie's critical and financial success was just that; despite each major character having a ridiculous aesthetic and/or personality traits, the movie manages to make them feel real and tangible for the audience in the midst of a more science fiction, galaxy-spanning romp of an adventure. Director James Gunn of live action Scooby-Doo fame was a huge reason behind why the film turned out the way it did with his direction aiding certain elements like the humanity of an over-the-top protagonist like Peter Quill and this influence would be felt throughout the whole eventual trilogy -- Gunn may have even had some say in how the group was portrayed in other Marvel projects as well. Despite the mixed to negative reception of James Gunn's Scooby-Doo, with a well-meaning director like him at the helm of this film and its eventual trilogy, it's a bit of a surprise that this MCU franchise would be so successful and that the man would eventually go on to helm and soon help fix the DC film universe in this day and age. With that said, I firmly believe that Gunn has created many misunderstood masterpieces such as his iteration of Scooby-Doo and the initial reaction to this movie's trailers may have warranted the same response, however, many -- myself included -- were proven wrong by its success. Even so, does the film warrant any real criticisms from critics and fans alike? To find out, let's break out our Walkmans, fire up our spaceships, and burst our way into the romp that is MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy!
*SPOILERS AHEAD* (though maybe you've seen this alongside most of the MCU at this point, in which case, read ahead)
The movie takes place in 2014 within Phase 2 of the MCU and does not directly follow any previous film -- the main connection being Thanos and his army from The Avengers. Here, we follow space thief named Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), who was abducted by the alien smuggling organization known as the Ravagers at an early age immediately following the death of his mother, Meredith Quill (Laura Haddock). In the present day, Star-Lord steals a sought after artifact called "the Orb" that the Kree Empire led by Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) are after for the sake of bringing it to their leader, the Mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin). When Peter refuses to turn it over to his Ravager leader, Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker), Yondu puts a bounty on Quill's head as he makes off with it to sell it on the planet, Xandar, capital of the Nova Empire. Meanwhile, Ronan sends one of Thanos's adopted daughters, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), to retrieve the Orb from Quill abd the two of them get into a scuffle before they are unexpectedly pursued and attacked by the bounty hunter pair of Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). All four of them are arrested by Nova Corps officers for disturbing the peace and brought to the Kyln where the numerous inmates wish death upon them -- especially Gamora for her ruthless murders. When the inmate, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), attempts to kill Gamora as part of his revenge quest against Ronan for killing his family, Quill manages to bargain a deal to have Gamora take them to Ronan and the group soon improvise a plan that allows them to escape the Kyln and sell the Orb to Gamora's seller on the planet Knowhere. Upon meeting the buyer, the Collector (Benecio del Toro), the group learns more about what's contained inside the Orb known as an "Infinity Stone"; with the Stones possessing the power to wipe out entire civilizations with ease as well as obliterate anyone who wields it or tries to contain its power, the group must attempt to keep the Stone away from Ronan lest he use it to wipe out Xandar -- or give it to Thanos. Although the group have their major disagreements and compulsive urges to kill one another along the way, circumstances soon force the group to cooperate to bring down Ronan and his army before he could potentially destroy planets around the galaxy.
On paper, the plot is very standard fare of a ragtag team of unique individuals learning to set aside their differences and work together to save the galaxy, but James Gunn's fresh characterization of this story and its characters is what makes it both unique and work to make the audience care. For one, the movie does start off with the sadness of Peter's mother's death when he's a child, but then almost immediately we are thrust into his adult life where he is lightheartedly happy dancing on the planet Morag, listening to his Walkman play "Come and Get Your Love" while kicking around and improvising a microphone with those random rat monsters. The use and purpose of Peter's Walkman and the songs it plays throughout are what keeps the movie and his character grounded in Earthly characterization despite being a total space opera type of film. On top of that, rather than simply have everyone share their sad backstories at the end of Act 2/beginning of Act 3 rally point, details of each characters' backstory are littered throughout the film giving enough time for the audience to be invested. This works wonders for a character like Rocket whose character looks and sounds ridiculous on paper, but hearing briefly about his experimentation in the scene where Nova Corps is "introducing" each convict then later showing us the cybernetics on his back followed by him lamenting what he is later on during a drunken outrage allows us to get a sense of what he is and what kind of person he chooses to be in spite of it. This way, we are not spoonfed everything about each character at once and given more time to become invested -- this also provides massive hints to Rocket's backstory, which is explored more in detail in Vol. 3 years later. With Star-Lord being the heart of this film and its subsequent trilogy and Rocket becoming the emotional core later on, it's no surprise that James Gunn also characterized Groot with little moments of being sweet to people like when he produces a flower to one of the kids off the street in Knowhere. This shows that while Groot can be very deadly against his enemies and those who harass his friends, he is 100% a softy and we can gather that even from the translations other characters give of his various "I am Groot" responses. For being a tree that only speaks 3 words -- 5 by the end when he says "We are Groot" -- they made him arguably and shockingly the best character in this franchise and perhaps one of the best in the entire MCU saga. Where Rocket and Groot especially could have come off as cartoon characters next to the more human/humanoid characters, they managed to make them extremely real and tangible in a way that made a ton of people care about them throughout their tenure in MCU.
Where that all comes down to is the live acting and voice acting of the all-star cast; Chris Pratt is one of the best, most charismatic actors of recent memory and his natural charm bleeds into the character of Star-Lord so much so that he is completely unlike the original comic books version in the best way possible. He'll do comical happy dances when listening to his Walkman, get angry when people use or mess with his Walkman, and he even accidentally improvised dropping the Orb at one point, which ended up being a mistake on Pratt's end that ended up working in the movie's favor. That goes to show how likable Chris Pratt is as a guy and he most certainly exudes that same energy to the role of Star-Lord. Zoe Saldaña has the distinction of acting in other major sci fi franchises up to this point such as Avatar and Star Trek and I firmly believe she pulls it off well with Gamora's rebellious nature and sense of righteousness that contrast to her adoptive sister, Nebula's (Karen Gillan), loyal and self-righteous personality. As proven by The Rock's ability to act outside of wrestling, Dave Bautista does a shockingly good job at acting as Drax the Destroyer with this being his first breakout role after a few minor roles in TV shows and movies prior to this. His acting as Drax shows a reckless, vengeful personality that only cares about one thing: avenging his family; when that could have come off as very one note and uninteresting, they manage to slip in some more comical moments such as when he piggybacks on Rocket saying that they should put more liquid into their bodies. While his more comical side was amped up in the sequels, its given enough showcasing here that Drax really fits in with the rest of the cast. Rocket and Groot, on the other hand, are the main voice roles in this movie and they really know what's up; Bradley Cooper's voiceover as Rocket has a good accent to it and his snarky tone is felt throughout to a point where, despite him being a jerk most of the time, you love Rocket anyone because of Cooper's delivery. Vin Diesel as Groot, meanwhile, seems ridiculous in the sense that he utters the same 3 words most of the time -- "I am Groot" -- to a point where it could get annoying, but surprisingly that is not the case due to the fact that each delivery is diversified based on the context of the situation as well as how other characters perceive what he's saying. That said, I did mention already that he eventually says "We are Groot" showing that he learns more words by the end right before he self-sacrifices to protect the group and that was a touching moment only enhanced by Diesel's delivery. Karen Gillan's Nebula aren't given as much to do here as in later installments, but her rage is felt in her action scenes and her subdued tone when speaking to her superiors shows she is a very stoic and loyal person -- the perfect foil to her sister as I mentioned. Other major names such as Michael Rooker are always great actors and his Yondu is no exception; Lee Pace's Ronan the Accuser may be cliche in terms of unhinged villain archetype and menacing personality, but honestly for a movie that doesn't take itself seriously most of the time, he comes off as a very serious threat especially once he claims the Infinity Stone for itself. While Glenn Glose and John C. Reilly don't have major presence in this movie, it's fun that they're here and they match the comical tone of this movie even in their more serious law-enforcing roles at Nova Corps. Bottom line, all the actors did a great job with what they were given and made this movie work splendidly!
While I have struggled to know what to say about too many specific Marvel movie soundtracks, this movie's soundtrack is the first MCU movie where the music truly is a standout. Known as Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1, this portion of the soundtrack is literally Peter's mixtape left behind by his mother, which he uses to play various 60s and 70s pop songs that symbolize certain scenes throughout; for example, the aforementioned "Come and Get Your Love" scene is iconic in the sense that it introduces adult Star-Lord playing and doing the one thing that makes him happy as that's the type of person he became and both the mixtape and the Walkman are reminders of his late mother. The song "Hooked on a Feeling" is also synonymous with this first movie as it was in the first trailer, it plays on the menu of the Blu-ray I watched, and if I were to guess, it symbolizes how much Peter is starting to care for Gamora upon their arrest despite how little she cares for him initially. On top of that, the ever-popular "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" is played upon the group's escape from the Kyln; with both this song and "Hooked on a Feeling" being songs I initially knew from the Shrek movies, it's quite fitting that they would be in this movie especially given the 60s and 70s vibes in the music of both franchises. Later on, the song "Cherry Bomb", funny enough, is a song I've more recently come to know through another work of James Gunn's -- a video game, interestingly enough. Those who are familiar with the game Lollipop Chainsaw know that this song was used as the main menu music in that game and it predates the movie by two years so to have them use it here in a different context gives the buildup to the climax a proper "Western hype" vibe. Although they are technically on Peter's mom's Awesome Mix Vol. 2 at the conclusion of the movie, the Vol. 1 soundtrack of this movie still includes this movie's denouement songs of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "I Want You Back"; having listened to the former song growing up on a classic CD my family owns called "Soulful Summer", the fact that it's in this movie makes me nostalgic for those old days when I really enjoyed that song given that the remake of it was in Chicken Little -- another childhood movie featuring songs my parents grew up with. And, of course, who could go wrong with any music related to Michael Jackson? "I Want You Back" playing over the mid-credits scene of Baby Groot dancing in his pot with Drax polishing his knife before the latter looks over only for Groot to freeze is forever a classic scene in the MCU that I can't help, but picture it or dance like Groot now when I hear it. The film score portion of the movie, meanwhile, is composed by Tyler Bates and while it's standard Marvel movie music that most don't remember, it fits the "Avengers vibes" of the universe and adds a lot of gravitas to the more epic, heroic, and emotional moments throughout the movie. That said, this and the rest of the Guardians trilogy have the most standout OSTs in the MCU that I will listen to them if I want to vibe to classics.
Perhaps the best part of how this movie's put together is through its various storyline and comedic subversions; I mentioned already that instead of being cliche and having all characters bombard the audience with their sad backstories toward the end of the film that they manage to compartimentalize their backstories and spread that information throughout the film so that their stories and personalities can be fleshed out enough for us to care. This was something that the original Suicide Squad movie two years later unfortunately rushed due to the fact that that DC universe and characters were not established well enough if at all prior to that movie and, as such, this movie is often cited as a proper example of how to do a teamup movie with characters who aren't necessarily good, but are willing to do the right thing in the end -- Gunn would also go on to direct *The* Suicide Squad movie a few years later so DC clearly understood he had proper directing experience. Star-Lord's regret about not holding his mother's hand in her final moments is also shown more than told to us throughout the movie in the sense that he's so sentimental about the Walkman and is easily angered when a prisoner at the Kyln steals it from him so much so that he goes back for it during the breakout scene. I originally thought it was random that the memory of her final moments was shown during the finale after it wasn't mentioned, but like I said, it's those subtleties that present to us how he holds onto her memory and in that moment accepts her death when Gamora tells him to take her hand and he ultimately does. In action, Star-Lord can also be a clumsier Iron Man because while he does have the jet boosters like him, he is far more reckless with how he uses them and how he lives so much so that he rarely, if ever, sticks the landing the way Iron Man has at this point in the MCU. It's these defining character traits that make Star-Lord a more relatable and different protagonist in a great way. Interaction-wise, this movie isn't quite as over-the-top with its jokes and line deliveries as the later installments, but they are enough to make you get caught off guard or even laugh in places where you wouldn't usually expect to; for example, in the bar scene on Knowhere toward the middle, a drunken Drax puts down a drunken Rocket by telling him things like that "he has no respect" to which Rocket shockingly agrees when normally you'd expect a jackass like him to be in denial of his jerkish ways. Rocket even comes out and says that the group is "a bunch of jackasses standing around" when everyone stands up in agreement to fight Ronan to the bitter end after Peter improvises a motivational speech to encourage everyone to join him. Moments like these make Rocket all the more endearingly self-aware and funny instead of him being a straight up jerk who doesn't acknowledge or care that he is one, which makes him arguably one of the best characters in this and the MCU. The funniest moment, no doubt, is the subversions they throw into the slow mo hero walk toward the climax; you would expect that moment to have everyone serious and straightfaced, but they dodge the cliche by having Gamora let out a yawn while Peter has the sniffles. Many did say that Ronan was too cliche of a villain with how zealous and menacing he acts, but something I've come to appreciate about earlier MCU movies is that the villains besides Loki are intentionally uninteresting to give the development of the heroes greater impact. Sure, we had to wait for a few years after this movie to get proper development for Thanos, but waiting for a while to get some actually interesting villains besides Loki allowed us to care more for the heroes of movies like this, the Iron Man movies, and even the first Ant-Man so that the MCU could be successful in drawing audiences in. This is one reason I grew to love the Guardians trilogy and their presence in the MCU to the end and am glad I got the Blu-ray when I did so I wouldn't miss out.
In conclusion, it's easy to gush about this movie if you're a Marvel/Guardians of the Galaxy fan and I certainly am one; although I am more than certain that this movie has its fair share of critics who don't like the directions it takes, I am still very much inclined to rewatch this movie for its characterization of its story and characters, the great and outstanding actors and talent behind it, the OST that allows oldies fans and music appreciators to vibe, and the story and comedy subversions that keep things fresh. While James Gunn's Scooby-Doo may have taken years for people to understand the brilliance behind its approach, this movie found shocking success after appearing just as ridiculous at first glance, but it ended up having the most amount of heart put into an MCU product at the end of the day and its subsequent trilogy wound up being arguably the best franchise within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Simply put, we might never have gotten James Gunn to fix and reset the DC universe films in this day and age were it not for his experience with directing this superhero movie on his own. While I have yet to even see what he's done with DC, I am genuinely curious to see what he could have done with The Suicide Squad and what he will do for the upcoming Superman reboot when it comes around. For now, I will say that he has become one of my favorite modern directors for working on this, Scooby-Doo, the game Lollipop Chainsaw, and other things that I'm genuinely interested in checking out. All that said, I give this movie a solid A and recommend it to James Gunn fans, Marvel fans, Chris Pratt fans, fans of space operas, and perhaps even those who like to vibe with 60s and 70s pop hits because, let's face it, there's at least something in this movie for everyone.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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