If you'd like a more visual experience you can watch my youtube review HERE!
Here we are, the latest film from Marvel Studios except this time instead of another superhero movie we're presented with a space opera. Guardians of the Galaxy is one of their lesser known properties regarding mainstream audiences and Marvel chose off beat Director James Gunn as the man to bring it to the masses. With a star studded cast that includes Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, David Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Benicio Del Toro, Vin Diesel, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Peter Serafinowicz and Josh Brolin, Guardians is a film to grab your attention.
Guardians of the Galaxy follows a band of very different people who are forced to come together to stop Ronan the Accuser and save the galaxy. This unlikely band of misfits is always at odds with each other but their brand of chaos just works for them, making them one big weird family. Like all families there's a lot of arguing, joking, fighting and a whole lot of love and there's an earnestness that rings true through out the entire film. Guardians combines the sensibilities of Hellboy and Star Wars especially with it's band of misfits and production design; I just wanted to pause every frame and explore the world with this characters.
Like all James Gunn films Guardians has a very witty, funny and off beat script that critiques it's genre just as much as it embraces it and the banter between the characters is fantastic. The cast is pretty damn fantastic with Chris Pratt, David Bautista and Bradley Cooper standing out of the crowd of heavy hitters. Unfortunately Lee Pace, Karen Gillan and Zoe Saldana are underutilised though I feel that a lot of their moments were probably left on the cutting room floor. Overall it's well paced, energetically shot, with the production design beautifully realised and the soundtrack pretty damn rocking.
Though it's a good two hours I actually would not have minded if it was longer; in fact I think if would have benefited from a longer cut. The film suffers from rather rough tonal shifts that could of been a lot smoother if the film wasn't constantly trying to move on. The film is funny but several of the jokes are undermined by it's swift pacing and with it's loveable band of misfits you just want to stay with this film and never leave. Unfortunately it also suffers from cliché characters and a plot full of conveniences bringing up several inconsistencies and plot-holes that could have easily been avoided. It's definitely a flawed film but in the end it's just incredibly fun.
This is a type of film that has been missing lately, a film that is full of fun adventure but doesn't feel silly or stupid and doesn't feel the need to take itself seriously. This is a genuinely good film full of laughs, great action, fantastic visuals and a whole lot of heart. As far as Marvel films go I'd say this is my third favourite of their series; Iron Man being my number one and The Avengers my number two. I really enjoyed this movie and would be keen to see it again but I am slightly disappointed by the fact that I wasn't blown away by this film. Definitely check this film out especially because the last few films to come out in theatres have been rather forgettable but also because if it makes money we'll get more movies like it.
4 out of 5 stars.
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