Well, this is the best Star Wars movie I've seen in ages! We've got a ragtag crew on a mission to save the universe, a cool dude and his mostly silent but loyal sidekick, one tough but nice chick, some father/son issues and a lot of spaceships flying around shooting at each other: pew, pew pew! The challenge has been thrown down to JJ Abrams & co! Oh wait, it's a Marvel movie, not a Star Wars movie? Could have fooled me!
This movie is the first in what is sure to be another hugely successful franchise for Marvel Studios who are not content with their Avengers stable of stars (Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Cap'n America) and want to gobble up several billion more dollars of your hard-earned cash. So it's strange that they picked this relatively unknown property from their comic book back catalogue. However, it could be the best idea they've had, as there are a lot fewer expectations riding on it and they could take it to a slightly crazier place and let it build a fanbase up. And although this first instalment is pretty heavy on explaining the backstory of the characters and universe, it still has fun and sets up nicely for the next one to get straight into the action.
We follow our hero, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), who likes to go by the moniker Starlord. He's a treasure hunter who stumbles on our all-important MacGuffin, the Orb, which he wants to sell for a lot of 'units' ($) but a lot of others want to get their hands on it too. Bounty hunters Rocket (a raccoon like character voiced by Bradley Cooper) and his offsider Groot (a walking tree who speaks about 3 words during the movie - I am Groot - and is voiced by Vin Diesel) want Quill and the Orb, as does Gamora (a green skinned Zoe Saldana this time, she must have enjoyed being blue in Avatar a lot) who is an assassin working for Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) who wants the Orb to destroy his many enemies. We also get Drax the Destroyer (ex wrestler Dave Bautista) joining the crew not because of the Orb but because he wants revenge against Ronan.
Guardians of the Galaxy is super dumb fun. Getting the gang together involves a number of fun action heavy setpieces spiked with some pretty zany dialogue and jokes. The gang trying to keep the Orb out of Ronan and his henchmen and henchwomen's hands ups the action even further but still takes time out regularly for a silly joke. Drax in particular has some really funny lines, usually stemming from his race's inability to understand metaphors, so listen closely whenever he is speaking. The soundtrack, which should be filled with 80s classics given Starlord's 80s origins on Earth, instead leans towards the late 70s as Peter clings to a cassette tape of his Earthling mother's favourite songs. It is unexpected but a real hit.
The 3D throws everything but the kitchen sink at you, which is kinda unnecessary, but I couldn't fault the action scenes or visual effects at all. Everything gels, and the only thing holding me back from giving this 5 stars is that there is just too much explanation required and yet sometimes not enough given, so it just doesn't quite fly in parts. The humour is quite bizarre, which I liked, so I am looking forward to the next one which should expand the universe and get us into some fun places!
No comments:
Post a Comment