The Third Best Marvel Movie

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy is a triumph of Hollywood filmmaking. It's probably one of the biggest risks in the history of blockbuster movies; an unknown property with unknown characters played by (relatively) unknown actors written and directed by an unknown director about a team including a talking racoon, and a tree. No studio in their right mind would ever have picked that up. Marvel is a studio of risk-taking though. Their risks keep paying off and as a result they keep paving the way not only for superhero movies, but for the movie business as a whole. They even greenlit a sequel before it was even released. Well, Guardians of the Galaxy is another roaring success.
A big worry for Guardians was setting up a team, developing the characters, and giving them a good enough plot to warrant them all together. I mean, there's a reason why Avengers was built up with solo movies to develop each character individually. Again, this is another thing Guardians was successful with, as each character is developed really well. They're each given a past, a specific role on the team, their own personal quirks, differing goals and aspirations, but never at the expense of the rest of the movie.
Guardians, unsurprisingly, was also full of comedy. While previous attempts in Iron Man 3 and The Dark World completely failed, Guardians was absolutely hilarious. There are just so many moments that had the whole cinema laughing, from Groot constantly repeating that phrase, to Drax taking everything literally, to Rocket in general. The post-credits sequence is also played for laughs (it doesn't tease anything, so don't feel you have to stay through all the credits) with a surprising cameo that I won't spoil.
Acting is...well it's a good effort. Chris Pratt does a really good job of Starlord, especially with the amount of work he had to put into his body. I mean, it wasn't long ago he was quite podgy, and here he's shirtless with a chiselled torso. Dude bulks up really well. On the actual acting side of things he does a great job balance the comedic elements with the more serious and heart-felt moments. If this doesn't make a star out of him, nothing will. Zoe Saldana is on top form as Gamora. Besides the fact she looks gorgeous (even in green) and is as capable as ever with the action scenes, she also manages to balance comedy with emotion. Bradley Cooper pretty much owns the movie, even though it's only his voice that's present. He manages to do so much with it. He puts so much emotion in, from his bouts of rage to his more touching moments when the truth comes out. Again though he does a marvellous job with his character's humour. 50% of what makes Rocket so funny is Cooper's delivery. Dave Bautista shows how he really can't act, I'm sad to say, although it's a hell of a lot better a job I expected. The script he was given is full of words you'd never expect a man of his physical stature to say in a movie, and like everyone else his comedic delivery is spot on. Maybe, though, the lines were a bit too much for him as he does stumble a bit here and there, and beyond a lust for vengeance, he doesn't really portray any other emotion other than bland. Then there's Vin Diesel who just says "I am Groot" in three or four slightly different ways. It's not bad, but it's hardly taxing work ripe with opportunity.
Wrapping this up with the visuals, which are as good as always. Rocket and Groot are rendered to absolute perfection, as are all the sci-fi backgrounds and ships. There's a number of shots that are almost breathtaking, including one of Starlord thrusting himself across a cloudy green void to clutch Gamora, and Groot lighting up the interior of a ship with lots of glowing spores. Of course the 3D really helped these shots pop out, giving them a huge amount of depth, but they will always be seared into the back of my eyes.
James Gunn. You the man. Only you could have made Guardians of the Galaxy work so well, effortlessly balancing humour with genuine emotion. It's very rare for me to find myself bawling my eyes one minute and laughing my head off the next and not feeling put off by either. Guardians of the Galaxy looks great, sounds great, adds depth to the MCU with a plot of itself that is quite layered, with three-dimensional characters and moments that'll make you laugh and cry. I cannot praise Guardians of the Galaxy enough, although I feel subsequent rewatches will start to show the cracks. 8/10