Drop the Leg! Drop the Leg!

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2014)

Marvel is back at it with another film for their Cinematic Universe. Guardians of the Galaxy is a fun joyride for the whole family with some great action and fantastic music from decades ago. While not as good as the April release for the MCU(Marvel Cinematic Universe) Captain America: The Winter Solider, this film holds its own as being something different. This is my review of Guardians of the Galaxy.
The film was written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman. While this is a first film for Perlman, Gunn has been around for some time now and generally has an okay track record. This film however beats everything he has done in the past. While this is a different type of film for the MCU, Gunn is still able to bring in the fun that previous film have brought. The characters are nicely written, but things at times can fall apart. Nothing major that brings down the film though. The villain of the film, Ronan the Accuser, is about on par with previous villains from the MCU, in that he brings nothing special. I will not be giving out any spoilers in this review, but I overall felt Ronan was fairly weak. The group of five heroes, Starlord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket are fabulous in this film. They are written nicely(although the backstory for Starlord is weak, but that could be meant for future films). Thanks to great casting these characters are an even better joy on the screen. So, Gunn gets the job done in this department with flying colors.
James Gunn directed this film as well. Gunn had a lot to live up to with all the great action scenes the previous MCU films have had, and in my opinion he does a great job. The type of action scenes seen in this film are different from the previous MCU films, but they stay intact nicely. With a lot of scenes consisting of flying around in a spaceship, CG was needed. The CG was done amazingly, and never felt funny or fake from any of it. The actors that Gunn was able to line up like Chris Pratt(Starlord), Zoe Saldana(Gamora), Vin Diesel(voice over for Groot), Bradley Cooper(voice over for Rocket, and even Dave Bautista(Drax) was great in this film. While it may be easy to say Rocket is the stand out in this film, or even Groot, I think Bautista as Drax is the one who steals the show. Bautista until now has been a WWE wrestling superstar and did a couple direct to video action films. He really plays up his part of the story very nicely, and of course he can fight. His action scenes were great, and Gunn deserves a lot of credit for taking a chance on him. Pratt is hilarious at times and plays a great leading role in this film. Until now he has mainly done comedy films, but he nails this role for its action. So, once again Gunn deserves a lot of credit for his great work, this time in the directing department.
Tyler Bates handles the score for this film, and I must say he does a fine job. While he hasn't done a lot of popular films recently, he has done work in the past on films like Watchmen, Halloween(remake from 2007), and even worked with James Gunn on Super. In the bigger action scenes the score composed by Bates hits the nail right on the head. I love film scores, and those like me will really enjoy the work he did here as well. There is also a lot of older music in this film from decades ago. These songs are edited in nicely over the course of the film, and it adds a nice depth to the film.
In closing, this film is a must see film for us big time MCU fans. Fans like myself will be going to see this film no matter what my review said. For those who aren't fans of the MCU just yet, this is a great place to start. And remember fans, stay until the credits have finished rolling.
On a side not I want to add some comments on the IMAX 3D version of the film. As always the IMAX side of things is a blessing to see. With amazing visuals and thunderous surround sound, you cannot miss this version of the film. Also, director James Gunn converted some of the footage into full screen IMAX, and those scenes are breathtaking to see. The 3D mostly just adds some nice depth to this film, and not much in the way of things popping out towards the screen. With the IMAX portion being great to watch, watching this in IMAX 3D is well worth the price of admission.
8/10