I was able to catch an early screening of this film and decided to give my thoughts on Marvel's riskiest property yet. So has Marvel succeeded in bringing out more of their cosmic side with Guardians Of The Galaxy? Well, lets find out!
To avoid being flooded with e-mails, I just decided to put up this short non-spoilery review of Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy. First of all I should point out that I'm no big fan of the GOTG. I know nothing about them, only found out about them when the film was announced back at SDCC'12. I wanted to start reading the source material but decided not to and just go in without knowing anything.
There's no spoilers so don't worry. I enjoyed the film very much. It was very funny, film brought me to tears laughing. I think Chris Pratt might be the new RDJ of the MCU. He owned it was Peter Quil and he has a solid backstory and depth to his character despite all the humour. It should be said that the real break out star of the film is Rocket Racc00n. He got the most applause and cheers in my screening. Bradley Cooper is going to surprise a lot of people. Not much was known in terms of Rocket's character (backstory is a there but I wanted a bit more) but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Zoe did a fine job as Gamora, she was badass when she needed to be. She's basically Black Widow with super-powers and Dave was pretty good as Drax. Nothing ground breaking but his character was more of the silent type somewhat with clear motivations. Eh Groot was okay I guess. Wasn't really impressed with the character if I'm going to be honest. He had some cool fights and all he said is 'I am Groot'.
The VFX were really out-standing especially for Groot and Rocket. It wasn't until the final battle when I started noticing some dodgy CGI. Cinematography was beautiful and the sets were alright. Some of them really seemed like they were on a sound stage. The fight scenes were cool enough but my favourite was Gamora and Nebula. Yeah that was kickass. Was somewhat disappointed with the Drax vs Ronan fight. Expected a bit more to be honest. The ending battle was pretty cool but kept cutting back and fourth because most of the members were in different places during the battle but they do eventually come and battle together. The soundtack was pretty awesome. I'm definitely buying that. There was no official score though, just some stock music. The film is action packed but there's a bit of character drama especially from Quil, Gamora and Drax. They have their own personal agendas in the film. Rooker as Yondu was a surprise for me. Was actually really surprised by his performance as the character. Really dug him. Won't say much more than that I'm sure fans of the lore will like him.
As for the story it was pretty straight forward but it was genius how all these people came together. These characters know what they want and have their own agendas. I was actually surprised at how emotional the film was sometimes.The film was hilarious. A lot and lot of humour. Some of it was eye-rolling but it was nothing severe. Ronan was crazy in this film, holy ****! His motives were a bit unclear though. Drax was the only one able to stand toe to toe with him especially after he acquires the gem. I hope he returns for the sequel. What the heck is the Collector's powers? Like what abilities does he have? lol I liked Benicio in the role but sometimes it looked as if he was hamming in his performance like he did in that post credits stinger in Thor 2. It was very weird. The film is very fun. If you're looking for some deep meaning Oscar contender story, it isn't there but the character's motives and backstory's adds depth to the story. Glenn Close and John C. Reiley have minor roles. Don't really know anything about their characters apart from that they're higher ranks in the Nova Corps.
I'll go see it again for sure. Had a great time really. I just hope they touch up on some CGI towards the end of the film. I won't give a score now because I'm not sure whether I saw the final cut or rough cut. I should say that I'm no big fan of the GOTG. The film does succeed in opening up the cosmic world of the MCU far more than Thor did in his own 2 films. I just wish the film was a tad bit longer. They gave James Gunn full creative freedom here, he got away with a lot of things in this film lol You'll see. The film does plant seeds for Avengers 3. I'm sure there are a lot of Easter Eggs that fans of teh lore will pick up when they see the film, I don't know anything so I can't really say. They didn't show the post credits scene. In closing, I'm gonna say the film is a lot of fun. I honestly don't want to give away ANY of the movie with this review because this is one film that needs every scene to be savored (and also I signed an NDA lol). Do yourself a favor and remain unspoiled. It's how I saw the movie (apart from what the trailers showed) and even though you're obviously reading this review, read no others with any kind of spoilers whatsoever. Experience the awesomeness for yourself. GOTG as a movie and as a team on screen is an unstoppable force. I'm just going to say, Rocket & Groot combination equals AWESOME and leave it at that. This movie defines MUST SEE when it comes out.
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