At long last, Guardians of the Galaxy is here. After what felt like years of seeing promos
and teasers and teaser trailers and trailers, it almost seemed like Guardians
of the Galaxy might suffer from overexposure before it even came out.
Personally, I had begun to wonder whether the film could ever live up to all
the hype, but after finally seeing the film for myself, I can definitely say
that not only does it live up to it, I would say it even exceeds it.
If you’re
going into this movie expecting more Thor or Iron Man, you may find yourself
surprised; while this is definitely a Marvel-style flick, it is not, however, a
super hero movie. None of the characters have your traditional “super-powers”
and thank god there’s no insufferable origin story of how Joe Schmoe falls into
a vat of radioactive spiders and develops super abilities or anything of that
sort. This movie does feel like the Avengers in a way, but instead of taking
multiple movies for set up, the Guardians dives right in.
Although the
Guardians does take a lot of cues from the Marvel formula, it has a quirkiness
and a sheer sense of glee about it that make it unique to any comic book movie
before it; in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this starts a new trend in
Marvel, much in the same way that the Dark Knight set a very dark and serious
vibe for all the rest of DC’s movies (for better or worse). For example, we are
essentially introduced to the main character, Star Lord, via dance number; it’s
hilarious but not only is it funny, it is also an ingenious way of conveying to
us exactly who Star Lord is.
Unlike the
Avengers or any of the other films in the Marvel cinematic universe, this story
takes place almost completely away from Earth, making it complete science
fiction, and some of the best science fiction fun since Star Wars. Guardians
actually reminded me a lot of Star Wars, and it’s definitely an excellent
holdover for anyone eagerly awaiting Episode 7 next year.
A couple of
random side notes: the soundtrack (as I’m sure anyone who’s seen it would tell
you) is amazing, and the Walkman bit is an ingenious way of making the
soundtrack more a part of the film than any other movie I can remember. Also,
Michael Rooker (Merle from Walking Dead) is delightful to watch as a
villain/old friend/father figure for Star Lord, and his very unique weapon (I
honestly wouldn’t quite know what to call it) is fun to watch in action as
well. Finally, you wouldn’t think a talking tree that can only say the same
three words over and over again (I am Groot) would be the best character in the
movie, but it turns out you’d be wrong.
Guardians of
the Galaxy did something for me that in a world of reboots and sequels is often
very rare; it showed me a new universe, and it gave me an excitement for that
universe. It’s no wonder Marvel already announced a sequel for 2017 before the
movie was even released, they had no doubt in their mind that they have a
winner, and they definitely do. All I can say is 2017 can’t come soon enough.
-Ryan Maples
Rating: 9.
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