Guardians of the Galaxy

I am and have for a long time been a big fan of Marvel. So it was quite a novelty for me to sit down and watch a Marvel film I knew almost nothing about. The Guardians of the Galaxy comics and mythology are pieces of the massively and wonderfully complex Marvel universe I just had not looked at before, but I am so glad that this film chose to do so.

A massively fresh start of having characters that Marvel had never committed to film before (taking many people I am sure by surprise, including me) gave enough of a springboard into what was in the end a truly brilliant piece of Marvel escapism that just put a smile on your face.

One thing I did know about the Guardians, is that they were reputed to be the zany, wacky, offbeat alternative side to Marvel; showcasing characters and plots that were almost the slightly unbalanced opposite to what we are normally used to (in the form of the X-Men or the Avengers for example). This film did not contradict that, and I feel it struck the right tone to a tee. Almost from the off you did get the sense that this was not just another churned out Marvel movie just for the sake of it. No this was about starting again with a brand new phase of Marvel film; and it was great to watch.

The whole idea of a motley crew of desperate beings in a far off space-age world coming together to save the universe by kicking ass their way just seemed to fit beautifully and uniquely with this new Marvel branch, and more importantly encapsulated beautifully what the Guardians are about.

Normally I make a big deal of the casting and performances in any film and, whilst they are important factors and should be looked at, they almost have to take a step back from the overall feel of the film which was just so glorious that it did swamp individual elements most of the time.

However this is a new Marvel ensemble piece so let us look at the Guardians.

I have never really rated Chris Pratt before but his performance as Peter Quill/Star Lord, whilst not perfect, showed depth and flare and has great potential. Zoe Saldana as Gamora was fluid, feisty and just furious enough to bring a great dynamic to the Guardians, as was Dave Bautista as Drax who most of the time just served as added muscle but did inflect just enough heart to make things interesting. But the two main highlights Guardians wise for me were the brilliant creation of Rocket the Raccoon, voiced superbly by Bradley Cooper, and the sheer genius that was Groot on screen, occasionally voiced by Vin Diesel. Individually they were great to watch, and together they were awesome. What made this "origin story" so markedly different, so to the whole film, was that threaded throughout all of these characters there were massive amounts of humour. Action a plenty yes, but also strung perfectly through were genuine laugh out loud moments that you rarely see from a Marvel movie.

Also among the cast we should mention antagonists Lee Pace who brought the perfect blend of traditional menace and style as Ronan the Accuser and Karen Gillan (AKA Doctor Who's Amy Pond) who sizzled as the sadistic Nebula. Legendary gems that were a surprise but who shone nonetheless also included Glen Close as Nova Prime and John C. Reilly as Rhomann Dey.

As I say, normally these performances would still make for a good film, but the overall powerhouse factor and sheer joyous visual splendor that is Guardians of the Galaxy just about overtakes all other aspects. At times, things do get too drawn out I admit, where the film makers suddenly shift to trying to provide too much hard hitting drama (not that most of the dramatic moments are not appreciated) and very occasionally the humour dies and the film loses its way a tad.

Yet all in all, I find Guardians of the Galaxy to be a very happy surprise. Knowing that Marvel can suddenly turn around from a very good and very successful track record and give us something that is so action-packed, so visually stunning, so detailed, so heartening and so funny is very refreshing and very welcome indeed.

To me Guardians of the Galaxy deserves all the success it can get, and its rightful place in the annals of the Marvel movie universe. Now all we have to do is wait for the Guardians' return...