I have been collecting comic books since I was a teenager but I only had one or two Guardians of the Galaxy comics. I didn't know too much about them or their presence in Marvel comics so I have to admit when the movie was first announced I wasn't that excited. Although we had already been introduced to the galactic aspect of the MCU through Thor, I thought Guardians would be too much. "This is never going to work" "They are going to ruin what they spent so long building". I know right I can't believe I said it either. I wasn't too familiar with Chris Pratt's body of work at the time either. I knew he played the over-weight funny guy in Parks and Recreation but I had never sat down and watched the show myself. I scoffed at the fact they had cast a wrestler because popular opinions online had made me succumb to the fact that wrestlers can't act. My opinions on Bradley Cooper as a talking racoon and Vin Diesel as a tree were even stronger which I'm not even going to mention because I'm embarrassed that those thoughts even crossed my mind. Before the first trailer was released I honestly believed it didn't have a chance and would cost Marvel a heck of a lot of money. However once that first trailer was released I felt more at ease, but I was still a bit guarded.
Once the movie was released I went to see it opening weekend and it was just perfect. I cannot remember a time before Guardians where I walked out of the cinema that happy, I was officially hooked. I was obsessively googling everything about Guardians of the Galaxy, I went and bought the comics, watched hours of documentaries on the making of the movie and bought so much merchandise right down to a dancing baby Groot. So many aspects of the movie came together so brilliantly making it the best movie in the MCU in my opinion.
The casting is definitely one of the high points for me, Chris Pratt as Peter Quill especially. Pratt's goofiness and humour is an incredible fit for the diverse and rather weird concept of the movie. I personally can't judge Bradley Cooper for playing Rocket Racoon as to me it sounds nothing like Cooper. I think he did an amazing job but it could have been anyone in my opinion. Vin Diesel as Groot was rather nostalgic to me as it reminded me of when he voiced The Iron Giant which was an amazing movie. So even though Diesel has about 4 words in the entire movie, he executes them perfectly. Zoe Saldana has became the Queen of sci-fi movies, after watching her in Avatar and Star Trek I knew she would be a fantastic casting choice from the beginning and it was her casting that gave me hope for the movie before I had seen it. Dave Bautista flawlessly pulls off being a dry, literal character and for being a character who doesn't understand humour he provides even more comedic value. As a superhero movie it's definitely one of a kind, James Gunn takes a band of misfit vigilantes and bands them together to create a team you can really get behind. It gives the movie heart and doesn't take itself too seriously making the most fun movie in the MCU.
Now it is said many times that what makes a good movie is the quality of the villain. Normally I would believe this but I don't think Ronan the Accuser made the movie any better than it was. Don't get me wrong he has his intimidating moments which I found to be more prominent in the beginning of the movie. For example when he crushes a Nova Officer's head with his hammer or when he breaks the Other's neck, which happened to be someone that Loki feared but apart from those scenes I didn't get much else of a villain vibe from him. He's very much a one-layer villain, apart from "Xandar is responsible for the deaths of my father and grandfather, so i'm going to cure it" we don't have an explanation for his actions beyond that. Beyond the "Kree fanatic" Guardians was a better introduction to Thanos as we had only previously seen him in Easter Eggs.
The visual effects in Guardians really captivated me as it's something we've not seen before in the MCU. Don't get me wrong the effects in Thor were good and we got an introduction to a world beyond Earth but it doesn't hold up to that of Guardians. The environments that were created were beyond stunning and the CG characters characters were just as captivating as the real characters. After studying animation for 4 years I didn't know what area I wanted to specialize in but it was the visual effects in Guardians of the Galaxy that made me want to focus and study VFX.
The fight sequences in the movie were great, I do however think the hand to hand combat in Civil War was choreographed better but I do particularly enjoy the aerial battle over Xandar. The visuals are stunning and we get a real sense of team loyalty not just between the Guardians themselves, but between the Guardians and the Nova Corps.
Now it's hard to deny that maybe perhaps the best feature of the movie, was it's soundtrack. Having a movie with an soundtrack is something we haven't seen in the MCU never mind it being from the 80's. For those that grew up in the 80's it was nostalgic and was reminiscent of the fantastic songs from that era, and for those that are too young to know these songs, it was a fantastic introduction for a younger generation to get invested in a new genre of music.
The concept for Guardians of the Galaxy is still completely insane, in theory it shouldn't have worked. However it's possible that it worked because it's so insane. There are stunning visuals, well developed characters, it has a lot of heart. Although the movie has a one-dimensional villain, all of the other factors in the movie make up for it. Saying all this it is an absolutely incredible movie that has became my favourite film of all time.
Easter Eggs
Since Guardians is my all time favourite movie I figured I'd add in an extra Easter Egg this week!
#1 The Collector's Menagerie
One of the biggest easter eggs in the MCU is in the Collectors museum. It features a Dark Elf from Thor: The Dark World, a Chitauri from The Avengers as well as Adam Warlock. Director James Gunn also put in a reference to his first movie Slither by displaying some alien parasites. Audiences were also treated to a fun Howard the Duck appearance at the end of the movie who was voiced by Seth Green.
#2 Sean Gunn
Although Bradley Cooper voiced Rocket Racoon there was another actor that provided the physical presence on set. Director James Gunn got his brother to be the body actor for Rocket as well as being the right-hand man of Yondu Udonta.
#3 The Milano
In the comics, Peter Quills ship is simply named 'Ship' however in the movie his ship is called the Milano. James Gunn confirmed that it is named the Milano after his childhood crush Alyssa Milano and therefore also made her Peter Quill's childhood crush since he left Earth in 1988 and she was a pop culture icon on tv from 1984 - 1992.
#4 James Gunn's pup cameo
When James Gunn hinted that his own dog would make an appearance in the movie, most fans speculated that it's cameo would be as Cosmo the Space Dog, however his dog actually appeared at the beginnning of the movie on Morag as a holographic with a young girl.
#5 Dancing Baby Groot
One of the most beloved scenes in the movie is the first mid-credits scene with a dancing baby groot. Although the animators did a fantastic job, the reference they had for the dancing is from the director himself. This scene was also added in as kids who watched the movie didn't notice Rocket holding a branch of Groot's so they thought he had died, this scene was added in to clarify to audiences that he would be back.
#6 Stan Lee Cameo
Stan's cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy is probably one of my favourites out of his appearances in the MCU. Although he doesn't have any lines, Stan appears on Xander chatting up a young woman.
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