Are you planning on seeing Guardians Of The Galaxy soon? Because that's not soon enough. Marvel's big unexpected blockbuster had odds against them when they first greenlit the film, but this movie is proof that any, and I mean any, movie can be great with the right script, director, and cast. And honestly, Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy had all of that. From the cast and crew caring for this movie as if it was their own child, to the greatest balance between action, comedy, and emotion I have ever seen in a film, this space epic managed to become one of the greatest comic book movies of all time. That's a compliment that no human being would ever have ever expected to be true just five years ago.
Guardians Of The Galaxy is one of those movies that requires you to search for the perfect words in order to express how great it is. Right from the beginning, you could tell that the playful tone James Gunn was setting up was going to really get you hooked. But the movie was more than funny jokes and one-liners, it was really personal, giving more depth to the characters than any other Marvel movie, and was very emotional. I walked into the theater expecting a hilarious Marvel film that was really enjoyable, but instead I got this smart, funny, emotional, and downright amazing movie that can be considered one of Marvel's best.
Not only is James Gunn's directing absolutely superb, but the entire cast and crew had so much fun with this movie and clearly respected the source so well, and that was made extremely obvious upon seeing the movie. You could tell from interviews how much these people cared, but actually seeing the chemistry they have onscreen makes for a movie so enjoyable that it almost feels real. The characters connected so well, and that's something other Marvel films should learn from. When the film neared its end, I had not expected it to be so emotional. If these characters were not developed as good as they were, I may no have been on the verge of tears, but after sitting through two hours of these misfits, you realize how realistic their emotions are, and you connect really well with everybody. Each character has their own distinct personality, but they couldn't get along better than they do.
Every actor in the movie did a phenomenal job capturing their characters. Chris Pratt's Star Lord is a character that can be compared to not many other characters, and by that I mean he is everything that we could ever want from our hero. He is funny, intelligent, personal, and every aspect of the character can be related to. He's not just a guy that fights evil and cracks jokes, he is a really enjoyable person to watch and can be connected with from every angle. Zoe Saldana's Gamora on the other hand is a character that I wasn't looking forward to as much. She looked to be there just to have a female member and didn't look like she was very interesting, but boy was I wrong. Her connections to Thanos and Ronan made for a lot of great scenes where we dug into her past and her feelings, which resulted in her being a fully fleshed out character with a lot of soul and passion.
Then there's Dave Bautista's Drax, who actually managed to be quite interesting. Not only is he a total brute that produced some of the best fights in the movie, but he was also a really funny character. The recurring joke of metaphors slipping by him resulted in a few funny gags that never seems to get old. Then there's the new dynamic duo: Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon and Vin Diesel's Groot. Rocket had so much depth for a character than nobody originally expected to be anything other than comic relief. He was a fully humanized character with tons of human feeling, despite being a furry little raccoon. Then of course there's Groot, who has just as much feeling and human thoughts as the rest of the Guardians. He originally looked like he was just the brute of the team that just smashed stuff because no one else could, but he is much more than that. He has so much characteristics in him. Even though he can only say "I Am Groot," he clearly could think and feel much more.
Now, the one thing Guardians Of The Galaxy managed to do better than most other Marvel movies is finding the perfect balance between comedy, action, and emotion. Really, every Phase 1 movie (with the exception of Iron Man 2) managed to do this quite well at times, but it wasn't anywhere near as good as what James Gunn did with this. There were scenes that were funny, scenes that were action packed, and scenes that made you wanna cry, but they never got in the way of each other. Unlike Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, the movie wouldn't try to force comedy down our throats, and every time there was a joke, it made sense within the scene and wasn't a distraction. But that doesn't mean that the movie wasn't funny. The movie was a riot! I laughed so much throughout the film, but never once was it forced.
The best thing about Guardians Of The Galaxy? The fact that the movie was able to give every single character a lot of depth without giving way too much focus on one character and leaving others left out. Everyone served their purpose in the movie (except for maybe Korath). This was something that I worried about, since there were so many characters to introduce, while also introducing this entire cosmic aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The only real complaints are that the villains weren't given enough development as they could have gotten, but that didn't bother me too much. It wasn't as bad as past failures, such as Malekith and Whiplash, and the movie was too enjoyable for something little like this to put it down.
From start to finish, James Gunn's Guardians Of The Galaxy delivered everything that I was looking for in a movie. It had some of Marvel's best comedy yet, amazing action sequences, and tons of character development which leads to some of the most emotional moments in any recent comic book movie. It's tough to say if this is better than Avengers, but that's only because it's perhaps my favorite comic book movie of all time, but if there's a movie out there that nearly knocks it off it's throne, it's definitely this one. I guess you could say (prepare for terribly overused joke).... I truly am hooked on a feeling.
Following the complicated process of Abary's epic scale of movie grading, I give this movie:
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