A common criticism I’ve heard of certain superhero movies that aren’t considered very good is the “too many characters” problem; it was used as a reason why Spider-Man 3 was seen as a failure, for example. However, The Avengers proved that you can have an impressive number of characters in your superhero movie if they’re already properly established and have their own character arcs to enhance the plot. Everyone knew who Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hulk were before The Avengers came out, after all. What about an ensemble superhero movie with characters the general public has never heard of? That was the challenge Guardians of the Galaxy was going to face when it hit theaters. Most would agree that it not only met the challenge, but it knocked it out of the park.

Pros

Jokes are everywhere, and most are very funny
Action is fun and well shot
Characters are instantly memorable thanks to the script and performances
Moves at a brisk pace

Cons

The villains are not very interesting
Somewhat thin story

Plot & Thoughts

A group of scrappy individuals from different corners of the galaxy is brought together through circumstance to form the group known as The Guardians of the Galaxy. One is (allegedly) a human with a goofy personality. One is a muscular warrior who does not understand sarcasm. One is an assassin and the daughter of the galactic tyrant, Thanos. One is a talking raccoon that is capable of making weapons and hacking high-tech computers. And one is a tree creature that has many talents, but its vocabulary is limited to the phrase “I am Groot.” Despite their initial differences, they quickly become heroes of the galaxy as they take on a notorious villain with an Infinity Stone in his possession.

This was the last Marvel movie I watched when it was still relatively new, before I decided to go through this review blitz. At the time, it was hyped up a lot by my friends and family who had seen it. They overhyped it, however, as I was not extremely impressed by the film as they were expecting me to be. Still, I didn’t think anything negative of it. I thought it was a fun time and a good movie that just wasn’t for me on that particular day. Well, it’s been more than ten years since that first experience, and my opinion has changed quite a bit, having watched it again. This movie is great!

Writer & director James Gunn has gotten a significant reputation as a creative in Hollywood—you know, after he was cancelled for some naughty things he said and brought back when Disney wanted to make more money—and the first Guardians of the Galaxy is why. He’s been a writer for decades, first cutting his teeth in the Troma films, which were known for being terrible and off-putting but still appealing to a dedicated fanbase. He went on to write for other big motion pictures, including the Dawn of the Dead remake. There were other movies he directed before this, but Guardians was his big break and instantly put him on the map. It’s easy to see why, since this is James Gunn at his best. However, I have never bought into the idea that he’s a creative savant on the level of Spielberg and Hitchcock, like so many movie reviewers seemed to insinuate. Nonetheless, Guardians of the Galaxy showcases his abilities to create memorable characters in scenes that can very quickly and seamlessly go from one emotional tone to another.

It opens on one of the more emotional moments of the film with a young Peter Quill running out of a hospital with his Walkman, unable to look upon his dying mother. He’s abducted by aliens, the title card hits, and he’s all grown up as Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). He lands on a strange planet, turns on his Walkman, and starts dancing to his mixtape he’s had ever since he left Earth. When he finishes dancing, he gets on with his mission and goes to retrieve a special orb before villainous troops arrive to do the same. A fight breaks out, and he has to make a daring escape. It’s a big switch between emotional tones from how the movie starts, but it lets you know up front that you’re going to go back and forth between goofy fun, action scenes, and emotional moments, all the way up to the conclusion. Each action scene is consistently good. Everything is easy to follow, and the comedic banter breaks things up to keep it all fun without getting too silly to take seriously. Since this is all taking place in a distant region of space, a lot of effort is taken to make the worlds very colorful and visually interesting. Obviously, most of which are done via green screen, but the creative designs are cool, and it never feels out of place.

Where Guardians of the Galaxy does not completely succeed is with its villains and plot. The looming presence of Thanos is more significant here as the early plot stirrings of the Infinity Saga begin to take shape, but he’s not the main villain of this film. Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) is his primary lieutenant, charged with locating and retrieving the Power Stone encased in the orb that Quill found at the beginning of the movie. Lee Pace does a decent job of trying to make Ronan an intimidating character, but the movie doesn’t do enough to make him interesting. He still seems like a generic villain, just as Malekith did in Thor: The Dark World. It could simply be because he’s overshadowed by the other characters who eventually make up the Guardians team. While Ronan is busy killing countless people across the galaxy and trying to be a menacing presence in the film, the Guardians are chewing up every scene to the point that you’d rather just spend time with them.

As for the plot, it’s really just a fetch quest to get the orb and obtain the Infinity Stone. It’s not much more complicated than that. The possession of the orb changes hands multiple times as the Guardians face off against all sorts of foes. There are also character betrayals, but none are really meaningful because Guardians of the Galaxy is mostly just trying to introduce the team, more than anything else. It does a good job of making each of them interesting and memorable. Rocket (Bradley Cooper) provides a fair amount of sarcasm to bounce off of Quill’s ego and Gamora’s (Zoe Saldana) seriousness, while Groot (Vin Diesel) and Drax (Dave Bautista) inject comedy into each scene with their goofy responses. Still, there’s not too much characterization beyond the introductory level in this film, as a majority of that will happen in its sequel.

TL;DR

When it’s all said and done, Guardians of the Galaxy is an impressive achievement. It deftly manages to introduce a plethora of new, memorable characters that average people who don’t read comics would instantly recognize and enjoy in future installments. It balances its action with its humor in a tightly written script that keeps the pace moving. It further sets up events to come in the Infinity Saga by being the first to really illustrate the power of the Infinity Stones. While the villain and plot are a little thin, it doesn’t prevent Guardians of the Galaxy from being one of the best movies of its era in the MCU.

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