"Guardians of the Galaxy" Review

"Something good. Something bad. A bit of both."

There's something to be said about audacious movie projects. They're bold, invigorating, and possibly insane. Marvel Studios certainly knows a metric crap-ton about them. Starting from stringing a down-on-his-luck actor by the name of Robert Downey Jr. to star as a billionaire piloting a mechanical suit, to making a modern fantasy movie about a Norse God, to making a war movie (with a conspiracy thriller sequel!) about a guy literally named Captain America, to slamming these guys and more into one movie and building a cohesive narrative around totally disparate films. I mean, Marvel Studios knows its shit so well when it comes to making movies, but a lot of their ideas can seem downright crazy (especially to a certain other movie production studio that may or may not always try to headline their movies with bats).

And none so far has come close to the insanity that is Guardians of the Galaxy, possibly the riskiest venture that Marvel Studios has dared to put out. Join me, faithful viewer, after the break to see whether or not Marvel can still back up its audacious film goals.

Let me get this out of the way right now: this is the best damn movie to come out since The Avengers. Not just Marvel movie, but any movie.

Let that sink in for a moment. The masterpiece that was Joss Whedon's The Avengers was a work of craftsmanship that I thought no one could ever hope to match (damn me if I haven't memorized every line in that movie by this point). But director James Gunn has managed to not only come close, but match Whedon's excellent screenplay and directing to deliver what must be the shining pinnacle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 2. I'm having doubts as to whether or not The Avengers: Age of Ultron will manage to top this because honestly, it's going to be really, really tough.

Part Star Wars, part Firefly, just a hint of Indiana Jones - this movie just gets everything right. The directing is top-notch from James Gunn and the movie is absolutely hilarious, beating The Avengers as easily the funniest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry to date. The movie's humor takes up about 70% of the whole damn thing and that is a very, very good thing. It makes fun of all of the tropes and conventions associated with every genre that this movie dares to be - be it pulp sci if, comedy, action adventure, superhero, everything. The music is also top-notch and heavily contributes to the humor, with the juxtaposition of 70s-80s pop/rock (and associated pop culture references) with spaceships and laser guns blasting. You haven't lived until you see a space junker jumping around dancing to the tune of Come and Get Your Love while using an alien lizard as a microphone.

Speaking of, Chris Pratt headlines the film and is nothing short of amazing as Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord (though no one really calls him that). He's part-action hero, part-pop culture buster, and easily the funniest part of the movie. Zoe Saldana plays the part of Gamora, and rocks the part of the alien badass that could've easily become cheese if the role were played by somebody else. Rocket Raccoon (played by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (played by Vin Diesel) are the second-funniest duo on this ragtag team and I find their emotional and dramatic range to be surprisingly high considering their kind of just CG sock puppets. Also, I find it funny that they are easily the most recognizable actors in the film and they only do voice work. But the big revelation this time around is Dave Batista as Drax the Destroyer, whose background as an MMA fighter might make you think that he wouldn't do much with the role, but Batista absolutely kills it. His Drax can not only kick tons of ass but is believable, real, and sympathetic.

Unfortunately, the weak link of the cast this time around happens to be the villains. Doctor Who's Karen Gillan has a shockingly low amount of screen time (though maybe it was just my desire to see more of dear old Amy on the big screen), Korath even less so, and Ronan the Accuser - even though he's cool - falls in the same pit as Malekith from Thor: The Dark World and is just kind of a generic Hitler-esque baddie who wants to mess shit up. But Thanos? Oh, Thanos. The Mad Titan himself manages to salvage the villainous cast from out of mediocrity and into awesomeness. The weakness of the villains is largely the movie's only flaw, but even then, they all get their moments to shine (hell, one scene towards the end instantly jumps Ronan far higher on my list of Marvel villains, way above Malekith).

The action sequences in this movie are amazing. They are some of the absolute best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and they are a joy to watch. In fact, the action sequences show the exuberance and carefree attitude that this movie so gleefully takes to. It rubs shoulders with movies like The Avengers with such a Han Solo-like confidence that you can't help but grant it its wish of becoming that great movie that it works so tirelessly to be.

Special, special props have to be given to the soundtrack, which is simply amazing. It has to be the best motion picture soundtrack I've hear in an extremely long time and it is easily my new favorite (I couldn't even tell you what my old favorite was). It has all the bombastic energy, comedy, and enthusiasm that a movie like this needs and it is simply amazing. It's full of 60s and 70s tunes that might have seemed outdated in any other movie but fit Guardians like a glove, giving it a unique personality that few movies can ever dare to match.

Oh, man. This is such a good movie. I love this movie so much. I'm probably slightly biased, but I really don't care. This movie speaks to me on so many levels and I cannot wait to grab this thing on home video.

I give Guradians of the Galaxy nine-and-a-half talking raccoons with machines guns out of ten.

9.5/10

Now, Age of Ultron, let's see if you can measure up. You've got a hell of a pedigree to match up to, with Avengers, Winter Soldier, and Guardians. Come on, Joss. I know you can do it.