Want to have some comic book fun this holiday season? Make sure you pick-up the new “Guardians of the Galaxy” combo pack in your shopping bag. This latest release which continues the long form storytelling Marvel Films have been releasing tells the story of five unlikely heroes bound together to save the galaxy. I for one have really been looking forward to seeing this installment because it included a number of elements from some very successful films, the serious tone of Captain America, the outer space environment of Star Wars, a bit of irreverent humor and a killer soundtrack.
The story is, as with other Marvel stories, pulled from a compilation of comic books by the same name to re-tell the coming of age of Peter Quill, aka Star Lord, as the leader of this group of outlaw heroes. Without giving away too much of the plot, Peter soon finds himself at the center of several most wanted lists. This leads to this band of misfits finding each other and then learning how “we” are better than “me.”
I found the message in this film to be well thought out even if the delivery of it was at times campy. The combination of all of the agendas for each of the characters always proves to be difficult and there are always one or two characters that suffer for it, but this film for the most part does justice to each of the character back stories and delivers enough on each of them to not only warrant the outcomes of this film but become the vehicles for future films containing the entire group or as solo films as has recently been hinted at for Rocket and Groot.
Of course we all knew this group would be back for more fun when the title card at the end of the film flat out told us, reminiscent of the Back to the Future series that did the same thing. I also think that it is very likely that this group of heroes will end up at some point and in some way running into Earth’s mightiest heroes, The Avengers, since they share a common enemy in Thanos and clearly the MacGuffin of this film is an Infinity Stone.
The cherry on the top of this action packed comic book romp is the soundtrack. There are some songs that just ooze tone and energy, and when used correctly in a film it becomes hard to hear that song without thinking of that scene in a movie, Quentin Tarantino is the master of this, I mean can you really hear “Stuck in the Middle With You” and not dance like Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs?
“Guardians of the Galaxy” did very much the same thing, but better. Why better? The music wasn’t just used to further drive tone or energy, it has character driven meaning to the film. Maybe it was simply a contrived plot device but I bought into it. I believed it meant something to Quill, it was part of who he was, it was all he had from his stolen childhood and he was clinging to it. The fact that it blended into the scenes so perfectly means that co-writer and director James Gunn knows how to not only pull an audience into the scene and make them feel what the character is feeling but he knows how to make us have fun AND root for the characters to accomplish what they need at the same time.
Checking off all of those boxes is a hard thing to do. Most films will be able to find one or two but this one has them all. I just can’t wait to hear what is on the rest of “Awesome Mix Vol. 2”.
The release includes a number of the standard bonus feature fare but also touches upon a small clip of the coming soon Avengers 2 not to mention two fun mid and post credit scenes. If you did not stay in the theater until the VERY end of the credits (or you have been living under a rock when the film first came out) you may have missed what was quite possibly the most exciting and unexpected surprise to come out of this film.
I would recommend “Guardians of the Galaxy” to an older audience, there are several darker moments and some speak that may be harder to follow for some younger viewers, but they will find the fun in it even though they will not have any prior knowledge to these characters as they may have with “The Avengers” combo or standalone films.
Released on Dec. 9, 2014, “Guardians of the Galaxy” is one that you should have already picked up or hopefully gotten for Christmas. If not, the recommendation to get your own copy is there!
I would give “Guardians of the Galaxy” 4 out of 5 Mickey heads!
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