To paraphrase "The Simpsons," there's only one thing for "Guardians Of The Galaxy" to do at a moment like this. Strut.
Confident without being cocky, heartfelt without being cloying, and fun without being mechanical, this work from director and cowriter James Gunn effectively kicks open the door to the Marvel machine and becomes the life of the party, oozing honest-to-god swagger.
Maybe it's the best yet from Marvel Studios. Maybe it isn't. But it's their one above all whose universe I can't wait to return to. This is the kind of movie you want to hang out with.
What's damn near miraculous about "Guardians" is you feel by the end that it's exactly the kind of movie it set out to be. Think about what a gargantuan effort your average $100+ million comic book movie is. The multiple scriptwriters ensuring everything fits the studio's grander vision. The massive sets requiring attention now or the massive green screens requiring CGI later. The marketing blitz to ensure you think the movie is a required event even if you secretly don't care.
You need not know how sausage is made to slice one open and see it ain't natural.
And yet "Guardians" seems less like the product of its parts than the result of a vision (in this case Gunn's). No visibly moving cogs. Just the kind of crisp, clean work you get when one creative center sits his team down and says, "You know what movies don't do enough? Get things right. Lets get everything right."
Crisp and clean. That's how I described "Guardians." But now also consider how friggin' dense this world is. This is not a timid movie when it comes to imagination. Gunn and his team created a world you want to play around in. Explore. Return to over and over to catch what you missed the first time.
And yet it all feels completely organic. Consider, for example, the "Star Wars" prequels (easy movies to take random shots at, my apologies). George Lucas absolutely crammed detail into the backgrounds of those movies like he could only buy visual effects in bulk from Costco. Any one shot, you could delve into with a magnifying glass. But to what end? Just because you can throw things on screen doesn't mean you should.
"Guardians" understands this and starts with a universe that feels like it already exists, working from the inside out as it brings everything to life. Sweeping, panoramic shots of these creations don't feel gratuitous or show-offy. They feel earned. To call "Guardians" beautiful isn't quite correct. It's specifically beautiful.
That's the setting. Now lets move on to what's in it. We've seen Marvel movies and know the broad strokes (evil villain, MacGuffin setting everything in motion, unwilling heroes that eventually accept their fate, colossal climax with I guess the fate of everything at stake). That's the window dressing. That's not the point. When we talk about "Guardians," we talk about attitude. Ultimately here is a movie giddy with its own existence, a movie that not only portrays characters with charming swagger but joins in and mirrors them.
By the time the usual explosive battle for the universe or whatever arrives, Gunn waves these major stakes aside with casual, even ballsy, indifference. "Guardians" cares not for such trivial things. Here is the rare third act in a comic book movie where everything big goes more or less according to plan, and what really matters boils down to character.
So where does that leave us? Five core characters whose basic elements and interactions you can likely glean from the trailers - brash, wannabe Han Solo-type Peter Quill (Chris Pratt, becoming a movie star before your eyes), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the potentially lethal but bound by righteousness alien, the humorously literal Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper), who fancies himself a badass despite majorly overcompensating, and a tree (Vin Diesel) whose name is Groot and has no qualms about reminding you of this. Creating five unique characters is one thing. Creating five unique characters who at first seem to only be types is something else entirely.
All five of these misfits embody a specific trait designed to sell easily in a preview, but Gunn isn't content to let these traits be the endpoint. Instead it's a stepping stone, leading us to what they're hiding beneath. Gunn doesn't allow anyone to remain their own bullet point. He starts with the basics, fleshes them out, and by the time we reach a roundtable scene marking the end of Act II where they discuss an impending battle plan, it's staged with the joy of five carefully drawn individuals repeatedly stealing the scene from each other.
Ultimately I'm just so happy this movie exists. I really am. I'm happy it's so funny, bring much needed levity to a genre that forgets it's about men in costume running away from green screens. I'm happy Chris Pratt now has a movie career that can last as long as he wants. I'm happy we have a summer blockbuster with such a freewheeling sense of fun that's infectious instead of forced.
"Guardians Of The Galaxy" throws down the gauntlet. Here's where the Marvel Cinematic Universe can go, folks. No turning back now.
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