Posted in: Movies | Tagged: comedy, drax, entertainment, film, guardians of the galaxy, james gunn, marvel, rocket raccoon

Guardians Of The Galaxy Is Funny And Heartfelt, But May Be Praised For The Wrong Reasons

By Patrick Dane

Guardians of the Galaxy is great. Really great. The buzz you've been hearing online is just about spot on. Lets get that out of the way first.

Now, allow me to expound on that.

I've been lucky enough to catch the movie twice already, which is good because the first time I literally couldn't hear some of the punchlines over the laughter ringing through the cinema. This is easily the funniest movie Marvel have produced, but to say it's a straight up comedy is a disservice to the emotional heart within.

When it was announced two years ago, I must confess I had no idea what a Guardian of the Galaxy was. Perhaps that is heresy on a website devoted to comic books, but I doubt anyone of you would have pinned the Guardians as the next big Marvel franchise. Now, these five rag tag heroes are about to to be mega-players in the house of Marvel. That isn't just by proxy of exposure either. The Guardians of the Galaxy, for my money, is the second best Marvel movie out there (after Joss Whedon's The Avengers.) That is in part due to the fun of the film, but mostly due to the fleshed out characters James Gunn has brought to the screen. This is a smart movie and not even in the ways that are immediately obvious.

Let me tackle some of those obvious readings though. The film is full of humour. It has great punchlines that come from character interactions as well as taking self knowing jabs at The Avengers team up formula. Chris Pratt is inspired as Starlord and everything you've heard about Rocket is correct. He is a crowd-pleaser through and through, probably the best in this universe since Tom Hiddleston's Loki or even Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark.

However, my general pet peeve about the movie has nothing to do with the film at all, but more the reasons the film has been praised. Yes, it is 'fun' and Rocket Raccoon has the most jokes. To me that feels like it is selling it short though. I even feel Rocket's best scene, where he is drunk at a bar and expressing his hurt at being called "vermin", is drowned out by the praise for some of his funnier scenes. In honesty though, Drax is the real revelation. Dave Bautista has shown he is a great actor outside of his wrestling confines. Drax has a quiet and subtle arch that is given emotional heft by Bautista. His comedic timing when exploring the literal nature of Drax is great, but he also brings a genuine gravitas to the role. He is a star in the making and if you look over my interview on the red carpet, I think you will see that.

All this praise is missing the real star of the show, James Gunn. This is a Marvel movie that feels 'directed', which is quite rare in a universe where the studio is so heavily involved. There is a clear voice being expressed by Gunn that comes through in great scripting and narrative handling. There are often several plates spinning at once and he always brings the right plate into focus at the right time. With Yondu, Xandar, The Collector, Thanos, Nova Corps, Ronan the Accuser and the Guardians themselves being separate focuses, Gunn weaves the narrative with confidence. Guardians of the Galaxy might not mean a lot for the wider Marvel Universe or even have deeper subtext, but it is a great character study that balances giving audiences answers to the broader questions of the universe and focusing on the characters Gunn has brought to screen.

To add to that, Gunn's staging of action scenes are great and the film boasts some of the best cinematography in a Marvel film so far. This is a movie that uses smart and considered film language, which is becoming rarer and rarer in Hollywood blockbusters.

The real credit to Guardians of the Galaxy is that even though it has laughs and is "fun" as you will no doubt see bandied about in reviews, it also holds up as a film. It is a great piece of space adventure filmmaking and helps elevate the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in the process. I'm excited to hear that the film will get a sequel. You could base a whole cinematic universe around the Guardians of the Galaxy. It is also incredibly exciting to see that James Gunn is returning too. That is the real key to this saga and its encouraging to see his voice will be guiding more stories.

So yeah, like I said up top, go see it. Preferably at the cinema too. This is a big adventure that should be supported by audiences. Make sure you are one of them.

Patrick Dane, once a would be filmmaker, has somewhat accidentally found himself as an entertainment journalist over the past two years. You may recognize him from around these parts, or you may not. Who's counting? From E3 to SDCC to the Top Gear track, Patrick has explored the world of entertainment wherever it has taken him. He is always happy to talk words at you. Hopefully the ones above will suffice your needs.

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