Close encounters of the Marvel kind! They took such a risk with this film. Setting the action in outer space. Introducing audiences to a ton of obscure cosmic characters. But every single risk paid off in a big way, because Guardians of the Galaxy is a phenomenal thrillride of pure fun. I’ll admit to being skeptical when the movie was first announced. But every doubt has been laid to rest with this exciting film. It never slows down, it never feels too forced or weird, and most of all, it has the biggest, most beautiful personality of any Marvel movie yet. This film is all about style and substance.

Guardians of the Galaxy is the laugh-out-loud funniest movie of the year. Parts of it are underdeveloped, but the titular team is the most entertaining ensemble since Serenity.

Movie Rating: 9/10 – Great.

If you’ve never read any of the comics, don’t worry, because none of them matter. Guardians of the Galaxy is its own movie, and you don’t need to know any back story or worry about any comic books to enjoy the film on its own. If you have read the comics, and you know your Cosmic Marvel Universe inside and out, you’re going to want to let go of what you already know. Guardians of the Galaxy makes plenty of changes and alters more than a few characters and concepts. If you hold on to your comic book continuity, it’s just going to be an albatross around your neck.

Embrace Guardians of the Galaxy for what it is: an action-packed romp that raises comedic banter to an art form. I can’t remember the last movie that was this cleverly written. Every Marvel movie has included a bit of humor, whether it’s the occasional one-liner or pratfall. But Guardians of the Galaxy is just flat out hilarious. And almost all of it is character based. When the main characters get going, when the quips and barbs start flying, the film shines like the night sky. If you thought the trailers were witty and fun, they were just the tip of the iceberg. The dialogue in this movie is brilliant, and the actors all shine, making the absolute most of what they’re given.

At least that’s the case for the Guardians themselves. They’re the best part of the film. But everything around them — from Nebula to Knowhere to the Nova Corps — is woefully underdeveloped. The movie basically has some big rubber stamps labeled ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’, and after stamping almost all of the supporting characters, it goes back to writing witty dialogue for the Guardians.

Which is exactly why you should see this movie! It’s just plain funny, with a soundtrack of classic 70s and 80s hits that elevate Guardians of the Galaxy into the gem of the summer.

Join me after the jump for my full review. There will be some SPOILERS from here on out, so read at your own risk, movie fans!

The Guardians of the Galaxy immediately cement themselves in film history as one of the most entertaining and enjoyable ensembles put on screen. Each character gets a chance to shine, and everyone is written and acted spectacularly. Whether they’re delivering snappy one-liners or having full conversations about the blowing up moons or invading the bad guy HQ, the banter crackles with life and wit.

I missed several good lines because the audience was laughing so hard.

Laughing with them

Storywise, the Guardians of the Galaxy are a ragtag team of space characters who find themselves teaming up to get their hands on a mysterious space orb, which they hope to sell for a big payout. But when they discover that the orb hides an Infinity Gem, and that the villainous Ronan wants to use it to destroy the galaxy, the team sticks together to save the day for the good of everybody.

It’s a fairly simple plot, and some people might get annoyed by the fact that yet another Marvel movie is about a magical Macguffin. But those of us with a comic book background know that all of these Macguffins – the Tesseract, the Ether from Thor: The Dark World and this orb – are all parts of a much larger story, possibly being saved for Avengers 3.

Let go of my heart, you handsome devil

Chris Pratt should become a household name after this film (and this year, frankly). He lights up the screen as Star-Lord, proving that lead characters don’t have to be bland nobodies. Zoe Saldana’s Gamora is the right mix of sexy and ass-kicker, and even gets some of the funny lines. There’s an extended bit about the movie Footloose that is so rich it might as well be made of chocolate. Dave Bautista, the wrestler, has a few great comedic bits as Drax the Destroyer, but I think he was the least interesting of the five. I still don’t like his alien design.

The real standouts are the CGI aliens Rocket Raccoon and Groot the tree. Voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, these are two fully-realized creations that steal almost every scene they’re in. Obviously Marvel and director James Gunn knew Rocket was going to be a tricky character to introduce to audiences, so they must have overcompensated with how awesome they could make him. Every time he opens his mouth is a new delight, and he gets most of the best lines and jokes.

Voiced by an Oscar nominated actor

Unfortunately, whereas the Guardians themselves are the best part of the film, everything around them is underdeveloped. Especially main villain Ronan the Accuser, played by Lee Pace. Ronan is just an angry, raving madman of a villain dressed in black. He doesn’t have much of a personality, and his motivations are either boringly bland or buried in untouchable space logic. More on that in a minute. But Ronan is just generally evil and wants to do evil things, so he has to be stopped; that’s the entirety of the movie’s central conflict.

Marvel has a villain problem. Between Ronan in this film and Malaketh in Thor: The Dark World, Marvel just can’t seem to make a memorable villain. They succeeded spectacularly with Tom Hiddleston as Loki, but they know they can’t just keep making new Lokis. So what can they do?

Frankly, it seems to me that they’re focusing on making their heroes the true stars of the movies, which is great. I can remember a time when people only cared about Batman movies because of how wicked the new villain would be. Batman was an afterthought. Not so in Marvel movies!

Wipe that smudge off your face, Lee

Ronan’s vague motivations also tie into the shallowness of the rest of the universe in Guardians of the Galaxy. It all looks great, with CGI spaceships, alien landscapes, big gleaming cities and the like, but my brain just glosses over big CGI set pieces. They don’t wow me anymore. Likewise, I’m not all that interested in generic space alien civilizations, especially when they’re basically just space humans.

It’s offhandedly mentioned that Ronan is a Kree, and that the Kree have signed a peace treaty with the planet Xandar, and Ronan is mad about that. But who cares? The movie definitely doesn’t. Xandar is the home of the Nova Corps, and they are one of the biggest changes from the comics. The Nova Corps is no longer an intergalactic police force filled with all sorts of aliens. Now they are basically just the Xandarian military/police, and most of them look human. John C. Reilly gets a few good lines/jokes as one of the Nova officers, but Glenn Close is just there to cash a paycheck as Nova Prime.

Take it and get out

For a galaxy that is clearly vast and diverse, it’s a little weird that the only force for good seems to be a single city on a single planet.

And while I’m on the subject, very little effort is ever made to make the aliens look like aliens. Everybody is basically just human, even though only Star-Lord is from planet Earth. It’s the Star Trek style where aliens are just humans + weird makeup (or CGI). This fact isn’t a deal breaker, but it means space isn’t all that diverse or as interesting as it could be.

Likewise, all other ancillary characters get only the briefest of depth. Benicio del Toro shows up as the Collector, but he’s only there to finally explain the Infinity Gems to the audience. He disappears from the film just as quickly as he showed up. Thanos makes a brief appearance, but I was a little let down by him. I’m not sure why. But he’s not very imposing or threatening, nor is it made all that clear that he’s the same character who showed up at the end of The Avengers.

Despite the distinguishing chin

It doesn’t help that everybody spends the movie betraying Thanos with no consequences. Both Gamora and Nebula, played by Karen Gillan, are ‘daughters’ to Thanos, but they both betray him without a second thought, and for different reasons. It’s a little confusing. Likewise, Ronan turns on Thanos the very moment he has the power, and the most it gets him is Thanos gruffly hanging up the space phone.

I was hoping we’d get a tease at the end of Thanos gathering the known Infinity Gems, but no such luck.

Despite the lack of development for most of the side characters, places and plots, Guardians of the Galaxy is still an incredibly fun film. The focus is almost always on its heroes, and like I said, they are the perfect team-up of action and comedy. You believe their growing friendship, and not every relationship on the team revolves around Star-Lord. There’s a scene where Rocket, Drax and Groot have to decide the fate of the film, and it’s just as much fun as I could have hoped.

Oh hey, I never mentioned these guys…

Most importantly, Guardians of the Galaxy has heart. It believes in its characters and the strength of their teamwork. The movie throws all manner of crazy cosmic action at its heroes – and the big, action-packed finale is especially awesome – and it trusts that the audience is going to stick along for the ride, and not just zone out at all the pretty lights.

Ten minutes into Guardians of the Galaxy and you’re going to be hooked…perhaps even, hooked on a feeling.

—————————