Wednesday, February 03, 2016

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Gist: A group of misfits, brought together by greed and revenge, end up fighting off a powerful warrior, bent on wiping an entire civilization off the map.

Guardians of the Galaxy has been praised by critics and loved by audiences ever since it came out, so I was really looking forward to watching it.

Boy, was I pleased with the film. As far as comic book adaptations go, this is by far one of the best I've ever seen.

As usual, I don't know the original material, in fact I had never even heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book, so I'll have to assume that the mix of serious storylines with abundant comic relief is a key feature of it.

Regardless, almost unexpectedly, the mix of serious and funny is balanced exceedingly well in the movie. Every time there is a gag or a funny joke, it's so organic, it works perfectly and endears the characters to the audience even more.

Hollywood's latest golden boy, Chris Pratt, is absolutely the best guy to fill the shoes of Star-Lord. Zoe Saldana is perfect as Gamora, and sci-fi seems to suit her very well. Dave Bautista and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel also are very well suited.

The cast includes many more big names, but I'd like to mention Lee Pace as the anti-hero since he's riveting in his portrayal. What a voice that actor has. When I finally recognized him as the Elf King Thranduil from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, I immediately remembered really enjoying his screen presence.

The Bottom LineGuardians of the Galaxy is an absolute gem as far as this genre goes. It's wonderfully written and pieced together. The only time I felt like there was a gaping hole in the plot, it was cleverly explained (and justified) in the following scene. The visual effects are tremendous too so overall it's a definite must-see.

Grade: 9

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