Who of the Where? (Guardians of the Galaxy review)

     Hi there, friends! It's been a while since I've done any Marvel movies in summary and I figured I should get back on a more normal schedule. I won't be doing all of them anymore I don't think, just because there's a lot to write about in all of these movies, but I'll at least write about the ones that stand out to me, while maybe paraphrasing others that may be important for the future. The last post I wrote about Captain America: Winter Soldier, and today I'm going to write on the next movie in sequence, Guardians of the Galaxy. I think it's fair to say that not many people knew about this team before this movie came out, but thanks to the stellar cast and directorship of James Gunn, this made quite the splash when it came out, and today I'd like to dive into why I think that is. Strap on your jetpack and get your classic tunes ready to play because today, we're going to space!

The Black Sheep of the MCU!

    In most Marvel movies with characters that haven't had a movie, we have to see how they got their start. That doesn't apply to this one, however. We follow Peter Quill, a boy from the US who is abducted from Earth as a child and raised by Ravagers (think space pirates) to be a "legendary outlaw," called Star Lord. He's already ascended to his title when the movie begins and he quickly steals a certain relic from an Indiana Jones-style temple and is apprehended by a group of bounty hunters, eventually being captured by the Galactic patrol known as the Nova Corps. It's here on planet Xandar that Quill meets three members of this team up. Rocket, a talking raccoon with a thing for guns, Groot, a walking tree that can basically only say his name, and Gamora, the daughter of Thanos. The four of them are taken to a prison compound where they meet many unsavory characters and team up with Drax the Destroyer to break out. All the while one of Thanos's lieutenants, a Kree accuser named Ronan is hunting for the stone that Peter stole from the temple, as it is actually an Infinity Stone sealed inside a large sphere. Along with Ronan, Gamora's demented cyborg sister, Nebula, is also chasing these unlikely heroes to prove herself to her father, Thanos. 

    There are a lot of big action sequences here and maybe not the simplest plot to understand to tell the truth, so I'll hit some more key moments. Star-Lord and Gamora have a moment where they listen to music and dance along, it's very sweet, will they or won't they? They won't, because Drax wants to kill Ronan after he was responsible for the death of his wife and daughter, so he calls Ronan and tells him where they are and that they have the thing that he's looking for. Ronan and a whole fleet of ships come in, cause all kinds of havoc in the spaceport where they are, and steal the stone from it's hiding place. Nebula takes Gamora with her on the ship and they both head to Xandar with Ronan. Drax is defeated again, but realizes through this second defeat at the hands of Ronan that he can't do it alone, and can only do it with the rest of the team. Ronan vows to destroy Xandar for trying to defy him, but he's blocked by the Nova Corps. which Star Lord sent word to, even though they aren't on very good terms. The Nova blockade only lasts for so long and eventually they're all wiped out as Ronan gets down to the planet. Star lord, Rocket, Drax and Groot go to save Gamora on the ship (maybe because Quill has the hots for her, maybe not), then the ship gets blasted due to the power of the stone on board the ship. As the team falls to the planet on the crashing ship, Groot wraps them all up with a ball of branches to cushion them for impact, saying instead of "I am Groot," he says, "We are Groot." Groot dies from the crash landing, but the other four survive as Ronan is beginning to terrorize the planet with the unlocked might of this "Power Stone." Star Lord is able to contain the blast somehow without dying right away, but he quickly begins getting overwhelmed by the power, which is then relieved by his teammates who are able to take it from Ronan and seal it away again. Peter's resilience against the might of an infinity stone leads the people of the universe (as well as the audience) to wonder just who exactly his father is. In the aftermath, everything goes back to normal after Ronan is defeated, and a new Groot begins to sprout in a pot near where Drax is listening to music and dances, though stops when Drax turns to look at him. Get used to little cute things like that, friends. You'll be seeing a lot of him in the sequel.

Cast and Crew make this Gem shine!

    This movie was based on a really obscure Marvel Comics property, and it could have easily flopped if it wasn't for the brilliant writing and direction for the movie, all brought together under James Gunn's lead. Chris Pratt had quite a change from how he was viewed in Parks and Recreation which he was on at the time, and this kicked off his career as action/comedy hero. Following his lead role here as Star Lord, the next year, he starred in Jurassic World. Zoe Saldana stars here as the ferocious warrior and adopted daughter of Thanos, Gamora, and she honestly is great in just about everything she's in, including this. Pro Wrestler Dave Bautista steps into this movie as Drax, and generally is just hysterical in every scene with his literal nature and general bluntness. Following this, the base cast is rounded out by two CGI characters, Rocket Raccoon, voiced by the incredible Bradley Cooper, breathing life into the hilariously crass mammal, and Groot which is voiced by Vin Diesel. It's hilarious that they got Mr. Diesel for this role considering he only has three words that he repeats over and over, and they probably could have gotten anyone to do it.

     The supporting cast has a lot of clout in it's own right, Quill's ravager Guardian, Yondu was played by Michael Rooker, bringing a southern flair to this lethal character with a magic arrow. Lee Pace plays the villainous Ronan, who I've heard incredible things about though I'm not sure I've seen him in much other than this. Karen Gillan plays Nebula, the cyborg assassin, and as a huge fan of hers from when she was in Doctor Who, I cannot overstate how much I love that she's getting more work and attention overall from these movies. The Nova Corps. has quite a bit of star power as well, with Glenn Close playing the leader of the corps, Nova Prime, and with John C. Reilly as one of the main members of the corps that we see, there were so many big names in here that most of them didn't get much screen time. Benecio Del Toro is the eccentric Collector, and he does a great job in the role, though again, he isn't given a lot of time other than them just discussing putting the stone in his collection for hiding. The cast is crazy, as I already said, and it's clear that a lot of big names really were interested in James Gunn's vision for this corner of the MCU, and it truly made all the difference in the world.

    Guardians of the Galaxy was certainly a strange choice for a property to put into the MCU, which until this point, had very few characters included that weren't already in the pop-culture zeitgeist. This opened the door for some interesting inclusions in the future that we see the closer we get into the end of Phase 2 and the beginning of Phase 3. Oh, My dad really liked this movie too, by the way. He finds Chris Pratt to be annoying, but I think he liked the movie a lot overall.

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends! I hope you'll all have a wonderful week until I talk to you again. This movie was interesting to rewatch because there were a lot of things that I had forgotten about, and that helped to grow the character of Star Lord, and his relationships to his team a lot overall. I've actually finished showing my dad all of the Marvel movies now, so I'm a bit behind schedule, but that's fine. As long as the movies remain fresh in my mind, I think these posts will hopefully still be interesting. I've been your Self-Proclaimed Legendary Outlaw, and I'll talk to you next week!