Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Based on a Marvel comic from the ‘60s and directed by James Gunn (who has a weird, almost B Movie background, writing credits including Slither, Scooby Doo and the Dawn of the Dead remake), Guardians of the Galaxy is the strangest, and by far the best Marvel film yet. Chris Pratt, known for playing the tubby, naïve and lovable Andy from Parks and Recreation plays Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, a roguish space thief who comes into the possession of a mysterious orb. He’s still naïve and lovable but now he’s absolutely ripped. With help from a team of space weirdoes, he must stop the evil Ronan (Lee Pace), who’s a bit like The Emperor from Star Wars from getting the orb, or shits gonna kick off.

It’s easy to compare it to Star Wars; there aren’t that many space operas. You’ve got a host of different aliens (most characters are made up with prosthetics, a few entirely CGI), space ships, evil guys with hoods and lasers going off everywhere. This is fine; Star Wars is great obviously, and the tone of GOTG is very different.

There are a lot of jokes, and Chris Pratt is absolutely hilarious. If you’ve seen Parks and Recreation it’s easy to imagine the whole film is going on inside Andy’s (Chris Pratt’s character) head, like he’s written a movie in which he plays a Han Solo type character but still having Andy’s boyish naivety. You also have a lot of comedy actors; Peter Serafinowicz and John C. Reilly play two army official types. I love Peter Serafinowicz and so everything he did I found funny, and having gotten used to seeing him almost exclusively in comedy I found myself giggling at everything he said even if it wasn’t a joke, as if he’s still in Spaced.

 The whole thing is grounded by a fantastic pop soundtrack, bringing familiarity to strange alien locations. Quill carries around a cassette player, and dances across the galaxy to his only tape: ‘awesome mix volume 1’. He sees this as part of his identity, his past on Earth, and serves to remind that he’s one of us. It also makes the film a delight to hear; one of the best parts of the film is the surprise when a great song starts playing. They’re almost all joyous, and all pre 1985. Blue Swede's ‘Hooked On A Feeling’, featuring prominently in the trailers perfectly captures the playfulness of the film.

The casting and the chemistry between the characters make the film. Peter Quill and Gamora (Star Trek’s Zoe Saldana) are constantly bickering, and have this will they-won’t they thing going on. He’s kind of goofy and cocky but she’s all business. Then you have the double act of Rocket (an unrecognisable Bradley Cooper doing a New York accent) who’s a smartass talking racoon weapons expert, and his mate Groot, a talking tree played by Vin Diesel (though he can only say ‘I am Groot’). Like Han and Chewie, Rocket translates for Groot. They also meet Drax (played by ex-wrestler Dave Bautista), a really muscly blue guy who wants to get revenge on Ronan, and takes everything literally like a hate-filled, body-building Vulcan. Chris Pratt is just perfect though; nobody could have played the role the same. He manages to pull off boyish goofiness while convincingly captaining a space ship or escaping from space prison. He makes you feel like you could do all of this, and his cited influences of Marty McFly and Han Solo perfectly sum him up.

Although part of the Disney Marvel universe it has none of the boredom that usually comes in the last third of a Marvel film, and the tone, partly due to the pre ‘80s soundtrack made it stand out. Sure there’s a big CGI ending but there’s enough interesting characters involved to keep you excited. While being hilarious it’s not all a big joke like the Pirates of The Carribean movies, and there’s a lot at stake. It manages to combine comedy, action and adventure in perfect proportions, all with plenty of retro heart.