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When I started learning English, comics were a fun way for me to improve my vocabulary while enjoying a good story. When I started reading the Annihilation series, I was hooked from the first page, until finally The Guardians of the Galaxy came along and stole my heart completely. So naturally, like each time when an adaptation is announced, I was extra worried about what the final result would be.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a never-ending source of fun and awesomeness! We follow Starlord (aka Peter Quill) in his adventures with his bunch of “A-Holes” to save the Galaxy from the wrath of the Kree-fanatic Ronan the Accuser. It isn’t perfect, but It’s the best Marvel movie made so far. It’s very funny, there’s a lot of action, and even if it runs a bit low on story, you are never disappointed or let down.
I’ll start by saying that the CGI is pretty amazing. I always thought it would be difficult to recreate some of what we can see in the comics, but they did it brilliantly, going from the representation of their galaxy to the characters. Xandar, Knowhere, Space, the Ships etc.. everything is beautiful. As for Groot and Rocket Raccoon, in addition to being the best characters, the motion capture and animation is stunning.
Speaking of the cast, they are all amazing, maybe a little bit typecast, but nonetheless their performances were spot on. Seriously, I couldn’t have asked for a better Peter Quill than Chris Pratt, or for better voices, done by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel (and I was pleasantly surprised by that), and the dynamic between Gamora and Drax (Zoe Saldana/Dave Batista) is great. I still regret the absence of some characters present in the comics, but all hope is not lost as a sequel is already planned for 2017 (Adam Warlock maybe? Quasar? Moondragon? Nova?).
The spirit of the comic is honoured and respected, even if they took some major turns on the actual story, to probably fit in better with the Avengers/Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Many Easter Eggs can be found in the Guardians of the Galaxy, like Cosmo the Space Dog, Howard the Duck, the Morag planet referring to one of the first Kree leaders or the Celestials. Some great cameos as well, with Sean Gunn as Yondu’s sidekick, or Nathan Fillion (did you find him?), and one of my favourite, Emmett Scanlan as one of the prison guards (Shout out to any In the Flesh fans). I just had a lot of fun spotting out those little details.
It’s not perfect, and can feel like a super-hero movie parody with ridiculous villains, but it’s good to see a Marvel film not taking things too seriously. I was laughing and enjoying myself, as well as getting attached to those characters. You care for them and root for them. You can feel the love and effort that James Gunn put into that movie, and It’s awesome getting out of the cinema with the image of little Groot dancing in his pot, dreaming of what the future episode has in store for us.
Rating : 4.5/5
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