When the title "Guardians Of The Galaxy" took over the whole screen and Chris Pratt's Star-Lord was dancing right at the bottom to his Walkman, that's when I was sure this was going to be something special from James Gunn.
This was an important movie. This was the first test for Marvel in what I called the 3 tests to invincible status. This was Marvel biting the bullet, risking it all on an unknown Marvel title, even by comic book fans; and creating a sci-fi space opera that could have really gone either way during conception.
But oh my, did Gunn pull it off! With a talking raccoon and an animated tree, this had to be an off-beat take created in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And Gunn hit all the right notes.
The cast was perfect. A buffed up Pratt looked the part of the superhero. Zoe Saldana always looks like a superhero. Dave Bautista, a wrestler not experienced in front of the camera, was directed so well by Gunn. I didn't hear Bradley Cooper at all when Rocket Raccoon spoke. Even Vin Diesel's three-word acting was awesome.
Then there's Lee Pace, whose acting came mostly from his body and posture because his expressions were painted away. Just the way he stood sometimes made him looked even more terrifying. Karen Gillan looked and was badass, again directed very well by Gunn. Rounding up the super-being pack was Djimon Hounsou and Michael Rooker who both performed well.
And Josh Brolin did indeed do some motion-capture for Thanos. I thought they did Thanos brilliantly. Can't wait to see more of him in The Avengers.
There were so many other notable names as well, like John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, and Benicio Del Toro. Unfortunately not all of them had their time to shine. Especially an actor like Close, that's all she was there for? She will probably be back in the sequel but still, I thought she was under utilised.
Hounsou here reminded me of Idris Elba. Such talent but not really fully utilised. But at least you can feel Elba's presence in Thor. Hounsou, here, not so much.
As for the fight scenes, I was very disappointed. After something so fantastic in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I was left wanting a little bit more especially from Hounsou and the duel between Saldana and Gillan.
I also wished Gunn and writing partner Nicole Perlman kept the script a little bit tighter and the ending a bit more climactic. There were quite a few times I found a bit hard to keep up with the story and confusing character names. All the location names were new to viewers as well but they were never really distinguished.
Nevertheless, those were minor problems in the grand scheme of things. This movie was just so much fun. And this was all Gunn. He created this world that, confusing or not, it felt huge and it was worthy of a galaxy. The dialogue, especially with Rocket and Drax, was just a comedic treat.
And the spacecraft battles, I haven't felt anything like this since Star Wars!
I will definitely catch this again, maybe tomorrow. One final thought; Pratt's character referenced a few actors like Kevin Bacon and John Stamos, I believe he named his ship after Alyssa Milano from her Who's The Boss? days because I grew up with a crush on her too!
And I think I was right. For other Easter eggs Gunn threw in, check out this list put together by Yahoo! Movies. Contain spoilers.
The soundtrack was great. And the humour was quirky and fantastic. Very James Gunn-y.
Another final thought; there's this very pretty brunette that kept grabbing my attention in the meeting rooms of Xandar. She had no lines but yet, her beauty transcended the silver screen. She is Nicole Alexandra Shipley. Not sure where I'm going with this so I'm going to end it here.
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Spoiler section!
You won't miss Stan Lee's cameo here for sure, but you might miss Gunn's buddy Nathan Fillion voicing the large inmate.
And this was the second time in a Marvel movie that few people in the cinema got the final stinger after the credits rolled. The first was X-Men: Days Of Future Past, where nobody knew that was Apocalypse. And here not many people knew about Howard The Duck.
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