Review for Guardians Of The Galaxy

Introduction

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve shied away from the cinema in recent years. Putting the whole cinema etiquette and overpricing complaints to one side, I’ve become disillusioned by the current state of the summer comic book action movie blockbuster genre that I so used to love when I was younger, and which still makes up a majority of my movie collection. Somewhere along the way, commercialism seemed to kill whatever remaining originality and creativity there was, and the designed by committee feel of all the sequels, remakes and adaptations did away with any remaining interest that I had. It’s notable that the biggest movie of the year, nay decade, Star Wars The Force Awakens still hasn’t managed to tempt me into the cinema, and what I’ve read about it (I stopped caring about spoilers a long time ago with Star Wars, after I managed through desperation not to spoiled for The Phantom Menace, only to be let down by the actual movie) has actually put me off a little. Now when it comes to big screen blockbusters, I tend to discover them long after the initial hype has died down.


Guardians of the Galaxy is a case in point. I was certainly aware of the fervour for the film when it was released, the “Better Star Wars than Star Wars” accolades it was getting from fans and critics alike, and I have to admit that the trailers certainly appealed to me. On top of that, never having heard of the comics, it might as well have been a completely original property for me, something that I rarely find in mainstream cinema. But eschewing the hyperbole, I chose to avoid the film, and instead just kept an eye on the reviews, to wait for the inevitable backlash to occur. It’s when that backlash didn’t come that I finally relented and waited for a decent sale to place an order. Only it turns out that Disney own Marvel now, and you know what they are like at discounting discs. It took well over a year for that initial pre-release discount to be breached! Now I get to find out if Guardians of the Galaxy really is the next big thing.


Peter Quill hasn’t had the best childhood, brought up in a single parent family, then losing his mother at an early age. All that he has to remember her by is a mixtape of her favourite songs. On top of that, the night that she died in 1988, is the night that Peter was abducted by aliens. And in the present day, he’s an intergalactic outlaw going by the sobriquet Star Lord, having been raised by the Ravagers that took him from Earth, and making his way through life engaging in petty crime.


It seems to be an easy score, recovering an orb from a ruined world, but it’s an orb that Galactic Warlord Ronan wants, so that he can further his mission of vengeance. It’s an orb that is coveted by collectors and by getting it first Peter has just opened a major can of worms. He’s got a walking tree named Groot, and a cybernetically enhanced sentient racoon named Rocket looking to collect the bounty on his head, and then Ronan’s lieutenant Gamora shows up looking for the orb. Drax the Destroyer wants revenge for the family that Ronan took from him, and this is just the small stuff. With whole armies looking for the orb, these five misfits will have to team up just to stay alive, as long as they don’t kill each other first.

The Disc

Guardians of the Galaxy gets a 2.40:1 widescreen 1080p transfer on this disc. It was shot for IMAX distribution, with scenes that open up in scope to take advantage of that format, but to get that version you’ll need to buy the Guardians of the Galaxy 3D disc. It’s not on the 2D version. I have no nits whatsoever to pick with the transfer. The image is clear and sharp throughout, the vivid colour palette of the film coming across well, and the HD format more than up to the task of bringing out the detail and visual splendour of the film without being compromised by compression, banding and the like. It’s an impeccable visual experience and an impeccable audio experience too, with the DTS-HD MA 7.1 English surround audio a couple of speakers beyond my capabilities, but the surround really immersing the viewer in the film. The action is quite splendid, the film’s iconic music soundtrack comes over well, and the dialogue is clear throughout. You also get DTS 5.1 Spanish, DD 5.1 Hindi, and DD 2.0 Audio Descriptive English, along with a handful of subtitle languages.

Extras

The disc autoplays with a trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and you can find it again in the Sneak Peeks section of the disc, along with a trailer for a Marvel Heroes videogame.

The disc boots to a slightly animated menu, and the player also holds the place on the disc in memory after being ejected. A little widget will pop-up when the film is paused or if you skip through it.

There are a couple of nice featurettes on the disc, a Guide to the Galaxy With James Gunn which lasts 20:56 and works as a nice behind the scenes, making of.

The Intergalactic Visual Effects actually looks at two aspects that the making of misses out on, Groot and Rocket, although there’s less emphasis on the actual effects work than on the actors Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper.

There’s also an extended look at Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is a 2:17 behind the scenes featurette.

There are 5 Deleted or Extended Scenes to the film running to 4:22, and a 3:54 Gag Reel which is actually funny. All of the video extras are in 1080p HD.

The biggest extra is the audio commentary from Director James Gunn, and other than his predilection for name-checking all of his close friends working on the movie (practically the entire cast and crew), it’s an interesting and well put together commentary track.

Conclusion

I experienced something that I haven’t done in a long time when it comes to mainstream Hollywood cinema. I had fun watching a movie! Some of it is down to having no preconceptions, no experience with the comics, no other movie version of the story to compare it to, and obviously no prequel. It’s my first time with these characters and this story world and I can take it at face value. But most of it is down to just how accomplished the film is. It is a comic book movie, so naturally the story is hardly the most original, a doomsday weapon, and evil villain (plus minions), and a band of unlikely heroes coming together to put a stop to his evil plans. But the writing is top notch, the story put together well, paced perfectly and without a trace of excess weight. It also looks fantastic, the production design is excellent, imaginative, colourful, and draws the viewer in. The music plays a massive part, grounding a fantasy film in a recognisable vernacular. But above all else, the characters come first. This is a film that takes the time to develop the characters, to get the viewer involved and emotionally invested in them, and it pays dividends by the end of the film, where what could be a generic ‘everything explodes’ finale becomes something that has you on the edge of your seat.


One thing that certainly stood out for me is how well the digital effects worked in this film. Things certainly have come a long way since the days of the Star Wars prequels and the digital backlot, when overly CGI’d scenes looked like cartoons, and where the actors just didn’t interact with their environments. Getting us to care about the characters is half of the work, but the CGI in Guardians of the Galaxy is seamless. The digital effects have now truly just become another tool in the storyteller’s toolbox, no longer drawing attention to themselves as a selling point of the movie. Not only Rocket and Groot, but all the digital characters, and the digitally enhanced actors truly exist within the confines of the film frame. The sets and environments, whether real, digitally enhanced, or wholly digital all look equally immersive and interactive, and it all fades into the background of the story and the characters.


By far what I like most about the movie is its irreverent tone. Not that the film has its tongue in cheek, or winks at the audience (although one or two references do fly), it’s that this is a group of anti-heroes saving the galaxy, the last and the worst so to speak, so there’s a delicious banter between the characters, no little sarcasm, and a whole lot of wit. It’s a film where the dialogue has just as much impact as the action and effects, which is a rare thing to see in a summer blockbuster.


The comparisons certainly flew thick and fast when the film was released, with many people pointing at it as the best Star Wars film that George Lucas never made. Its cast of anti-heroes holds more in common with Firefly and Serenity though, while the visual splendour and sense of fun in the film calls to mind another Technicolor sci-fi of recent years, The Fifth Element. But when I see the character of Peter Quill, a little grungy, a life revolving around sex and self-aggrandisement, and the pursuit of wealth, and also effectively the only human in an alien galaxy, I begin to wonder what a Red Dwarf movie would have been like if it had a $200 million budget.


Despite my pleas for originality and risk taking in Hollywood, I’m going to reveal myself as a hypocrite when I say that after watching Guardians of the Galaxy on this impeccable Blu-ray, I’m looking forward to the sequel.