My Obligatory Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Yesterday the family got out to the movies. Do I need to tell you what movie we saw? Read the post title.

As the internet is flooded with reviews for this movie already, I will do what I can to offer some new insight into it all.

Let's start with what are the greatest CGI characters we have seen to date. Make no mistake, I love what they did with Golem in the Lord of the Rings, but Rocket and Groot are so well done you really do not think of them as being CGI. Remember, we are talking about a sentient tree and a talking Raccoon as being believable character. While they have the comedic moments, they are not comic relief, but real, significant characters. Even with Groot only being able to say 'I am Groot' we are still able to see a fully realized character in that. Rocket and Groot kick Golem's pale little ass, as well as stomp Jar-jar and Dobby into insignificance.

Then you have the rest of the team. Starlord, Gamora and Drax. They work and are enjoyable. That really is all that needs to be said.

Now this is that basic story of a rag tag bunch of misfits come together and in the end are able to overcome their differences to work as a team and save the day. We've seen it a million times, but when done well it works.  Here it has been done really well.

One aspect I often have issue with in movies in motivation. Why are these characters doing what they do? Too often in movies we have characters that really have no motivation, or questionable motivation.  Here ever character has a believable motivation. You will not leave the theater questioning how everyone ended up where they did.

Also, this movie has a very relevant narrative to our times, which I have not seen mention of elsewhere. One of the biggest motivation in the film is the villain Ronan the Accuser inability to accept peace with his people's long time enemies. In the aftermath of a war with Xandar, Ronan is unable to get over the death of his family. He is seeking revenge, an act that will only promote more hostile actions, destroying any chance at a lasting peace. If you are unable to see how this is reflected right now in our world... There is a world outside your little house and if you need to become more aware of it.

So far Marvel Studios is doing an incredible job of giving us some of the greatest comic book movies ever seen. I truly hope they can keep this going, as ti has been a incredible run so far and with what they have announced as their future plans, it sounds like we have a lot to look forwards to in the future for Marvel films.

The after credits piece is worth seeing just for the amusement of it. The surprise character there got me thinking about his under rated movie from 1986 and I will most likely be writing a post on that here shortly.

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 8, 2014 at 12:36 AM

    Nice review Ian. It has a fitting style for its story, leaving a satisfying feeling when it's all said and done.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Now That Was One Geeky Conversation

My son and I were out doing some Pokemon hunting today.  We got talking about how the Remoraid (A sardine like fish style Pokemon) makes no sense at all to evolve into a Octillery (Basically an octopus like Pokemon). It is the kind of thing that makes it very clear the creators of Pokemon were on drugs while watching Animal Planet when they came up with most of these creatures and their evolutions. We went through most of the Pokemon and made judgement calls as to how much sense the evolutions made. I think less than half of them really looked right. The creators clearly didn't care at all about logic or study nature when they came up with most of them. They have a basic teddy bear somehow turning into a monster grizzly bear with nothing more than them being bears connecting them, as they physically are clearly not the same species. There is a fat flying rabbit/squirrel then somehow becomes a ferret. Seriously, WTF were they on? And of course if you get enough gold fish (Known ...
Read more

Disharmony of the Spheres

My story 'Time of the Bursting' has been published in the anthology 'Disharmony of the Spheres: http://nomadicdeliriumpress.com/blog/product/disharmony-of-the-spheres/ It is an anthology of stories that focus on mental illness. This is the most meaningful anthology I have been in. Half the profits from this book will go to the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Organization, a group that battles teen suicide. The following is from the product description. "Mental illness is very common in our society, but it’s also very misunderstood. Many view those with mental illnesses as being weak, but there is a great deal of strength in those that must battle their own minds on a regular basis. Disharmony of the Spheres focuses on characters with mental illnesses that are still able to be successful. They may not completely overcome their illnesses, but they are able to beat them back and succeed."
Read more

And His Time Is About To Come To An End

Twenty-Seven hours until the beginning of the end of the 11th Doctor. Since BBC America started airing Doctor Who we have been getting the new episodes the same night as they air on BBC One back in the UK, instead of waiting months for them.  That means that we get the Christmas Specials on Christmas Day, making it so Christmas Day ends with a nice little gift. This year's the episode is 'The Time of The Doctor' and will be the end for the 11th Doctor. Supposedly we will also get answers to just about all the big questions still out there from the last few years. We'll see how that goes. We will also be introduced to the 12th Doctor, although most likely this will not give us much of an idea of the character.  We'll have to wait till fall next year for the new season to start up to see just what the new Doctor is like. It is going to be a long wait.
Read more