Guardians of the Galaxy: A Film You Need to See?

Minor spoilers ahead for Guardians of the Galaxy: you have been warned!

Marvel has said, and I hope they are right, that they have a clear plan ahead for their franchises. If rumours are to be believed that plan could stretch right up until 2027. With that in mind they need to have a pretty solid plan, at least more than 12% of a plan; which isn’t really a full plan just a concept for one. You may think I just went onto a random tangent just then, but if you have seen Marvel’s latest film Guardians of the Galaxy you will know I haven’t.

In fact Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) is a good demonstration of their plans, after all they must have one if they can confidently announce a sequel before its release.  This film is firmly part of their Avengers universe; it builds upon the established and hints not just at the next film, but also Avengers 3 (schedule for roughly 2018).

This could dissuade some newcomers from seeing GotG, but it shouldn’t. Yes, you need a bit of context and need to really have seen at least The Avengers and Thor 2: The Dark World; otherwise you could spend a lot of time wondering what the fuss is about the guy in the throne and the glowing gems. 

However, it could quite easily be watched on its own, as long as you don’t question too much.

Part of this is because the story is rather formulaic: bad guy who wants to destroy everything meets group of unlikely heroes who must learn to work together.  I couldn’t help but feel like I had just paid to see The Avengers all over again.

Many have already compared the two films: considering it’s about strangers teaming up those comparisons are apt. But, like many others I think GotG has something Avengers doesn’t: some truly unique characters. Which is saying something: considering the fact that the guardians have to be explained in a single film.  This film does that expertly, without rushing their introductions either. That is especially true of the character Peter Quill, whose brief flashback scene is touching enough that it has resonates throughout; despite being little more than a pre-qual.

Even Drax whose motivation is little more than wanting revenge is fleshed out enough that we care about him. I liked him the least throughout, and yet loved his quirky-ness. Little touches you don’t notice like how he needed metaphors explained to him built the character subtly. By the end I felt I knew him enough to want to see him reach his goal.

Even promotion posters look similar.

One of my main picks about the film is that it could be rather cliché of a comic book film. It could easily be fight scenes and sparkly effects, which it is, but it is also quite fresh. It balances the well-trodden grounds of group pep talks and the villain still lives with a genuinely funny moment that is usually quite out of the blue. Often these moments are due to one of the characters quirks, which demonstrate how strong the characters are fleshed out.

A mention is definitely needed for another character and that’s the soundtrack. The majority of the songs are taken from early 70’s and shouldn’t fit with the space ships and futuristic settings. Yet, they do and give it a feel that’s both retro and rather comforting.

The weakest point of the film is its villain, who whilst is a clear threat isn’t anything interesting. Much like Thor 2’s baddy, Rhonan and his motivation is barely touched upon.  He could literally be any other insert bad guy here and the film would feel the same.  There hints that he seeks revenge but honestly I couldn’t care, the scenes with him in are the worst as I didn’t care enough to pay attention.

Whilst it is clearly a cog in the Marvel machine I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy and its rag tag bunch of characters. Although a week ago I sighed when Marvel announced the sequel I feel refreshed and came away from the theatre anticipating more. 

There are some bits that are bad, some bits that are good, little bit of both (spot the reference): mostly however, its very good.

First image from NukeTheFridge, Avengers image from Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy promo image from ComingSoon,

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Does it live up to its name?)

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Spider-Man. I can’t think of another character I can relate to more than Peter Parker. Yet, like any true fanboy, I can't help but get exasperated beyond belief when I see a favourite franchise taken to places I don’t agree with. Case in point, The Amazing Spider-Man 2

 (which is partly based on the Ultimate Spider-Man universe).

It seemed that every piece of news I heard leading up to this film's release caused my despair to grow more and more, as yet another villain was thrown into the mix or another production statement released. The film seemed to become more concerned with setting up future spin offs and sequels; I worried about how crammed and rushed it would feel. The trailers didn’t help this either as I spotted hints that only comic fans would pick up on (no examples in order to avoid spoilers!). I realised that there was more going on in this than Sony were explicitly stating, which made me think that key plot points would be skipped over. Worse still, the film's main villain is Electro, one of my least favourite of Spidey’s rogues’gallery, second only to my most-hated, Rhino (who was then subsequently shown in trailers as well). The final moment of despair was when I heard the addition of a variation of Green Goblin, the best antagonist in my mind, and I wept at the thought of him, of all characters, being tacked on for sequels' sake.

This didn't exactly scream Green Goblin to me.
More like scabby hobo-man...

The previous film,The Amazing Spider-Man, created a term in my mind; what I call the 'Spider-Man effect'. This is when I seem to enjoy a film at the time, yet on reflection, I start finding flaws I had not noticed upon viewing. It gets worse when people then point out flaws and I can't help but agree. For instance, whilst I initially loved Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, I couldn't help but agree that his portrayal flips between nerd to skater boy and then finally emo (although his hair is far too stylized for any of these). I didn't pick up on this initially, as I was just enjoying the experience. Some may call it hindsight, and I guess it is easier to see said flaws when they are pointed out to you later. One such problem I also now have is the Lizard's design - he looks more like a goomba from the live action Super Mario Bros.

film than the Lizard from the comics that I know and love. These issues have made me cynical to the point where I’d rather not watch it again for a while. Other examples of the 'Spider-Man effect' include Frozen and the Assassin’s Creed series (with horrible emphasis on Assassin’s creed III).
The bitter feelings only increased when I was made aware of the real reason for the reboot. Why, when I had heard some great rumours for Spider-Man 4, did they decide to start again? It turned out that the new films were actually made due to a contractual clause, where Sony would lose the rights to the franchise if they didn't release a film for a certain number of years.

This one point in the trailer ruined a bit of a surprise for me

It’s ironic, then, that the sequel has an almost polarised quality, as I entered the cinema with dread and yet I left with a new-found appreciation for the series. It gave me hope for the future installments. Thankfully, the film doesn't focus on introducing too many villains as I had feared, instead focusing on characters and the relationships they share. I was particularly impressed by Gwen and Peter, as we see them attempt to continue their lives after the fallout of Dr. Conner’s attack. The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone is incredibly believable and I sympathised with their rocky times, causing me to become emotional myself.  The guilt Garfield portrays is powerful, and we understand his actions that result from it. This is a worthy depiction of my much-loved character, one who has always been ruled by his heart and not his head. Even the relationship of Peter and Harry, which happened before the film is set, is believable; I really got the sense that they had previously been strong friends. Their first scene together starts with an awkward tension which broke through to talking about past shared experiences. It was very realistic, and reminded me of similar reunions I have had. The rekindling of the friendship builds up properly giving more impact to the later scenes. It turned out my fears that it would seem rushed or forced were unfounded.

             

This sort of image made me fear for the film

Not that action is forgotten, either. There is enough Spidey action to keep a good balance of pace, and some of the Electro scenes are spectacular. Each battle is accompanied by Electro's soundtrack, one that’s very techno and every beat and bass drop feels natural and just epic. The handling of Electro's creation was good, too. The trailer made his transformation look a bit ridiculous - seeing him falling into a vat of eels after shocking himself looked a bit like something from Benny Hill. Yet his actual shift from Max 'the Spider-Man fan boy' Dillon to the paranoid madman with bad-ass electric powers is perfect. Even his theme song fits as the lyrics whisper symptoms of schizophrenia in a creepy fashion, giving us the effect that we can hear his frantic thoughts. Even the Rhino, although a bit too comic relief, was good, just perhaps his appearance is a bit brief.

My one issue with the villains in this film is that they seem to go down a similar path we have seen before. They start as normal people with some coincidental connection to Parker. Then they have some form of accident that messes with their sanity. Really, you should be able to shout 'bingo!' when they have a last minute change of heart and cause their own downfall.

               

Maybe, like with its predecessor, once hindsight kicks in I will begin to see its flaws. But then that’s life - everything seems like it could be better on reflection.

Except hindsight. That’s always a bitch.

Green Goblin photo found at Science Fiction.com, advert image from Screen Rant, Gwen image from Den of Geeks