Guardians of the Galaxy is as good as it gets when it comes to the superhero movie genre. The characters are witty, the sets are grand, and the soundtrack is perfectly meshed with the imagery. With the original film, it was important for James Gunn (Scooby-Doo) to create impactful characters for the storyline. The comic book series seemed tough to adapt into a meaningful feature film, but Gunn and Marvel struck gold with this one. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel) are perfectly cast. Pratt (Jurassic World, Her) is a stud, similar to William Shatner's (Star Trek) depiction of Captain Kirk. Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek) brings grace, but also attitude to the role of Gamora. Bautista (Spectre, The Man with the Iron Fists), Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, The Hangover, Limitless, American Sniper), and Diesel (The Fate of the Furious) are also fun to watch as muscular and selfish side-kicks for the team!
The space battles are epic, with Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) in an iconic villain role. Ronan's purple tinge glows as if he is a radioactive alien (which he kind of is). Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) act as badass sidekicks to the main villain, who is a sidekick to an even bigger villain. I really enjoyed how this film fits into the MCU, with the introduction of an infinity stone. The repercussions of this will still play out in the upcoming Marvel films, and I cannot wait for the final showdown with Thanos (Josh Brolin). Overall, the scale of this film is grander than any of the preceding Marvel films, yet the audience is not overwhelmed with details that only comic-literate fans would understand.
Of course, we have to discuss the soundtrack a bit in this review. This might be my favorite compilation/original soundtrack layering ever. "Hooked on a Feeling" hit new highs because of its inclusion in the film. The fact that Quill can directly refer to Earth-music, makes him a more relatable character. After all, who isn't a fan of pina coladas and David Hasselhoff? I'm glad that the sequel stuck the same idea in terms of music. We get another great compilation soundtrack and another great original soundtrack by Tyler Bates in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Maybe Marvel should hire this guy to score all of their films!
The space battles are epic, with Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) in an iconic villain role. Ronan's purple tinge glows as if he is a radioactive alien (which he kind of is). Yondu (Michael Rooker) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) act as badass sidekicks to the main villain, who is a sidekick to an even bigger villain. I really enjoyed how this film fits into the MCU, with the introduction of an infinity stone. The repercussions of this will still play out in the upcoming Marvel films, and I cannot wait for the final showdown with Thanos (Josh Brolin). Overall, the scale of this film is grander than any of the preceding Marvel films, yet the audience is not overwhelmed with details that only comic-literate fans would understand.
Of course, we have to discuss the soundtrack a bit in this review. This might be my favorite compilation/original soundtrack layering ever. "Hooked on a Feeling" hit new highs because of its inclusion in the film. The fact that Quill can directly refer to Earth-music, makes him a more relatable character. After all, who isn't a fan of pina coladas and David Hasselhoff? I'm glad that the sequel stuck the same idea in terms of music. We get another great compilation soundtrack and another great original soundtrack by Tyler Bates in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Maybe Marvel should hire this guy to score all of their films!
