Yes, I've already reviewed this movie once. I'm redoing it for the marathon. Is it as great as I thought it was back then? Perhaps I'm better at this reviewing thing? Probably both. Here is the links to the other movies.
Captain America Winter Soldier Review
Guardians of the Galaxy Review
WARNING spoilers WARNING
The plot is rather interesting. AN outlaw who just betrayed his fellow outlaws, Star Lord or Peter Quill just stole the Orb, and nearly got killed by Ronan's goons looking for it. After failing to sell it, Star Lord ends up in a fight with Rocket, Groot, and Gamora, two of which looking for the bounty on Star Lord's head while Gamora is after the Orb. They all get arrested by the Nova Corps, the police of the galaxy, and all end up in jail. Rocket and Peter learn that Gamora intends to sell the Orb for a large amount of money, so they bring Gamora along for an escape as well as bringing Drax the Destroyer a man they met in prison. After they escape to Peter's ship, they end up in the disembodied head of a fallen celestial. After Drax and Rocket get drunk and start trouble, the team meets with Collector while Drax calls Ronan. Drax loses his battle with Ronan and the others fight to keep the Orb, learned to be an infinity stone, away from him though this doesn't work. Peter manipulates the other outlaws who were looking for Peter to fight against Ronan. The group also calls in the Nova Corps as Ronan is trying to destroy Xander the Nova Corps home planet. After a huge ship battle, the team makes it onto Ronan's ship and fight his team. The fight with Ronan which is more like a "throw everything at him as he stands there" kind of thing, eventually leads to the surface of the planet. Peter confuses Ronan while Rocket shoots Ronan's hammer which has the stone on it. Peter catches the stone and with his team, they manage to use the stone to destroy Ronan.
So is the plot good? Yes. Basically a pirate, an assassin, a destroyer, and two bounty hunters team up to save an entire planet after all ending up in jail. Throw that into space and add Kree, Nova Corps, and some cool appearances from Thanos and you have the plot. This plot is very good.
Star Lord or Peter Quill is actually a pretty good fighter and thinks like a thief. Yes he is silly at times, and yes he is human, but he does have a lot of heart as well. He goes from a typical thief to a decent heroic type who is sort of like an anti hero then anything wanting to make money despite wanting to also do what is right. He is also the glue that holds the team together and eventually becomes the leader of the group after making friends with each member.
Gamora is one of the children of Thanos. While she is the daughter of Thanos she doesn't really seem to like him that much, taken in when Thanos destroyed her actual family. She really doesn't want Thanos to have the Orb at any cost, and while she doesn't like Peter at first, she eventually falls for him when he risks his life to save hers. While she doesn't like his ways of a thief she eventually learns to accept his abilities to gather troops for a bad situation and his actual skills. She has a fight with her sister which also shows her character well.
Drax the Destroyer is a weaker character. While he may be one of the funnier characters he is pretty weak, his origin story is okay and his actual character building is him gaining friends and getting something of some brain cells. He isn't intelligent at all and he doesn't really add much except humor because he lacks understanding of things, and he moves the plot forward once.
Rocket is an experimented raccoon that not only is a scientific genius, he is really good with guns. He is the funniest character and also has the most building of all the characters, going from a rodent to a general heroic type. He does however have a knack for destruction and this will often make him to forget certain things. He pretty much steals the show.
Groot has a lot of personality despite only saying three words in a particular order. He is kind of dumb at times, but he is more caring then his bounty hunting partner Rocket. He does things recklessly and he has an anger issue, but he is funny and a kind soul as well as a powerful fighter. He also allows himself to "die" to save his friends.
Ronan is another weak character, mostly because he isn't really shown a lot. He is mostly a terrorist looking to destroy a certain planet which is why he wants the Orb, to return it to Thanos so Thanos will blow up Xander. However, once Ronan learns there is an infinity stone in the Orb, Ronan steals it himself. His motivation is felt a few times, but not enough to be a compelling villain. Nebula was a more compelling villain and she was a side villain.
There are a few weaker characters in the movie, but the majority are really entertaining characters. Yes Drax and Ronan are weaker, but the rest of the crew, Nebula, heck even the Collector and the other side characters are pretty strong in their own right.
This movie is a comedy version of Star Wars, but you do feel more then just humor. Gamora and Quill nearly dying after the Orb is gone, the people of Xander running from the suicide bombers, the line "We are Groot" there are some serious moments in this movie that really tug at you. The humor is also really good, from Rocket yelling "You are making me beat up grass" to Drax not getting the metaphors Peter says. The action is also pretty good, however the fight with Ronan is a little underwhelming. The fight with his ship leading up to it is great, and Peter distracting Ronan is just incredibly funny especially since Ronan is highly confused. Even when the infinity stone is grabbed it doesn't really bring me to anything except "cool lights" but the rest of the movie is nearly perfect in this category.
Eh. Looking at the movie now, there are a bunch of scenes with slowed down effects which really don't work well. At times they seem too corny and silly, and some of the camera angled shots meant to make the film look epic actually makes it look a little silly at times. Yes this movie is part action part comedy, but these effects aren't there to be humorous so yeah doesn't work. Also the team "walking out to look epic" is kind of pointless. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of scenes and special effects that are great in this movie, the infinite gem peeling off skin, Ronan's hammer, Thanos, but scenes like Groot and Rocket slow mo running from an explosion just kind of take away from it if you are paying attention. Thankfully Rocket and Groot look amazing through most of the film.
The designs and outfits, the settings, the creative pull, the way Rocket breaks out of the prison, there isn't anything in this movie that isn't creative as could be in the best of ways. Ronan looks pretty cool, Thanos looks down right imposing and powerful, Nebula looks awesome, Groot and Rocket look great, there isn't much to hate on from this category. Also... dance off. This movie explains more on the infinity gems without being a lack luster of creative process which is excellent. Also Collector's collection is pretty impressive too.
If you like Star Wars you may like this movie. If you like Space Balls you will also probably like this movie. The only weakness this movie has is some of the scene quality, the rest is a really good film. Only two weak characters, and a lack luster final fight with Ronan as well as the passable scene quality could really keep you from enjoying this movie assuming action and comedy are things you like.
I recommend seeing this movie rather soon if you can. While it may not play into Age of Ultron much, it still is important to the cinematic universe as a whole, and it is a pretty good film outside of that as well. You'd probably be pretty safe buying this film or renting it, but I'd watch it as soon as possible either way.
- Appearance of fourth Infinity Stone
- Ronan the Accuser appears and dies
- Introduction and death of Korath the Pursuer
- Introduction of the Kree
- Introduction of the Celestial
- Introduction of Eson the Searcher
- Introduction of Star Lord
- Introduction of Gamora daughter of Thanos
- Introduction of Nebula daughter of Thanos
- Seeing Thanos in full body
- Thanos is searching for the Infinity Stones
- Introduction of Rocket Raccoon
- Introduction of Groot
- Introduction of Drax the Destroyer
- Infinity Stone left with Nova Corps
- Introduction of Nova Corps
- Visual proof the Aether and the Tesseract are Infinity Stones
- Adam Warlock's cocoon empty
- Introduction of Howard the Duck
- Possible reference to Beta Ray Bill or Odin in Collector's collection
- While Collector should have Aether by the end of Thor Dark World, it is possible Adam Warlock took it or Collector later sells it to pay for damages
- Introduction of Yondu
- Mention of Peter Quill being only half human
- More origin for the Infinity Stones expanding on what Thor the Dark World has told us