Guardians of the Galaxy quick review

Hey guys, as ever, no spoilers this close to the release of the movie.

I was nervous about Guardians of the Galaxy right up to the moment the movie started. I tried to get myself excited, tried to remember all the praise I'd heard, tried to just be excited that we were seeing such a crazy Marvel property in a movie, but I couldn't help being a little worried. There are people out there who hear that kind of attitude and say "you're worried that a fictional movie about a fictional universe with fictional characters will let you down?" They're the same people telling me that, as a grown man, I shouldn't care what horrors Michael Bay has bestowed on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What kind of life must those people have, not caring about stories, about the oral and the aural and the written tradition? Look, I don't have to convince you guys. You're my people. You're comic people. So I can tell you instead that this movie was a ton of fun.

That's what I'd been hearing all along and I can't help but agree. I don't think the film is as deep as a few of the Marvel movies have been. I don't necessarily think it has as much to say as, say, Captain America: Winter Soldier. I don't think it's as ambitious as Avengers. I think it's riskier than both those movies and I think it maybe pulled what it wanted to off as well as either of those movies. It wasn't ever trying to be Cap 2 or Avengers. It was shamelessly and unflinchingly itself the whole way through. It never bogged itself down with grit or a big message. It took a team comprised of a half-human, a pair of alien assassins/killers, a talking raccoon, and a talking tree and said "hey, you know what, maybe this shouldn't be heavy-handed. Maybe this should just be a fun superhero movie." And it absolutely was. There are a lot of genuine laughs to be had, there still manages to be a good amount of heart, and the team itself ends up being a really likable and really fun team. Fun is the keyword, I've certainly used it enough. Go in looking for a fun movie and I don't think you'll be disappointed. It was maybe a little over-expository but you run that risk, as I say in so many comic reviews, when you have a whole team to develop in a limited space and when you set it in space and have to introduce an audience to brand new mythologies that intersect. It's maybe a little long because of that and it's maybe a little weighed down by that, but it manages to keep the dragging to a minimum and keeps the tone and the pace pretty well in check. It also accomplished something that less than a week ago I was doubting, which was to make me like this team and this universe enough to be excited for the sequel. Can't say better than that for a movie like this.