Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Charles Lee

Number 3 - Guardians of the Galaxy

This was on my radar since they first announced it a Comic-Con in 2012. The main reason? Rocket Raccoon. I remember the character from his four-issue mini series very soon after I started reading comics. What could make more of an impression on an eleven year old than a bad-ass, gun-toting raccoon?

As Lancey Kisses has mentioned, and it's in his blog post about Guardians of the Galaxy, a lot of how the general public would perceive the whole movie rested on Rocket. He couldn't be silly. He couldn't be Howard the Duck or Jar Jar Binks. He's funny, but as a smart-ass instead of a clown.

I knew about Rocket, but I wasn't as familiar with the other characters. My personal trepidation was with Bautista as Drax. When I think wrestler in a comic book movie, the Bane of Batman and Robin immediately comes to mind. That's not an image anyone should have in their minds. But as it turns out, he's perfect, and he delivers some of the best lines of the movie.

In addition to introducing the characters of the Guardians, they need to introduce the entire universe that exists outside of the other Marvel movies. There are plenty of cool new worlds and characters out there who could easily become part of the Avengers movies or would work well on their own. There are also plenty of other Guardians to look forward to in the sequels. I think Vance Astro/Major Victory would look pretty spectacular on the screen and also create the perfect visual tie-in to the Avengers.

But after all of that, the movie won me over in the first five minutes. I'm listening to Redbone's Come and Get Your Love as I write this paragraph. The opening scene will always be zapped into my head when I hear that song. Chris Pratt is pretty damned good throughout the movie, but his dancing to this song is a magic moment in the movie. He spins, he stomps, he plays in puddles, he uses an alien as a microphone, and it's all a brilliant introduction to a character that I look forward to seeing in the sequels and probably another movie or two.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

Haha, I'm trying the posting thing again. I saw this movie at the drive-in and it was a great experience. My favorite part was the planet "Morag" because my best friend is Morag and no one outside of Scotland has ever heard her name or pronounced it correctly. I recommend the drive-in theater for all action movies. As a kid, I went to see probably every Chuck Norris movie at the drive-ins in Roanoke, VA. I also got to see "Jaws" there for the first time at the tender age of 5. My dad took us to the early show and fell asleep so me and my brother, Bill, climbed onto the hood of the convertible corvette with our pillows and settled in for the scariest movie I'd ever seen. I'm pretty sure the pillow was over my head for most of the movie. My mother was not happy about that but that began my love of suspense and thriller movies. Same brother, Bill, introduced me to Stephen King which started a whole other obsession for me. Thank you Bill, smiles.