What does Galaxy Quest have anything to do with this film?
Fanfiction I hate.
... 12A?
I think he's referring to the film rating. Like PG-13, but they use a different system.
Fanfiction I hate.
I liked Galaxy Quest as much as the next person, but comparing Guardians to it doesn't quite make sense — GQ was a standalone parody and love letter to Star Trek, whereas Guardians is an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is therefore bound by the tone thereof. Expecting Guardians to be as flippant as Quest is like wanting the next Star Wars movie to be an updated sequel to Spaceballs.
Expecting Guardians of the Galaxy to be like Galaxy Quest is like railing on a Captain America movie because Iron Man isn't it.
Decent review but some of your points are a little off. Just because Drax is angry and has big muscles doesn't make him similar to Kratos. There are only 3 'taking phrases literally' jokes I can think of from the whole movie (and it's not short) and they were all hilarious. Not sure which member of the team is a pirate. And although Ronan is beaten in a pretty silly way, it's also just about the only way he could've been beaten. I thought it was one of the least-stupid ways to beat a villain with an almost immeasurable level of power I've seen so far in movies.
But overall not a bad review and not a bad movie.
- because Iron Man isn't in it.
I wish I could edit comments.
^ Don't we all.
I don't think this detracts from the movie, because personally, I think fight scenes in movies these days are too long and drawn out, and prefer fight scenes that end before I get bored and forget what's going on.
Look I am only mentioning Galaxy Quest because it has been mentioned in at least one other review and I can see certain comparisons.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/24/guardians-of-the-galaxy-first-look-review
On the whole I thought the movie was ok; it had it's moments but not a side-splitter comedy.
A wish is never free.
Just two things Elmo.
Kratos and Drax are just so similar. How many shirtless, vengeful bald, white widows that duel wield blades, have red markings and one dead daughter are there?
But go on, type in Drax and Kratos in Google and have fun.
Secondly, a genocidal maniac who can't be bothered to remember who he has killed is distracted by a dance-off? That's just weak. If he doesn't give a f about killing, let alone genocide how can harmless dancing give him pause? The film shows quite clearly that his solution to almost any problem is to kill it. Challenged by Drax; drown him. Annoyed by Thanos's underling; snaps his neck. Wanting to avenge his family; annihilate all of Xandar. Simply put, it is not consistent with his character.
A wish is never free.
Physically, Drax and Kratos are pretty similar, but you'd have to ignore pretty much all of their personality traits to call them similar - I'm protesting the differences in character, namely that Drax is a very angry man who makes mistakes but learns from them and ends up growing closer to the ragtag bunch of misfits he finds himself a part of. Angry as he is, he never even enters anti-hero territory, let alone becomes a villain. Alternatively, Kratos is a dick.
The fact that Ronan is a genocidal maniac is exactly why the way he's beaten kind of works. Wouldn't you be confused if you threatened to annihilate a planet, having proven that you could back up this threat, and the response you got was spontaneous dancing? We even have a trope for it - [1]. I don't know how it's not consistent for him to be confused by something confusing.
A totally fair review Shinfernape.
But really it's a lost cause expecting comicbook characters to "shake-off'' their generic attributes when that's literally all they are. Some of whom even codified their generic attributes, AKA Batman, Spider-Man and Superman. Not to mention this movie was huge with hype and tons of money riding on it, so why risk losing millions to change things up when you can just ensure success by making Space Avengers.
The trailers may have mislead you, but Guardians is not actually a parody movie. So your comparisons to a 15 year old Star Trek spoof is...stunningly wrong.
But I admit that the Ronan dance-off victory was stupidly close to parody.
Look according to IGN, Guardians of the Galaxy is a sci-comedy and so is Galaxy Quest. Let us leave it at that.
The point I'm making with Drax and the others is that they are similar to alot of existing characters in many ways. Sure there can be slight differences but not groundbreaking ones.
I liked this movie, and I'd say I wouldn't mind watching it again.
A wish is never free.
I thought that the characters were original enough but eh, matter of opinion I guess.
Glad to hear you liked the movie overall, I was pleasantly surprised by it too.
I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before. It is fair to say that Drax and Kratos are similar characters, but Drax is not a rip-off of Kratos. Remember, all of the main characters come from the comics, so these particular characters were originally created in the 1970s, so actually Drax precedes Kratos. It is not that Drax is similar to Kratos, rather Kratos is similar to Drax.
Whoa there, Shiro! Drax may predate Kratos by decades, but Drax didn't have red tattoos, wield swords or act anything like Kratos at all, until after God of War debuted. Kratos looked the way he did well before Drax showed up again...In 2006, It's not proven, but I'd say Marvel took a look at Mr. Selling-Like-Angry-Hotcakes and took inspiration.
Heh. I think many would argue that Drax is, at least, a better character than Kratos.
Fanfiction I hate.
Galaxy Quest and Guardians of the Galaxy might both be science fiction comedies, but they're on two different spectrums. Galaxy Quest is a spoof film that parodies many elements from different science fiction franchises - like Star Trek.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a space opera with comedic elements, veering heavily towards comedy.
The only thing they have in common are that they both take place in space. So no, they should not be compared.
Leave a Comment:
Not Galaxy Quest but not bad.
There was only one standout quality of the movie for me; the dogfights. Not only does the movie come up with some creative ways of getting spaceships to attack each other, but the special effects make it look absolutely stunning. That is perhaps the one thing this movie sets a benchmark for.
Other than that the movie is mediocre. The comedy resorts to either pushing the 12A certificate as far as possible with foul language and aliens either taking Earth references literally or with confusion. So it loses out to Galaxy Quest which aimed shots across sci-fi with great candour. Guardians of the Galaxy gets plenty of dumb jokes for quick giggles but nothing insightful enough to be effective, which is the hallmark of great comedies.
The fight scenes thankfully aren't overridden with shaky-cam and fast editing but they are often short and without any proper payoff. That is a bit of a let-down in a team led by bounty hunters, assassins, warriors and pirates.
Acting wise the movie does okay, but the main characters themselves can't really shake off their generic attributes. Peter Quill is the age-old space rogue Kirk/Solo, Drax is space-Kratos and Groot is eco-friendly wooden giant. Then again they do try to bring some drama to Peter Quill's story which works well until he completely brushes off his mysterious heritage.
The film doesn't always get the right mix of elements right like Galaxy Quest did. Ronan the Accuser is possibly the darkest villain in a Marvel film to date; in his first five minutes he bludgeons someone to death. Bearing in mind this is a film, that has rapid-fire jokes. Perhaps a less dark villain would have better suited, since the way he is beaten is quite idiotic as well as anti-climatic.
Otherwise the film does everything, competently and quite energetically. The pace is good, the music is fine and the visuals are all top notch. It could be better but it isn't bad.