Friday, August 01, 2014

Guarding the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy is awesome. It's fun. It felt like someone had finally managed to create a new Star Wars. The ending was a little cheesy though. That's pretty much it. I had a lot of fun.

I said it before with Captain America, but Marvel are really showing that just because their films have superheroes they don't have to rely on the tired Hollywood formula so many of the opposition's films use. The Winter Soldier was a super spy film just like any Mission Impossible, even though it's predecessor was pulpy-fun. Guardians is a sci-fi action comedy. I forsee Daredevil the TV series something like Law and Order with extra fisticuffs, and Luke Cage is hopefully going to be something akin to The Wire, with extra fisticuffs.

This is a very important move by Marvel. I remember in the run up to The Avengers I had a few more mainstream fans say that they were getting sick of all the superhero films. I know this was a sentiment that was shared by a fair whack of the public too. They were dominating the cinemas, and can't we have something else? While they have a bit of point, Marvel showing that superhero films can fit any genre helps dispel that thought some what. Most people will think of Guardians of the Galaxy as something that has more in common with Star Wars and Star Trek then Batman and Spider-Man, and that's important if we're going to keep superheroes on cinema screens.


Actually one other thing did strike me that I wanted to talk about here. There's no love interest. Which is another awesome move by Marvel. Sure, Quill is interested in Gamora, and when they're at Knowhere he makes a move and she pushes him away. Any other film would have it ending with them getting together after defeating the evil bad guy. But not Guardians, instead they have the two come regard each other as friends, even family, and the hookup is forgotten for that stronger bond. Which is really cool.

I've barely read any Guardians. Only the stuff from the two Annihilation events and the New X-Men crossovers. Now I'm intrigued.


No comments: