Superhero Media: Guardians of the Galaxy

Talk about a shock hit, right? None of it really looks like a sure thing; a comedy actor in the lead role, a director who cut his teeth at Troma, a comic so obscure, that even I had to look it up (I was thinking of the Silver Age team) and somehow it came together to be one of the biggest brands in the MCU stable. Guardians of the Galaxy was such a breakout hit that the Thor series took a leaf from James Gunn's book and made the best film in that series so far too. Kidnapped from Earth shortly after the tragic death of his mother, Peter Quill grows to manhood in space, being part of the Ravagers, a crew of space pirates led by Yondu, easily the best Michael Rooker performance ever. Though cosmic coincidence, Quill (calling himself Starlord), Gamora (daughter of Thanos) and Rocket Racoon and Groot (bounty hunters) find themselves thrown together when Quill unknowingly steals an Infinity Stone from an ancient temple, landing the group in prison and in the cross-hairs of Ronan the Accuser. In prison, Drax the Destroyer joins the motley crew and the team comes together. 

I can't recall if I've mentioned it before, but I love the Marvel space stuff, especially things like the Nova Corps, Cosmo the Spacedog, Knowhere and Ronan the Accuser, so the fact that Guardians of the Galaxy is packed with references and cameos delights me no end. Sure, I'm a little disappointed that Ronan is killed at the climax and the Nova Corps aren't rocket-powered superheroes with bucket hats, but letting my fanboy wants override the brilliance of the film would be silly. When Guardians of the Galaxy first came out, I posted a short review on my facebook page for my friends which mentioned just how good the sound editing on the film is. I watch a lot of cinema, and many action films don't mix their sound correctly, with quiet dialogue and loud action, making them hard to watch; Guardians of the Galaxy is beautifully mixed, with language audible during all the big fight scenes and quiet moments kept subtle. Good sound mixing doesn't really get enough credit, so I like to laud it where I see it. 

Many of the best MCU films are ensemble pieces, and Guardians of the Galaxy is no exception; even if Starlord is the protagonist and point-of-view character, it is the cast that makes the whole. It's pretty easy to dismiss Groot, Rocket and Drax as "comic relief", but each has some emotional depth, borne from pain and love; Groot's love for his friend being enough to make him willing to sacrifice himself. All of the heroes in Guardians of the Galaxy start out as either morally ambiguous or outright criminal, so is this the better version of Suicide Squad? I mean, The Dirty Dozen is the best version of that concept, but Guardians of the Galaxy is a pretty good take on it too. Hell, in the next film, Yondu joins the team briefly, racking up a major body-count in the process. Yes, I don't think superheroes should really murder too many bad guys, but these antiheroes are on a journey, where they're trying and will get better over time. The galaxy is a rough place, maybe the Guardians are the heroes we need, not the ones we want.