2. Guardians of the Galaxy

Release Date: August 1st, 2014

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper (voice), Vin Diesel (voice), Dave Bautista, Benicio del Toro, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Michael Rooker.

Director: James Gunn (Slither, Super)

First Time I Saw It: I first saw Guardians of the Galaxy opening weekend with my then-girlfriend, now fiance. Even though I made seeing it soon a priority for a timely review, my own experience reading the Guardians comics and the cast made me extremely excited.

Importance in the Marvel Universe: Guardians is easily one of the most important films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is in despite of it not featuring any characters we’ve seen before (except Thanos, now played by Josh Brolin) and only showing Earth in the very beginning. What Guardians did was make the term “Cinematic Universe” a reality by actually focusing on events in distant space. A “universe” was no longer just a bunch of films that are connected but still take place on Earth. Now the entire cosmos was open to storytelling which gives filmmakers an easy way to introduce Marvel’s signature intergalactic features.

This film also did an excellent job preparing fans for what’s to come. The Avengers opened the extraterrestrial door with the Chitauri invasion, and Guardians took the massive steps past that threshold. It introduced the Kree, an alien race that is both playing a massive role in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Inhumans, another bold Marvel film experiment. Skye’s (Chloe Bennet) transformation into an Inhuman and the focus on that entire race wouldn’t have been so easy without this pre-existing knowledge. Guardians’ focus on the Infinity Stones also lays the groundwork for the highly anticipated Avengers: Infinity War films, while also confirming theories that these stones have appeared before. Specifically, with the Aether (Thor: The Dark World) and Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) staff (The Avengers). Already people are theorizing that The Vision (Paul Bettany) contains a still not revealed Stone, an even deeper connection.

Why I Love It: So much of this film works really well. The writing is funny and incredibly clever. Each character was an absolute delight, regardless if they were a tree, raccoon, or an assassin in green. It’s also got some pretty outstanding special effects. However, my definite favorite aspect of Guardians is the soundtrack. It is easily my favorite music soundtrack of all time. I’ve listened to it repeatedly and it still doesn’t get old. The music was perfect to sell Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) 60s and 70s mentality. Each track was clearly handpicked to best suit what was happening on screen. David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” as the Guardians reach Knowhere? Quill dancing to “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone in the opening sequence? Quill using Five Stairsteps’ “O-o-h Child” to beat Ronan (Lee Pace)? All amazing and invaluable to the film. No matter what happened on screen, the music was always there to keep the film’s desired light tone alive.

Best Moment: My favorite moment by far was the aforementioned “O-o-h Child” dance at the end. The fact that Quill isn’t a superhero like Iron Man, Captain America, or Thor is repeatedly hammered home as we see him talk his way out of many situations and rely on the Nova Corps to fight Ronan. Infinity Stones are a huge deal however. Even Thanos is wary of their awesome power. So how can Quill possibly defeat a man imbued with the power to destroy worlds? Trick him with dance moves of course! This was the ultimate Quill trick and it fit a film like Guardians to a tee. I still smile when I think of that. –Luke Kalamar

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