The Marvel brand has been a bit of an impediment in recent years. Black Widow, especially, gave me a crisis of confidence. There is something inherent to these movies which blunts my ability to think or write about these movies that deeply.
I have not watched the previous Guardians movies since theatres, though I remember liking them.
The movie does suffer from a bit from the overarching continuity - Peter Quill’s arc is based on events from movies I have not seen - but otherwise this film feels like an individual adventure.
The colour palette does feel a little too bright and dull - this is a recurring problem with the Marvel house style - but this is compensated for by the film's focus on mice-en-scene.
Outside of Black Panther, the Guardians films are probably the one sub-franchise under the Marvel banner with a singular visual style of world-building.
In this instalment we get an organic space station that resembles internal tissue, the villainous High Evolutionary’s (Chukwudi Iwuji) lackeys are a collection of grotesque animal-machine hybrids, while the film's environments feel tactile and messy.
While they are not my favourite pieces of his work, James Gunn is too individual a voice to be smothered.
Even in this studio phase of his career, Gunn infuses his work with a sense of consequence and everyday chaos - characters have screwed-up personal lives, they argue with each other, they get injured, have bodily functions and are caught in embarrassing situations.
There is an underlying darkness and pathos to the Guardians films, a pathos I do not think the films have ever fulfilled to my satisfaction.
This might be a taste thing, but I buy the pathos more in his non-Disney works.
While I was underwhelmed by The Suicide Squad, Gunn's TV series Peacemaker felt more genuine in its melding of superhero goofiness with deeply messed-up character dynamics.
I will say, I think this movie benefits from a more mature, and untidy, perspective on its characters.
While he takes a backset, the movie ends Peter’s story without reuniting him romantically with Gamora - In a moment of real growth, Quill realises that he needs to figure himself out.
The flashbacks to Rocket's origins in the High Evolutionary's lab are genuinely touching, and Iwuji is a genuinely terrifying antagonist.
Maybe it is the effect of his offscreen persona, but Chris Pratt seems disengaged and one-note as Star Lord.
I cannot get too excited about it. The freshness is missing. Or maybe I am just outside the
threshold for enjoying this movies anymore.
This is a good movie. And I have a feeling the Guardians’ movies are going to stick around. They work as individual sci-fi adventures, and as part of their own linked story arc.
With a little distance, I think I will revisit them, and then giver a more in-depth review.
Watch this space…
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