Iâm not sure that thereâs any succulent
tidbits to offer about the Marvel films. I mean, weâve all seen a lot of these â well,
maybe not Thor: The Dark World, but thereâs a particular blend of superhero punches that
combine to make the perfectly irresistible cup of face punch coffee. GotG, before it was the omnipresent juggernaut
that it is today, really seemed like a gamble for Marvel. There were absolutely no known quantities
to this, and no characters that really stuck out as obvious choices to market to an audience. I mean, before this came out, who knew we
were gonna go apeshit for a tree? Or a raccoon, or a literal ultimate Marvel
team up between a raccoon and a tree. Think about it, if this movie proved that
it could do anything, it certainly proved that Marvel could do anything. [credits]
Guardians of the Galaxy, they already know this movieâJUST LEMME DO ITâGuardians
of the Galaxy DAMMIT was a 2014 film written and directed by James Gunn. I donât want to say he took a Jeffy in Family
Circus-like pathway to get to that position, but he like definitely did. And thatâs what I want to focus on for a
lot of this because somehow this gamble, The Space Gamble, was both more dangerous and
less dangerous than a lot of people were led to believe. Iâll explain what I mean by The Space Gamble
in a second, but first: Do you know what Troma is? BUT DID YOU KNOW? Troma Entertainment *are we really doing this?*
Troma Entertainment is an independent film company whose Wikipedia page contains the
helpful phrase: âMany Troma films contain social commentary.â Cool. Troma was created by Lloyd Kaufman (in fact,
thatâs him right there) and Michael Herz in 1974 and as they were still building their
company, they did production support on films that were not their ownâlike Kaufman was
the production manager on My Dinner with Andre as one of the first Troma productions, but
donât worry it gets weird from there: ⢠The Toxic Avenger
⢠Class of Nuke âem High You know, high art. Enter James Gunn. The writer of Tromeo and Juliet, a film Kaufman
directed, and here begins our journey. After the Troma days (and there were a lot
of âem) Gunn went on to write both Scooby Doo movies, wrote and directed Slither and
Super, wrote the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake and all kinds of really goofy and weird stuff. He was an actor in LocoCycle? Pâfuh? And not to put too big a bow on this but letâs
just say that his name wouldnât come up first when someone at Marvel when people discuss:
âWho should we get to write and direct our universe-expanding mega-budget space opera?â âWhat about the riskiest possible option?â âSounds good. Letâs go get croissantwiches to celebrate!â When I say riskiest I mean, I donât think
Disney executives got too excited about the prospect of the dude who played âInsane
Masturbatorâ in Sgt. Kabukiman Public Service Announcement but,
I dunno, maybe they party. His resume doesnât exactly scream large-budget
Marvel film, and thatâs really why it worked. They took the risk and swung for the fences
and letâs just say they hit that ball: 773 million dollars worldwide out of the park. Which brings us to: The Space Gamble. Though, both Marvel and DC have a library
of literally thousands of characters, but quite a few of those arenât really unlocked
on the big screen until you go through all the steps to allow an audience to accept further
expansions of the universe. Doctor Strange brought us magic and therefore
their stable of magic characters, Avengers brought us the shared universe, and Guardians
brought in that last big piece, cementing Thanos into the universe and volunteering
in an ironically literal sense: to hold the Marvel universe together. They can now make whatever they want, I mean
they brought Howard the Duck back in this movie which was BABY BOK CHOICE. Before Guardians, Marvel had made ⌠all
of these movies. And outside of Thor, they werenât really
experimenting in space, with actual space, not just another planet, but the gamble is
important because you have to bring in characters that are actually traveling between planets,
in the literal space, if you want to really build firm connections between all these different
franchises, you know, if youâre not going to use the Star Jammers to do that. In a lot of ways, Marvel is the Marvel we
know today because they took measured, patient steps to work their way to a point they would
not only be comfortable with this but actually excited for it. Ignoring for a moment that this is a mega-budget
superhero movie, this is still a pretty interesting gamble. Especially when you consider where DC is at
in all of this. Though, to be fair, DC did beat Marvel to
having a solo female film. But Marvel won the space race which brings
us to the actual deal of the day: Guardians of the Galaxy
To what Iâm sure is entirely Gunnâs credit, Guardians is grounded in a down to earth (metaphorically
and actually) drama, which at first is Peterâs biological family, and then itâs his chosen
family, but, most importantly, the characters are allowed to be imperfect. Hell, most the villains in this movie are
good guys in the second one. You know that arenât Ronin. Sorry, dude you were too bad to make good. Which is oddly sort of true. Everyone starts bad, and by that I mean definitely
a villain, but circumstances draw them together and force them have to use each other to survive,
forming a bond and ultimately becoming the good guys, which is generally true of everyone
who isnât the big GC. Sheâs on the good guys side. And letâs talk about this cast because holy
artichoke-y, this is some darn tootinâ hot damns! Anchoring the film is Chris Pratt, who before
this movie and Zero Dark Thirty I will remind you looked like this. But then he got Marveled. Whatâs important to the Peter Quill character
is in a moment of flailing desperation to alter the course of what truly could not be
altered, Peter is kidnapped and brought to space, as a 12 year old. There is no doubt as to why this movie made
Chris Pratt a star because who else could portray the somehow likeable and endearing,
debilitatingly affable man-child qualities of Quill like Pratt could. Then you have Zoe Saldana as Gamora, sister
of Karen Gillanâs Nebula, who I thought were a bit under-served in the movie, but
the more I thought about it, the more I realized that they were both working overtime to make
you see the people beneath the makeup, because when you really stop and think about it, Nebula
is practically a Buffy the Vampire villain, what with the eye piece and sheâs a robot
couldnât you tell itâs so subtle And Dave Bautista as Drax is something to
behold. Thereâs more going on in his performance
than just grunting as the strong character. He definitely can go there but this character
shines in the small, non-punchy moments more than big, all-punchy moments. Which is the sign of a good ass character. It gets a little tougher to pin too much on
the performances of the other two characters considering that massive teams of people had
to work together to bring those people to life, but Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel do
really good work as Rocket and Groot, rounding out the team. Also, Lee Pace, somehow not international
superstar and man of leisure and mystery, STILL, does really strong thankless work as
a villain far more memorable than he should be: Ronan. Oh and: Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Djimon
Honsou, and Benecio Del Toro ⌠are also in this movie too because this Marvel reallllllly
wanted you to notice this movie was a big deal, hence, all the members of the academy
award breakfast circle, there. So, this movie begins with a 12-year-old Peter
trying so desperately, as any child would, to find anything not to deal with the death
of his mother, as it is happening, but in a twist of plump narrative value, that will
land right on your jaw, her dying wish is just for him to hold her hand as she dies,
to be held by her son as she passes on, and he doesnât do it. Immediately, brilliantly, it was the most
affecting Marvel Origin story, because I really cared. This is a pretty sobering way to start your
breezy, fun summer action film. And that right there is a perfect illustration
of why James Gunn was the perfect choice to helm this film: he allowed the emotions to
have a little dirt on them. People ainât perfect, and these people certainly
ainât perfect, and thatâs why we need them to win, because watching them lose was
like tasting the callous, lingering breaths of the dark lord Vermunchlèon. All hail Vermunchlèon. And I feel like I need to invent a new sort
of term for this type of opening because for all of the soul-devastating longing that it
creates, it does so at an amazingly breezy clip and introduces a lot of key elements
to Peterâs journey like: ⢠The awesome mix of music his mom gave
him, doubling as the soundtrack which is so awesome I justâyes. Homerun, music, yes. ⢠Peterâs issues with not only authority
but the idea of âguardiansâ as well because well, he loses his legal guardians in one
fell swoop, really even if he wasnât taken. How can he be a guardian? ⢠Peter not taking hands okay he took her
hand weâre good ⢠Peterâs pretty casual views on catastrophic,
uncaring violence. ⢠Peterâs inability to face up with father
figures because he really fâd up with one of his first ones, and facing any paternal
pressure means facing undoubtedly the biggest mistake of his life, so thatâs a no to dads. I mean, I think itâs somewhat noble that
the characters of this film all begin their journey on screen as pretty much garbage people. Peter was a womanizing piece of donkey odor,
Gamora is only one tiny step away from Thanos so her bad dude cred is maxed out, Drax is
a pretty heartless killer hell bent on a wack vengeance plan (aka kill Gamora because Ronan
killed his child. Revenge killing kids is a super bad guy move,)
Rocket has a chip on his shoulder the size of perplexed ignorance about his own existence,
and Groot is Groot. I am Groot. WE KNOW! GOD! Their eventual turn the side of good, achieved
however ridiculously, is earned. Everyone learns that even garbage people can
be stronger as a family. And obviously, thatâs some well-trodden
ground for cinema, aka the outsiders overcome evil together as a family plot, but that to
me is why this is so fascinating. There were millions of ways to tell this story
wrong. Set the plot aside for a moment because no
one gave this movie a chance because it explored classic story structures in a straight-forward
manner, we gave this movie a chance because the characters, all, somehow, workedâand
not just worked, were hilarious, endearing to an audience, and full of relatable flaws. I mean, how many movies have a dude who can
whistlepathically controls some futuristic nerf weaponâHE WHISTLES HIS ENEMIES TO DEATHânope,
totally cool. Itâs fine. Nothing weird here. And I think one of the thing that helps this
movie out in a subtle way was how weird it made the world around our eccentric heroes,
grounding them in the world. I love the design of this thing. The way Ronanâs ship creates this unrelenting
feeling of momentum, the uniforms, the space stations, the characters, the way NOVA Corpsâ
ships can link together creating a webbing of sortsâfrom a military perspective, their
vehicles are designed more defensively. Thatâs just nice to see in a movie: winning
by de-escalation, not violence. And that point is pretty important, I think. Rocket sacrifices their only ship and Groot
must sacrifice himself to save his family, so it makes sense that Rocket really feels
that. *
Sorta like how Peter feels that. And Drax feels that. And Gamora feels that. And we feel that. And I think Marvel is, understandably, pretty
gun-shy about killing characters, see: Civil War, but in a world where Iâm not sure that
James Gunn could allow Groot to totally die saving his friends, he still kinda did. I mean, Groot might reboot, but that Groot,
the one we knew, is gone. Sure, that punch was pulled a bit but if that
punch being pulled means baby Groot, then please by all means, continue pulling those
punches. [music plays] âSince I was young, I knew
Iâd find you.â Guardians of the Galaxy is essentially about
a scared young boy who made a psychologically devastating decision for himself, and that
was before he was kidnapped by space people. He is flawed enough as a superhero to represent
us. I mean he did the coldest thing ever to a
human he desperately loved, but we canât blame him. As an adult, he needs his friends to pick
him up. Because the uncaring world had broken him. They literally step into fire for Peter, a
man mostly constructed out of mistakes. I mean the dude kicks rats and generally treats
people like things to be consumed and used. This isnât about us punishing each other
for our flaws, itâs about we fix them, together. Every single character in this film makes
a mistake that has measurable consequences on the direction of the plot. Hell, Drax almost gets all of them killed
(including himself,) but they accept that the person his world, and his situation created,
were worth standing by. I donât just think this is the best Marvel
movie, I think itâs one of the best movies about friendship, end sentence, full stop. This group of friends spend an entire film
building trust and fixing each otherâs mistakes, as at the time of their entry into the story,
they were all the dietary-supplement version of small-time hooligans, so they need one
anotherâs assistance on the pathways to becoming the defenders of not just their own
worlds, but each otherâsâ. Guarding a galaxy, so to speak, means defending
a lot more than just your own culture, it means defending many. And that also means defending the people doing
the wrong thing for the right reasons. Like Rocket flying his ship into the crashing
ship, failing to do the thing he was attempting to do, and destroying the only means of escape. So, Groot has to die. Grootâs death is just another sacrifice
to fix their mistakes in the face of overwhelming power superiority. They trust each other, make mistake after
mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake, but regroup every time, and thatâs
why they win. Because theyâre always picking each other
up, at any cost. Thatâs a great message: youâre going to
screw up, but trust the ones around you to pick you up. You need people because youâre not as much
of a bad ass on your own as you thought you were. âThereâs one other name you might know
me by: Star-lord.â âWho?â âIâm Star Lord, man.â I think character flaws stick out more noticeably
than cheap one-liners or a gruff demeanor, especially in a genre so dominated by underwritten
characters and gruff demeanors. They are imperfect people driven, all five
of them, by things outside of their control. I feel for Peter because we all have regrets
from the passing of loved ones. We have regrets about all the things we didnât
do and Peter couldnât bring himself to grab his motherâs hand before she died. Itâs imperfectness ad infinitum. He failed in a moment that had permanent consequences. He is imperfect forever. I feel for Gamora because she is faced with
an impossible choice (die or kill your sister,) that she has chosen to run from, complicating
her safety and her journey. I feel for Drax because he lost his family
and anchors to his world and heâs trying to make his way in land mostly foreign to
him. I feel for Rocket because he is an anomaly,
or more correctly: the creation of a lab. Heâs alone in dealing with this, and it
manifests as anger. I feel for Groot because he was forced to
make a decision knowing it would end his life, at least as he knew it. Guardians of the Galaxy is good because we
felt it. It came out swinging, and did things as outside
the box as Hollywoodâs seen, but Gunn kept us looking at their flaws, and we rooted for
them because of it. Am I overstressing these points? I donât think so. Sure, itâs a big-budget superhero film for
a lot of ages, but I think that amplifies the success, not detracts from it. If kids go the theater and get a kick-ass
space fantasy starring a diverse cast of characters that support each other despite their wildly
different backgrounds and accept each other for the mistakes they make, no questions asked
â yes, I think thatâs as big of a win as we could ever conceivably expect from a
machine this large. I cared way more than I ever thought I would
about an orphan with no bearing, a daughter with no out, a widower with no path, a raccoon
with no family, and a tree with no purpose. [end credits]
Thank you for checking my show, Movies with Mikey. If you so kindly would do me the service of
liking this video and subscribing to the channel because Youtube rules dictate that I have
to say that or Iâll be turned back into a fish. And I left that life behind. Be sure to also follow me on twitter @mikeyfish
F*** @mikeyface because thatâs where I interact with a lot of people about the show and share
lots of news about upcoming episodes. Okay, weâve been breezinâ through these
last few episodes at quite the clip so I see no reason not to keep that streak going so
the next FOUR movies up for vote are: ⢠Logan (and consider this your pre-emptive
cordial, spoiler warning) ⢠AmÊlie
⢠Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ⢠The Hurt Locker
Make your votes in the comments and keep your heads high friends.
that was a pretty interesting watch.
That was excellent. Seventeen minutes on why my kids and I love watching this movie.
Oh fuck YES.
I love Movies with Mikey. I was really sad to learn he's struggling with MS. He's a really positive and inspirational dude.