GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY DVD (2014)

SYNOPSIS: From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Marvel Cinematic Universe expands into the cosmos when brash space adventurer Peter Quill steals a coveted orb and becomes the object of a relentless bounty hunt. To evade his enemies, Quill forges an uneasy truce with Rocket, a gun-toting racoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly assassin Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb, he must rally his ragtag band of misfits for a desperate battle that will decide the fate of the galaxy. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

From a nobody to a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood, this turn of events probably qualified as a cinematic milestone. No, I’m not talking about Guardians of the Galaxy but the studio behind it, Marvel.

For the last few years, Marvel has been churning out hits after hits and their Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is fast becoming a reality because of it. It’s unbelievable that even a bunch of unknown ragtag heroes can be so much fun and ended up being a box-office hit!

Originally published in the 60’s and unknown to most mortals except a few comic book geeks, the movie Guardians of the Galaxy has been repackaged and written by director James Gunn with the approval of Marvel’s top honchos for the contemporary audience. It’s an exhilarating ride filled with laughs, space battles and colourful villains. Most importantly, Marvel is not afraid of laughing at themselves or taking it too seriously (here’s looking at you..Man of Steel).

A group of unlikely heroes, Peter Quill aka Star Lord (Chris Pratt), deadly assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a revenge seeking Drax (Dave Bautista), a guns-toting talking raccoon named Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a tree-like humanoid Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) teamed up to protect the Nova Empire against an evil villain Ronan (Lee Pace). But Marvel being Marvel, things are not so easy on the surface. Thanos (voiced by Josh Brolin) last seen in the post-credits of Avengers and The Collector (Benicio del Toro) last seen in Thors 2 returned to spice up things a little together with a subplot regarding a powerful orb. Not that it need a stone to keep audience mesmerized anyway.

Gunn jam-packed the two hours movie with spectacular effects, thrilling aerial battles and lots and lots of surprises. There’s hardly any lull and the frequently hilarious dialogue is a godsend. Marvel movies may not be blessed with the best memorable score but Guardians of the Galaxy has an awesome groovy soundtrack featuring hits from the 70’s and 80’s so we can overlook the former.

Definitely the surprise hit of 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy only proved Marvel can do no wrong at this point. Chris Pratt is on the way to the cosmos and being an A-lister while Disney is laughing all the way to the bank. Not a bad choice for buying a comic book company turned moviemaker.  

SPECIAL FEATURES:

A superbly brief two minutes of behind-the-scenes look in Exclusive Look at Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Rocket’s fake laugh sequence gets extended in Deleted Scene. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Boasting terrific visual and audio, this is one title to showcase your home theater setup. Visual presentation is flawless and the sound mix is dynamic and solid at every explosive turn and aerial scene. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee