A long form review originally posted n 2014:
Now that I’ve given Guardians a BluRay watch through, I feel more comfortable reviewing it. I saw it on the first day of its Australian cinematic release, but I wasn’t sure what I thought. I watched it again and still wasn’t sure, but now that it’s six months later, I am sure.
I’m a massive fan of director James Gunn. Come to think of it, I’m also also a big fan of Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Chris Pratt, Benicio Del Toro, Djimon Honsou, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Peter Serafinowicz, Alexis Denisof, Rob Zombie and Nathan Fillion, and they’re all in this. Not to mention I’m an absolute sucker for the MCU. So after hearing that a very decent chunk of the fanbase thinking that not only was this the best Marvel film of the year (going up against Winter Soldier and Days of Future Past), but that they would then go on to say it was the best Marvel Cinematic Universe film ever, you could imagine I was very surprised to find that I actually didn’t think it was all that great.
I don’t want people thinking I didn’t like it. I did. In fact I will go on record saying that it was miles away from their worst film, and if I’m being honest they handled the last 25 minutes (arguably the most important part) of the film absolutely spectacularly. But I didn’t get the magic that everyone was telling me about. How this was the film for the new generation. I didn’t even get the sense of satisfaction that I had in Cap’s movie just a few months previous.
So many things seemed under utilised, but I don’t know what you could have cut to make room for the extra things I wanted. Which means the only way to get it is to have a longer film. It’s already two hours, and a longer movie means a bigger budget and less screenings. ie. more money going out and less money coming in. And at the end of the day Disney is a business, and they have to make their money the best way they think they can. So I understand why it wasn’t perfect for me, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling Guardians is a mite overrated. Good damn movie. But overrated.
Personally I’d stick it somewhere in the middle of the MCU’s releases thus far. Leaps and bounds above The Incredible Hulk, The Dark World and Iron Man 2, but not so beloved as the likes of The Avengers, Winter Soldier or Iron Man 1.
73%
-Gimly