Written by guest writer Dillon Robinson
What is the best movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
When asked what I felt the best MCU movie is, I initially debated between “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers Endgame.” After all, they’re pretty great movies, and any of them could easily be considered as the best in the franchise. After thinking it over, I decided that the best movie isn’t the most conclusive one, but the one that’s done the most to help, not just the MCU, but comic book movies as a whole: “Guardians of the Galaxy.” This film easily stands up to the four movies I mentioned above. Here’s why:
The easiest thing to talk about when it comes to this movie is that it’s written quite well. Each character is given just enough characterization that you understand why they do what they do, but it leaves you wanting to learn more in a future film. This movie has five central characters who are introduced, and they’re integrated into the script with enough subtlety that the movie never feels like it’s coming to a halt when they introduce us to each one. As a bonus, the actors have lots of chemistry with each other.
The plot makes sense: a ragtag bunch of misfits get together in the face of a common goal: kill an evil overlord who wants to destroy a planet with a super-weapon. Not particularly spectacular, but it gets the job done.
There’s a nice soundtrack of 70s and 80s music that actually forms part of the backbone to the story, and gives it a fun and lighthearted tone.
The humor is pretty great. Unlike most Marvel movies, which tend to not have any personality in the camerawork, this movie has pretty good direction and cinematography. All of these elements come together to make a fun, solid movie.
What elevates it is the fact that the movie has a surprising amount of emotion, heart, and intelligence behind it. The overlying theme of the story is the importance of family, and how familial bonds are formed. Not just between our central characters, but in their personal lives. With the Guardians, there’s always an element of their characterization and backstories that comes back to family:
Peter Quill and his mother, Gamora, Thanos (her adoptive father) and her (adopted) sister Nebula, Drax, his wife and daughter (who were murdered prior to the story), and finally Groot and Rocket’s familial bond with each other. The last two being a talking tree and a talking raccoon was no easy feat, yet somehow this film manages to make us feel for them. We learn how important family is to each of these characters, and ultimately, how they form a new family with each other.
The best thing about this story is how weird it is: It’s an epic space opera with all sorts of aliens, a hulking living tree who’s only capable of saying his own name, a crazed talking raccoon who shoots a machine gun, a blue guy who uses an arrow as a weapon that he controls by whistling, solidified remnants of energy released during the Big Bang, giant all-powerful celestial beings, a flamboyant rich guy who collects other species, alien outlaw factions, fantastical locations to be seen and explored, and a grudge-holding alien warlord who screams a lot.
Back during Marvel’s first phase, they were really scared of letting the movies get too weird. The plots were always a bit mundane, they rarely took place away from planet Earth, and as a result, were human-centric. While they had more colors and visual flair than, say, the X-Men movies, they were never really as out-there as this movie is. In other words, it’s as if they were ashamed of the stranger aspects of comic books. This movie showed the world that comic book movies could embrace the weird, crazy stuff that comic books are famous for and still manage to turn a profit, and be accessible enough for mainstream audiences to enjoy.
This film is like a modern-day “Spider-Man 2,” which showed the world that you could make a legitimate character-driven drama while still maintaining an air of comic book silliness. This movie proves you can display the ridiculous comic book elements and not lose the integrity of the film.
Comic book movies have been all over the place and going into all sorts of crazy, experimental plot points, characters, settings, visuals and themes that film studios would never have even dreamed of doing as little as 20 years ago, and this is the movie they have to thank for it. Without “Guardians of the Galaxy,” it would’ve taken far longer for these kinds of movies to finally be made, and the MCU and the world of comic book movies in general would be far duller.
