Guardians of the Galaxy on Blu-ray

Comics Movie Reviews
Guardians of the Galaxy on Blu-ray
By Hervé St-Louis
December 14, 2014 - 17:41

Studios: Marvel
Writer(s): James Gunn, Nicole Perlman
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro
Directed by: James Gunn
Produced by: Kevin Feige
Running Time: 121 minutes
Release Date: December 9 2014
Rating: PG13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
Distributors: Buena Vista Home Entertainment

Guardians of the Galaxy is the story of Peter Jason Quill who likes to be called Star-Lord. Abducted just after the death of his mother as a child, Quill grows up with alien scavengers who roam the galaxy for valuable artifacts. Known by galactic enforcement agencies, Quill steals a rare artifact called the Power Gem from the henchmen of Ronan the Accuser, a reel Kree warrior who wants to destroy the home of the Nova Corp, planet Xandar. Gamora, Rocket Racoon, Groot and Drax the Destroyer join Star-Lord in opposing the powerful forces of Ronan, and Nebula, the twisted daughter of the Titan demagogue Thanos. Will the Guardians save the Galaxy?

I’ll continue writing the rest of this review for those of you who are not Marvel film and comics geeks. If you haven’t seen this film, you should. It depicts a side of the Marvel comic book universe that had not appeared yet in film. Earth is not the stage of where the action occurs, yet the Guardians’ mission is as crucial for benefit of the universe. The story of the Guardians needs no prior knowledge of the other Marvel films or the comics. Many have compared it to Star Wars and claim that its energy and creativity reflect the older franchise. The Guardians of the Galaxy is more fun than Star Wars.

As the director James Gunn remarked in some of the extras on the Blu-Ray, he conceived the world of the Guardians as a bright and fully coloured one instead of the dark and moody look many science fiction films adopt. That makes a difference. The different people who inhabit Xandar and the other locales in the movie have vivid colours and nice-looking oddly coloured skin tones. This is marvellous.

One of the best aspects of the Guardians o the Galaxy is the retro music used as the film’s soundtrack. Unfortunately, the extras do not cover this dimension of the film nor do they provide any insights in the history of the Guardians of the Galaxy in comics. I wish the extras would have been more comprehensive.

Blu-Ray

Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes
Making-of Featurettes
Exclusive Look at “Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron”
Gag Reel
Audio Commentary

DVD

Exclusive Look at “Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron”
Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scene

Rating: 8.5/10