SDCC 2013: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Looks Great
James Gunn and the cast suprised Hall H with a bunch of footage from a movie that's only been shooting for 12 days.
“They call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“What a bunch of A-holes.”
Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be the next test for Marvel Studios. They went all in on the concept of The Avengers, and it paid off. It’s hard to remember now, after that film has made over a billion dollars, that some scoffed at the idea of bringing separate franchises together for one big crossover film. Now it has become the gold standard concept, and fans remain furious at Warner Bros’ inability to do the same with their DC characters. That test passed they now turn their attention to something way trickier:
A light-hearted space action movie featuring almost totally unknown characters and no guaranteed box office draws, directed by a filmmaker whose last studio picture did not do well.
This is a big financial risk. Basically Marvel is at the point where they believe their specific brand will be enough to sell tickets, and I hope they’re right, because the stuff they showed from Guardians of the Galaxy at Comic-Con made the movie vault immediately to the very top of my most anticipated list for 2014. If the tone and style shown in the footage this weekend represents the movie as a whole, Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be an idiosyncratic delight.
The movie has only been shooting for 12 days, but director James Gunn was able to put together an impressive presentation for us. The first bit of footage had a man entering what looked like an ancient space temple, a glowing orb in his hand lighting his way. He comes to an object - some sort of relic - and picks it up, examining it. Armored men burst into the room, rifles drawn, demanding he drop the object. The man - Chris Pratt of Parks & Rec fame - smiles and introduces himself as Star Lord.
“Should I know who you are?” one of the space cops asks.
“Star Lord?” Pratt replies with a smirk. “Legendary outlaw? Aw, forget it.”
The rest of the footage introduces us to the remainder of the Guardians in the form of a police line-up. Zoe Saldan looked great in green skin as Gamorra, the deadliest woman in the universe, and Dave Bautista looks a little more multi-colored than my memory of the character, but I guess you only want one green person on the team. And then there were Groot and Rocket Raccoon, both fully finished CGI creations. The police line-up/prison stuff was intercut with some other shots, including one of Rocket on Groot’s back, the huge tree creature spinning as the tiny raccoon shoots an automatic weapon at unseen enemies.
While there was some action - including shots of Star Lord running around in his comic-accurate mask - mostly what we saw was comedic. There’s a great bit where Star Lord sees a jailor going through his personal belongings and discovering a Walkman, which begins playing “Hooked On A Feeling.” Star Lord attacks the guard, demanding he take his hands off the player; the rest of the footage was scored to the bubble-gum pop flavor of the song.
John C Reilly and Peter Serafinowicz made a brief appearance as space cops (I’m assuming Nova Corps members) who are looking at the Guardians in the line-up. The quote at the top of the article comes from them, as does this great exchange:
“He’s known as Star Lord.”
“Who calls him that?”
“Mostly himself.”
What we saw had energy and humor and pizzazz. Gunn looks to be creating a complete world, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what he does with it. All of the Marvel stuff was intriguing, but Guardians of the Galaxy was the presentation that made me believe the Marvel Movieverse could really live beyond the core members of The Avengers.
But a quick check, that was Battle of the Planets. 
Talking Racoon? Bring on Gorilla Grodd!!!!
