Thursday, February 20, 2014

A Bunch of A-holes: Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer

It's apparently the week for Guardians of the Galaxy news and it was heralded by the first trailer. Check it out...



Yeah, that's the stuff. Seriously though, Guardians is going to be Marvel's toughest sell to mainstream audiences yet and this trailer does exactly what it needs to, introduce the characters and tone. Nobody outside of hardcore comics fans knows the Guardians so the line-up format they've got going here works well to tell newbies just who these weirdoes are. And it's amazing how much characterization in the few seconds they're on screen.

You've got Drax, full of barely restrained fury. Gamora, cool as ice with that coy smile. Rocket Raccoon, surly and disagreeable (which adds to the existing comedy of his being a talking raccoon). Groot, who just seems to be taking the whole thing in stride. And then there's Star-Lord. Understandably it focuses a lot on him because he's the main character and being from Earth the most like the audience. But even so, his characterization is really fun. Very much in the Captain Jack Sparrow mold of someone who thinks they're cooler than they actually are. But it also very much fits the tone.

As to that tone, It's clearly going to be very comedic. That's another strength Marvel has over DC. DC wouldn't dare make something remotely funny. Being funny would just undermine how serious the whole affair has to be. The only joke you're allowed is to point out how silly anything remotely comic-booky is. But not Marvel. Marvel isn't afraid to embrace the silliness inherent to this kind of material. They will make a movie with a talking machine-gun wielding raccoon and don't care if you laugh at it. In fact, Guardians being more of a comedy may be Marvel's way of softening the weirdness of this for mainstream audiences. Like they're saying, "Yeah, it's kind of strange but it's strange enough to be ridiculous. Just laugh with us and it'll be okay" But they'll not only make that raccoon funny but also badass.

At any rate, this is looking like a lot of fun. I love the unabashedly science fiction production design with most of the aliens being just normal people with rainbow skin and bumpy foreheads. The music also adds to the comedic tone, especially using "Hooked on a Feeling" as the punchline to what someone on Youtube called "The Purposefully Worst Team Shot of all Time" at the end. But the trailer  does leave a little to be desired. There's still no indication of what the plot will be and we still need to see more of the characters besides Star-Lord. Especially the villains, the audience needs some indication of what our heroes are up against. But as a teaser for new audiences this could hook in the skeptics. Let's hope things get fleshed out in the next trailer.

No comments:

Post a Comment