It is entirely fine with me if I spend much of 2014 writing articles about a gun-toting space raccoon.
James Gunn’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” is not so much a radical reinvention of what Marvel Studios has been doing so far as it is a very smart way of them broadening their palette. In many ways, this is the same sort of heroic journey that their other characters have been on in film after film, but it takes place in a very different kind of world, and it brings in all sorts of new ideas that should give the entire Marvel movie universe a major shot in the arm.
The funny part of this trailer is that it’s essentially the same as the footage that was shown at Comic-Con a mere ten days or so into the shoot. It’s a lot slicker now, but everything up through the last big barrage of quick shots is cut the same, and the structure is identical.
Makes perfect sense, though. This is a near-perfect way to introduce the characters to an audience. By putting them each in front of the two Nova Corps officers played by Serafinowicz and John C. Reilly and having them run down each person’s background, it allows the filmmakers to tell you flat out who they are. The one thing to keep in mind is that there’s not actually an equivalent scene in the film. When they’re first booked into the prison, they are not yet a team, and they are not called the Guardians Of The Galaxy at that point. That one bit was created specifically for the Comic-Con footage, and then carried over for the trailer.
The film is about how these five people ultimately have to become a team and how they learn to work together. They couldn’t be more different at first, with the only two of them who have any bond at first being Rocket Raccoon and Groot. I love the reference in the trailer to how Rocket keeps Groot as a “house pet.” There is something so weird about the little furry guy “keeping” the giant plant guy. I got the sense on the set of the film that it’s more of a very close friendship, the two of them recognizing something in one another, and I love that we see a few quick glimpses here of the two of them in action as a team.
All of this is still just pre-amble, which is appropriate since it’s still only February and we won’t see this until August. But, man, as first trailers go, this is about as confident as they get, and I think the level of polish on this between when we first saw the footage and now is a good indicator of just how gorgeous it’s going to be when it finally hits theaters.
“Guardians Of The Galaxy” takes flight on August 1, 2014.