How Would a Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Work?

With The Avengers come and gone, Marvel Studios prepare to enter 'Phase 2′ of their cinematic universe. With Iron Man, Thor and Captain America all due sequels, it was tough to see what Marvel's mystery project in 2014 could be. Was it Black Panther, Ant-Man? Well our questions have been answered, and Marvel's first film away from the Avengers universe is set to be Guardians of the Galaxy!

But wait? Who are the Guardians of the Galaxy and how would a movie work? The team originally debuted in 1969, although far less familiar than the modern team seen today. Dwelling on the 31st Century, the original team focused on obscure characters like Starhawk and Major Victory. It wasn't until 2008; when sci-fi writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (or DNA for short) took the team into new heights post Marvel's mega-cosmic event 'Annihilation'.

Essentially making the team 'Space Avengers' DNA made GOTG one of Marvel's best books, featuring iconic characters such as Adam Warlock, Drax the Destroyer and talking rodent Rocket Racoon. It was a high-adrenaline affair that had been missing from comics since the 90′s. The Avengers books had long focused on street heroes and New York, while Thor was in the process of being rebooted after a brief hiatus. Marvel was missing a cosmic universe, and DNA responded by creating one that easily rivalled DC's own Green Lantern universe.

1) Control the humour.

One of the main reasons Avengers worked is because it took a tricky concept, and grounded it in reality by using humour. How else would icons such as Iron Man, Thor and Cap work together if there wasn't some bickering involved? The problem with GOTG is that it's a much more grand concept, and over-using the humour could almost make the film more self-parody than action-blockbuster.

That doesn't mean limit the jokes altogether though. After all, it's a film featuring a talking racoon.

2) Streamlined Narrative

DNA's cosmic books tended to require full concentration from the reader in order to truly understand what was going on. They weren't always the most accessible books for new readers, and as a result Marvel didn't give the book the publicity it deserved. A movie can't rick alienating (excuse the pun) audiences unfamiliar with the team by throwing alternative universes and shifting-timelines at them.

The movie's script is rumoured to be based on DNA's swansong event 'The Thanos Imperative'. Take this with a pinch of salt, as that book couldn't really be streamlined at all for new audiences. For inspiration, Marvel should look at James Cameron's sci-fi epic 'Avatar'. The film had quite a basic plot, but was carried by the thrill of seeing a new extraordinary universe and as a result it's now the highest-grossing movie of all time. With the GOTG there is the potential to do what Marvel's last fantasy film Thor failed to do by fully exploring new worlds and not just their glossy interiors. What are the moons of Titan? Are their other Titans that live there besides Thanos? Where does Rocket Raccoon come from? These are questions a GOTG movie could explore making it much more adventurous than your average comic book movie. The plot does not have to be convoluted. Even it was just Thanos showing up threatening to conquer the galaxy it would work.

3) Who are these characters?

Where The Avengers truly succeeded is that it gave every character a voice. No one felt too out of place (Hawkeye slightly) and each character got his or her chance to shine. The Guardians needs that exact treatment in order for it to feel different. For instance leader of the Guardians Star-Lord/Peter Quill is not a Steve Rogers stand-in. He's more of a Han Solo character, with a bit of Rogers thrown in. With Robert Downey Jr. unable to play Iron Man for much longer, Star-Lord would easily fill the void into the cinematic universe.

Movie Review of The Lucky One

Call me crazy, but I'm starting to think that Nicholas Sparks needs to either: A) stop turning his books into movies, or B) locate and keep on speed dial the person who was responsible for the screen adaptation of 'The Notebook', because frankly, you can only expect audiences to hope for a life changing love story so many times before they stop giving you the benefit of the doubt.

THE GOOD: A grown up and---if I may be perfectly frank---smoking hot Zac Efron plays Logan Thibault, a young Marine who has survived three tours of duty in Iraq, when many around him haven't been as fortunate. He believes he owes this miracle to the photo of a young woman-Beth (played by Taylor Schilling) that he stumbled across in combat. When his tour is over, he sets out to find her and thank her for saving his life. It's a simple thing to say, really, when he finally locates her, yet for some reason that's never quite clear, he can't do it. Instead he ends up working for her and her grandmother at the dog shelter and obedience school they own. By the time she learns about the real purpose of his appearance in her life, his explanation seems flimsy. Throw in Beth's bully of an ex-husband, Keith (played by Jay R. Ferguson), along with a steamy shower scene and Efron flexing his biceps as he lifts bags of dog food, and you have the makings of a great love story.....right? Well, not particularly.

THE BAD: I need to point out here that, although I don't always read a book before it's made into a movie, I did with this one... and that might have been a mistake, because I couldn't help but feel irritated at how WRONG they got it. The casting was pretty solid, although I never felt much chemistry between Logan and Beth---but that may have just been because I was thinking the whole time how much I would have liked to play Schilling's part. But I suppose that's not integral to this review.

To be fair, I completely understand that it's not feasible to put every element of a book into it's film adaptation. But the main problem I had with this one was WHAT they chose to leave out. Throw aside some of the "beautiful scenery shots", cut out 2 of the THREE bedroom scenes (we get it-Logan is totally buff, but let's not run this thing into the ground), and for the love of all that is holy, PLEASE get rid of the cheesy line he mumbles to Beth about kissing that isn't even IN the book. But why they would choose to remove a key moment in the story that shows what a dirtbag Keith is escapes me. Tack a few extra minutes onto the movie and develop those characters so the dialogue actually means something when they say it.

THE UGLY: With Taylor Schilling and Zac Efron on the screen, there isn't a whole lot of ugly to be found, but some short scenes of domestic violence are certainly ugly enough to leave you hoping you'll see a ---with any luck, shirtless----Logan, swinging a shovel at Keith's big noggin.

For all the hype of this film being another "Notebook" or "The Vow", you'd have to be a pretty die hard Nicholas Sparks fan to actually compare it to either of those films. It lacks the charm and depth of either of those stories, which is a shame because there's nothing quite like a love story to make life seem more worthwhile. This movie just made my popcorn and diet soda seem a little more special.