Guardians of the Galaxy was going to be a tough sell for Marvel Studios. This group of outer space outlaws doesn't feature any recognizable icons like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor or the Hulk. The characters and their stories are even relatively obscure among comic book fans, enjoying a 25-issue series run from 2008 to 2010 before being canceled.
But Marvel is embracing the challenge of selling the Guardians to a wide, moviegoing audience. The sales pitch began with Tuesday night's debut of the movie's trailer during Jimmy Kimmel Live. Chris Pratt, fresh off the success of voicing the lead character in The Lego Movie, appeared to introduce the preview to those who have no idea who the hell the Guardians of the Galaxy are. But Pratt is a recognizable face from NBC's Parks and Recreation. And did we mention he's the voice of Emmett from The Lego Movie, which has earned $142.8 million at the box office thus far?
Even Pratt — who plays Peter Quill, the lead character in Guardians — had a difficult time trying to sum up his new film in a sentence or two, making a Bad News Bears joke before explaining that the movie follows a band of misfits and outlaws who stir up trouble and fight a bunch of people in space. Then, while the people in Kimmel's audience and viewers at home were trying to decide if that sounded interesting, the trailer played. Two-and-a-half minutes of footage from the film would do a better job of explaining the film. That's what trailers are supposed to do.
The trailer actually does an excellent job of reflecting any initial questions the audience might have. It begins with Quill attempting to steal some intergalactic trinket, much like Indiana Jones trying to nab that golden idol at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Just as Quill gets his hand on that silver orb, he's caught by three guards holding huge guns.
"Who are you?" the leader (played by Djimon Hounsou) asks. Exactly. Who is this guy?
Then we get an idea of what the film's tone will be. The camera zooms in to Quill's face, a precursor to a dramatic moment. "Star-Lord," Quill says, like the name is supposed to mean something. "Who?" the guard says. Star-Lord's reputation apparently doesn't precede him like Quill imagines. If he's the "legendary outlaw" he believes he is, these guys have no idea about it. Later, we see Quill unusually attached to an 80s-style Walkman, complete with big foam headphones. What's that all about?
The trailer then proceeds to introduce each of Quill's fellow outlaws, using the setting of an officer (played by John C. Reilly) explaining who these people are to deliver the necessary information.
First, we meet the muscled-up bruiser Drax (wrestler Dave Bautista) and the green-skinned assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Then we see the characters that truly make Guardians distinct, the ones that are sure to be popular with kids and adults alike if this movie becomes a hit. There's Rocket, who looks like a raccoon and spits derisively at the officers, followed by Groot, basically a walking tree (or "What the hell… ?" as the other officer, played by Peter Serafinowicz, asks upon seeing him).
A talking raccoon and a talking tree. These are the Guardians of the Galaxy. ("What a bunch of a-holes," Serafinowicz says.) Since this is an early trailer, we don't even hear the voices of Rocket and Groot. And that's another selling point for the movie. Rocket will be voiced by Bradley Cooper, while the voice of Groot is provided by Vin Diesel. (By the way, Groot's language can only be heard as three words: "I am Groot.") When those voice tracks are synced up with the film footage and ready to go, Cooper and Diesel will surely be used to promote this even further.
The preview then goes into montage mode, showing us quick clips of action, swordplay, explosions, spaceships flying around and a variety of odd characters that reminds us we're dealing with aliens deep in outer space. If you watched the mid-credits scene in Thor: The Dark World and wondered what the hell was going on and why Benicio Del Toro was dressed up like Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie in some freaky alien storage bin, it was a nod, a prologue to Guardians of the Galaxy. We catch a quick glimpse of Del Toro's character, The Collector, in this new trailer.
Does this look like any movie Marvel has produced before? These aren't costumed superheroes, per se. This is full-on sci-fi, venturing into Star Wars territory. It's a bold choice and direction for the studio. Surely, it would be easy to keep cranking out Iron Man and Captain American movies, and getting the band together for another blockbuster Avengers film or two. (I'm hoping for another Hulk movie, myself.) Marvel also has ambitions on delving deeper into its catalog of characters. We'll soon see the adventures of Ant-Man, Doctor Strange and perhaps the Black Panther.
As exciting as it will be to see new characters make the transition from comic book page to big screen, there are so many superhero films hitting theaters these days (largely thanks to Marvel) that they've begun to feel the same. We get the origin story in which a seemingly normal person discovers unusual powers and abilities, and follow him (or her) along a hero's journey during which he learns to use those abilities to help people and accepts a greater responsibility. With the origin out of the way, the character moves to a larger, more ambitious story that often involves a battle with an equally superpowered being (or beings), resulting in massive destruction.
Not all superhero films follow that template. The Marvel films, in particular, have been smart about using different genres to tell their stories. Iron Man is a tale of corporate espionage. Captain America is a war movie. Thor is a near-medieval fantasy. But the character arcs are still similar, even if various genres are used to deliver these stories to us.
Guardians of the Galaxy looks different. As mentioned earlier, it's a sci-fi space epic. It's not the typical superhero tale we're now accustomed to, even if it does follow some of the usual storytelling tropes. These characters aren't even well known to many comic book readers, though the Guardians do have some devoted diehards. This is a risky venture for Marvel, one which several fans and analysts expect to be the studio's first box office failure. (The choice of director James Gunn, who previously helmed Slither and Super, is a bold choice as well.)
But if this works, Marvel isn't just a superhero factory anymore. It can tell other sorts of stories, delving further into sci-fi and fantasy while also broaching the supernatural and horror. It's the right direction at the right time for Marvel. They're trying to show they can do more than superheroes, just as audiences might be getting a bit tired of such characters because so many of them are seen on the screen now. At the very least, the hope is that we'll buy talking raccoons and trees who fire massive guns.
