Great, great article I found about the villains in Guardians, and I find it all rings true, at least in my opinion.
Quote:
In Defense of the Villains of Guardians of the Galaxy
There is no denying it: Marvel Studios has a villain problem. And up to this point, it’s been no fault of the actors in the roles (in many cases sporting heavy names like Jeff Bridges, Ben Kingsley, and Robert Redford), but rather that the villains are lacking in either thematic integrity or feel store-bought as a means to have a conflict worthy of being smashed by the good guys. We’ve had ten Marvel movies since 2008 and maybe one to two or three memorable villains. Is it too much to ask for more?
About a week before Guardians of the Galaxy was released in the United States, early reviews and tweets were praising the new Marvel movie as a fast, funny, and unique blockbuster with one major issue: another villain misfire. This was an early letdown for a number of reasons: the first being that the primary antagonist of Guardians of the Galaxy (Ronan the Accuser) was not only fairly rich with source material, but was being played by Lee Pace, an actor with a number of smallish cult followings from parts in The Fall, Pushing Daisies, and The Hobbit movies. Pace doesn’t carry the weight of Jeff Bridges or Robert Redford, but his filmography is loaded with a fascinating set of diverse roles that, if the same trajectory is kept, could someday mirror the likes of Gary Oldman.
There was also the case of Doctor Who favorite Karen Gillan as Nebula, two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou as Korath, and Josh Brolin as Thanos. By all accounts, the villains roster of Guardians of the Galaxy was stocked with left-field surprises, presence, and flair. But, alas! The reviews of fanboys were in. And the verdict was unkind. The villains were “awful,” “flat,” and “not memorable.”
And then I actually saw Guardians of the Galaxy and wondered why everyone had hopped on this critique.
Not only was every actor appropriately cast, but their characters were fully-functional and imposing, without having their ties to the protagonists be worth exploring to the point of meandering and slowing the story down. I suppose the question I want to ask is this: what would have improved these villains and made them “more memorable?”
It doesn’t seem to be the performances; Pace and Gillan have been received well in that arena. It doesn’t seem to be the costume design; they’re strikingly scary and equally unique. Is it the character design? And what does that mean, exactly? What are we wanting from our villains when we go into a movie?
thanos
Like any other blockbuster trend, audiences seem to think there are two character templates for heroes and one for villains. Our heroes are fast-witted *******s, like Tony Stark or Captain Kirk, or they’re the basic always-want-to-do-good tropes like Captain America or Spock. And, apparently, villains aren’t interesting unless they’re Loki, Hannibal Lecter, or James Moriarty. Anything less is everything boring. The idea is that we can’t accept villains without backstory, personal ties to the heroes, or a master plan that involves them being captured to rip the heroes’ team apart from the inside. None of these things, of course, existed in the movies Guardians takes the most from upon their debuts. Star Wars: A New Hope, Raiders of the Lost Ark…the villains of those movies are composed of two things: presence and already-established motivations. The family tree of Darth Vader is hardly touched in A New Hope; he works as the scary right-hand man to the Emperor and carries a lightsaber and…if we’re going to be honest, that’s really the extent of him. Nebula functions almost like the Boba Fett of the Guardians universe, only she’s given more backstory than Boba ever is in the original trilogy. And, of course, the Emperor and Thanos are basically the same entity, complete with lazy throne-sitting and creepy smiling.
See, the structure and characterization of the villains in Guardians of the Galaxy functions in the same way as the other movie homage carryovers. Where we get lost is in Marvel’s current trend of ho-hum baddies who show up to be the nemesis and push forward the Infinity Gem subplots or make Captain America wish his friends would stay dead. We often don’t take a step back and look at how they’re functioning within the genre Marvel is tackling. Guardians’ villains have a genre purpose almost as important as the out-of-narrative casting of Robert Redford in his villainous role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It just may cause a little more digging.
Do we need more evidence? Then let’s talk about how Guardians’ movie universe is already smartly established before the movie begins. See, like A New Hope, Guardians understands that a good sci-fi universe is a lived-in one, where you get the exposition out of the way in a blurb of scrolling text or villainous monologue and you don’t start at the beginning, because there’s really no point when you’re juggling this many characters.
Ronan’s introduction is one of straight exposition, not unlike the now-classic “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” opening crawl. We’re told he’s been accused of being a religious extremist (he is) who plans on ignoring an established peace treaty between his race and the Xandarians and wiping out their race for the sake of his ancestry. If that doesn’t sound unique or original, that’s because it isn’t: the Middle East has been facing these religious war issues for centuries. Gunn is smart enough to assume his audience is intelligent enough that we don’t need the backstory of that conflict: the oppressor and immediacy of his actions are enough. Kind of like how George Lucas was smart enough to just give us this in 1977:
Quote:
It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have won
their first victory against
the evil Galactic Empire.
During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire’s
ultimate weapon, the DEATH
STAR, an armored space
station with enough power
to destroy an entire planet.
Pursued by the Empire’s
sinister agents, Princess
Leia races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the
stolen plans that can save her
people and restore
freedom to the galaxy….
And, also like Vader, Ronan is a name feared by the titular galaxy. I can’t remember the last time a Marvel movie name-dropped a villain so much to ensure the audience was getting the picture that Ronan the Accuser is less a man (alien, whatever) and more of a singularly unremorseful destructive force. So, no, Ronan doesn’t fit the Loki/Hannibal Lecter/Moriarty template of charmingly deceptive villains you can’t help but root for even a tiny bit. Nor does he fit the woe-is-me, tragic template of Bucky Barnes’ Winter Soldier. Which brings us to the other, arguably most important, point:
Guardians of the Galaxy is not a movie where you ever want to find yourself rooting for the villains. Ever. That concept completely and entirely goes against the underdog theme of why the Guardians’ team exists in the first place. You don’t make a movie about a rag-tag team of losers (people who have lost stuff) to have a villain come in and sweep the sympathy and attention away. You expect the Avengers to win against Loki, but you want the Guardians to win because the alternative means watching them lose each other right after you’ve fallen in love with them.
There’s tons more to be said about the villains gallery of both this movie and Marvel Studios’ movies in general, but it felt as though viewers needed a recalibration on what the film’s very nature and intention is in character concept. With all of that said, one is always welcome to think the villains of Guardians of the Galaxy are flat, unmemorable, and generic, but I’d hope they’re ready to make one hell of a case for it.
Not a fan of MCU's formula. I loved IM3 for breaking away with it and trying something different. Im sorry for sharing a different opinion.
I think you, Walt and I are the only ones going to bat for IM3. The hate it gets still confuses me, beyond the tired complaints of "but mandarin wasn't like the comics" non-argument.
But I agree with you.
*disclaimer: I am posting this for a show of support, not to get into a pros and cons of IM3 with total strangers*
Not a fan of MCU's formula. I loved IM3 for breaking away with it and trying something different. Im sorry for sharing a different opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snicket
I think you, Walt and I are the only ones going to bat for IM3. The hate it gets still confuses me, beyond the tired complaints of "but mandarin wasn't like the comics" non-argument.
But I agree with you.
*disclaimer: I am posting this for a show of support, not to get into a pros and cons of IM3 with total strangers*
Yep. Agreed with both of you. I'll willingly go to bat for it still, I really thought it was great. Glad to be in good company at least.
I think you, Walt and I are the only ones going to bat for IM3. The hate it gets still confuses me, beyond the tired complaints of "but mandarin wasn't like the comics" non-argument.
But I agree with you.
*disclaimer: I am posting this for a show of support, not to get into a pros and cons of IM3 with total strangers*
Iron Man 3 is just the worst movie ever and I could go the rest of my life without seeing it again.
I think you, Walt and I are the only ones going to bat for IM3. The hate it gets still confuses me, beyond the tired complaints of "but mandarin wasn't like the comics" non-argument.
But I agree with you.
*disclaimer: I am posting this for a show of support, not to get into a pros and cons of IM3 with total strangers*
I have never read the comics so to me it just felt like such a major let down. I could care less if he wasn't a perfect villain, I just absolutely hated the twist. I was so looking forward to the showdown between kingsley and Downey that to me I was just like wait wtf what. I felt it was an opportunity wasted.
I forget if I have mentioned this, but the night I first saw it I was discussing with some friends and I told them that I loved how the movie showed the stark difference between the types of villains we have in the cosmic level of the MCU. Loki, on the first hand, seemed somewhat afraid any time the Chitauri guy would mention Thanos (though, to be fair, it is Loki as my friend pointed out and he could be playing everyone ), then you have Ronan on the other hand that he simply gets annoyed when he talks to him and
[Show spoiler]flat out murders him
in Thanos' presence. That scene shows that Ronan is not messing around or looking for enjoyment. He has a mission to accomplish it and nothing will stand in his way.
I must say I had quite a bit of fun. The film definitely works the best when the team is together, and it took a little bit for the film to find its footing in the beginning, but once it did it was a total blast. I'll be seeing it again this week, hopefully at a different theater with a better sound setup that doesn't keep the dialogue so front-loaded and hard to hear. I also hope I don't get stuck sitting by some annoying teenagers talking throughout the entire movie and slurping on their slurpees again. But definitely a fun film!
And here's my ranking of the MCU:
Iron Man - 4.5/5 Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 4.5/5 The Avengers - 4.5/5 Guardians of the Galaxy - 4/5 Thor - 4/5 Captain America: The First Avenger - 4/5 Iron Man 2 - 3.5/5 The Incredible Hulk - 3.5/5 Iron Man 3 - 3/5 Thor: The Dark World - 3/5
Last edited by Darth Marcus; 08-03-2014 at 10:31 PM.
just a good the second time. People love this movie too, best crowd reaction Ive heard in a theater in a long ass time. So glad that its killing the box office this weekend and even more astounded that it got made and works at all
Is Korath's and Ronan's alien soldier goons Kree or Chitauri or something else? No one has really talked about them. They were damn creepy looking. I especially liked the two that were piloting Ronan's ship - rubbing the hologram spheres.
Last edited by toddly6666; 08-03-2014 at 10:52 PM.
I actually thought Ronan was a decent villain. At least better than Red Skull, Dr. Who from Thor 2 and Guy Pearce in IM3.
I agree, I enjoyed him more than those other 3 as well. I liked his reaction at the end when
[Show spoiler]Star-Lord was distracting him, didn't think such an evil Villian would take time out to ask a question of what he was doing instead of just blasting him.
It was great. He would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for those pesky kids and their raccoon.
Is Korath's and Ronan's alien soldier goons Kree or Chitauri or something else? No one has really talked about them. They were damn creepy looking. I especially liked the two that were piloting Ronan's ship - rubbing the hologram spheres.
They were insect people from the world in the Planet Hulk movie .
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People love this movie too, best crowd reaction Ive heard in a theater in a long ass time. So glad that its killing the box office this weekend and even more astounded that it got made and works at all 
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