GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: A 

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, John C. Reilly and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel
Based on the comic book by Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning

Screenplay by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman

Directed by James Gunn

I tend to enter every MARVEL Studios movie a bit skeptical. They come so frequently that it is hard not to feel that they are beating it into the ground, and each time I wonder if I'm going to be seeing the one that finally falls flat on its face. That being said, the only one of their films I have truly disliked is The Incredible Hulk, and I have not been disappointed by one of their films since Iron Man 2, which had too many characters and was more concerned with setting up The Avengers than telling a cohesive story. But since then, each movie has decidedly delivered as a top notch piece of popular entertainment, if not always a truly great film. I even stuck with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while others wrote it off, and was very much rewarded for Imy loyalty. Still, when you put a new superhero movie at least once a year, it seems like it's got to wear out its welcome at some point.

But with Guardians of The Galaxy, Marvel seems to have taken its cue from PIXAR, which smartly chose to shake of the formula a bit with The Incredibles, even though the formula was still working at the time. Guardians really isn't a superhero movie, and though certain plot elements were teased in both The Avengers and especially Thor: The Dark World, you really don't have to have seen any of the other previous MARVEL movies to have a  blast with this silly, over the top and thoroughly enjoyable space opera. 

In 1988, following his mother's death, a young  boy named Peter Quill is abducted from Earth by the Ravagers, space-pirates led by Yondu (Michael Rooker), who eventually adopts him. 26 years later, Quill (now played by Chris Pratt of Parks and Recreation) steals a sphere-artifact only to be intercepted by the Kree, servants to the fanatical Ronan The Accuser (Lee Pace), servant to Thanos (the villain teased at the end of The Avengers, voiced here by Josh Brolin.)  Although Quill escapes with the artifact, Yondu discovers he has stolen the Ravager's prize, and issues a bounty for his capture, while Ronan sends the assassin Gamora (Saldana) after the sphere.

When Quill attempts to sell the sphere on the Nova Corps homeworld of Xandar, Gamora ambushes him and steals it. A fight ensues, drawing in two bounty hunters, the genetically-engineered raccoon, Rocket (Cooper) and the humanoid tree, Groot (Diesel.).The Nova Corps arrive and arrest the group, imprisoning them in the Kiln. The powerful inmate, Drax (pro wrestler Dave Bautista), attempts to kill Gamora for his family's murder by Ronan, who has led a slaughter of worlds in pursuit of Kree purity, but Quill convinces Drax that Gamora can bring him to Ronan. Gamora reveals that she has betrayed Ronan, and that he intends to use the sphere's power to destroy entire planets, starting with Xandar. Learning that Gamora has a buyer for the sphere, Rocket, Quill, Groot, and Gamora work together to escape the Kiln.

It goes without saying that this band of misfits become a reluctant team, and eventually, heroes.  This much is hardly a surprise. What is a surprise is just how well the film works, and how much fun it is. This is easily the cheesiest and more ridiculous major space adventure in many years, but it is so comfortable in its own skin that not only does in not matter, its actually a major part of the film's considerable appeal. The visual effects are a mixture of breathtaking and deliberately hokey, but in a way that really works (as I watched the film, more than once I found myself thinking "Ahhh, so this is what The Fifth Element played like to people who actually enjoyed it."). It's definitely the best use MARVEL has made of 3D since The Avengers.

Pratt proves to be a capable, if still highly comedic, leading man, and Saldana reminds us that despite a string of flops, she's no fluke: she's really a terrific actress with incredible star quality. But the real standouts, despite being only voices, are Cooper and Diesel as Rocket and Groot. Cooper, who never ceases to impress, is clearly having a ball stepping so far out of type, and  gives a thoroughly hilarious yet touching performance, and Diesel gets so much emotion of his line reads (despite the fact that they consists only of the words "I am Groot" that we are reminded of his early work in Saving Private Ryan and The Iron Giant, and left to wonder what he could be if he was routinely in a higher quality of film. Bautista is very effective as Drax, and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond on the BBC's Doctor Who) gives  a  memorable  turn in a role that could not be more different from the girl who waited; Michael Rooker gives a peformance that would come across as scenery chewing if it were any other actor, but works very smoothly,  and while Benicio Del Toro, Glenn Close and John C. Reilly only appear in small roles, they add a lot to the film, especially Reilly. Unfortunately, the great Djimon Hounsou (Amistad, Gladiator, Blood Diamond) is wasted in a thankless and superfluous role, and while Lee Pace (Lincoln, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and TV's Pushing Daisies) makes an adequate villain, it's a very one note villain, and one note performance. Most of this should be attributed to a script and director that never try to make him more, but so far Pace's film performances seem to denote a fairly one note actor, and this is just the latest example of the highly theatrical style that has me on the fence as to whether I find him entertaining or incredibly annoying (ultimately a bit of both, I suppose.).

Writer/Director James Gunn is at the top of his game here, which may not sound like much from a guy who's past writing credits include both Scooby Doo films and one of the worst segments of Movie 43, but it's really amazing what a genuine love of your material can do. Gunn seems to have been born to make this film, and he certainly gets the most out of it. And the soundtrack of '70's pop songs, which is a huge part of Peter Quill's character,  is surprisingly wonderful, each song feeling carefully chosen and motivated apart from being extremely catchy (the best being Hooked On A Feeling and Ain't No Mountain High Enough.). You don't have to be a big fan of this kind of music to appreciate its use in the film, because Quill's love it is so infectious, And while the movie's opening sequence, involving the tragic death of Quill's mother to cancer during his childhood, seems far too heavy for such a lightweight film, it ends up being quite effective as we realize that this is really a deeper movie about love, loss, adversity, and the inner strength one has to find to go on.


By far my biggest complaint with the film is that after seeing it twice, I still really don't have much stronger an idea of who or what Thanos is (I was among the large percentage of the audience left scratching their heads at the stinger in The Avengers.). I get that he's powerful and evil, but who IS he? What is he? Why is he?  Hopefully Avengers: Age Of Ultron (a movie that seems in desperate need of "the: somewhere in its title) will finally shed a little light on the character, though it is so packed with characters that I don't hold out too much hope. He means something to devoted comic book readers and the rest of us are supposed to just accept that.

All in all, this is a rollicking good time, and very welcome change of pace. This is a movie you will likely find yourself seeing more than once.

Guardians Of The Galaxy is Rated PG-13 for violence, profanity and vulgarity.