Guardians of the
Galaxy is a film that I have been looking forward to ever since the first
trailer landed. I’m not overly familiar
with the comic book origins of this one, but it looked like some sci-fi action
with a good dose of humor to go along with it and a catchy classic rock
soundtrack to boot. In short, it looked
freakin’ awesome. And guess what? It’s fuckin’ awesome! Guardians
has managed to be the second Marvel movie of the year to break into my top
three list for the Marvel Cinematic Universe with its combination of solid
world-building efforts and a hilarious script.
Peter Quill is a human who was abducted from Earth as a
child. As an adult, he is a rogue and a
thief who fancies himself as Star-Lord, though nobody else seems to latch on to
his self-imposed codename. He steals a
spherical artifact while on a job, and this attracts the attention of Ronan, a
powerful alien with notions of galactic domination. Through a series of fateful meetings,
Star-Lord ends up associating with four other misfits, including Gamora, a
traitor from the bad guys, Drax, a revenge-minded thug, Groot, an adorably
innocent tree-monster, and Rocket, a megalomaniac raccoon. Together, they must band together to stop
Ronan, and blah-blah-blah, you get the picture.
The plot isn’t really what ties this movie together. It’s the characters and the hilarious ways
they interact with one another.
Star-Lord is a child of the 80’s and is constantly throwing
references around that (obviously) nobody in this setting would
understand. Drax is no-nonsense to the
point where metaphors slip right by him, and takes everything said to him with
the utmost literal sincerity. Groot’s
vocabulary is limited to the words “I am Groot,” yet still acts as a loveably
dumb sidekick that can convey a surprising range of emotions with just those
three words. Rocket is a
self-aggrandizing prick, but has the genius to back up his cocky wisecracks. And last, Gamora is the straight-woman, providing
the on-screen reactions to the ridiculous antics on display. The interactions between these characters are
the heart of the film, and it’s good to see that director James Gunn
understands that. If the film had had a
more complex plot, its characters would have been lost in the shuffle.
My only real issue with the film is that the first act has a
problem with just dumping exposition on the audience with little contextual
information. There’s one speech in
particular that rattles off names and places so fast and with so little
perspective that it quickly became gibberish in my ears. There’s a lot of plot points that seem shoved
into this film only to provide set-up for future Marvel films. However, once the main characters are
established and the main villain's evilness is shown off, the minutiae of
the galactic politics becomes background noise, and the
simplicity of the main storyline becomes the film’s saving grace.
And that’s pretty much all I have to say on the matter. To say any more would be to give away the
jokes or to detract from the surprises delivered by the awesome set-pieces. This is one of my favorite summer
blockbusters this year, and Marvel has once again proved why they are the
masters of their craft.
Have a favorite Guardian?
Tell who in the comments below!
I AM GROOT. But seriously, Rocket had maybe the most brilliant rebuttal to man pain I've ever seen in a blockbuster, where man pain is usually treated as sacrosanct.
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