GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
 
STARRING: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana,
Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker
2014, 121 Minutes, Directed by: James Gunn
 There
have been some extremely entertaining movies based on comic book superheroes and
a few have been outstanding. What they have in common though is that they go
from being serious to being very serious. Sure, there’s some occasional comic
relief, but it only serves to remind us how dark and brooding the film is the
rest of the time. Coming into Guardians of the Galaxy without having
read the comics but being told it’s another entry in the Marvel Universe, it was
hard to know what to expect.
It turns out to be the
goofy and action-packed antidote to most of the summer’s blockbusters. After
a tragic opening in which young Peter Quill witnesses the death of his
mother only to be abducted by a UFO, we’re thrown into an adventure that
owes as much to Indiana Jones and the TV series Farscape as to its source
material. Peter (Chris Pratt) has become a sort of space rogue and has
stolen a mysterious and valuable orb. Soon everyone is after both it and
him, none more so than the evil Ronan (Lee Pace).
The plot is the least
important part of the film. What the story is really about is how Peter (who
bills himself Star Lord) turn a ragtag group of rivals into the heroic group
of friends suggested by the title. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has been trained as
a fighter by the even more evil Thanos (Josh Brolin), who will apparently be
the Big Bad in an upcoming Avengers movie. She’s
been loaned to Ronan, but is pursuing her own agenda. Then there’s Rocket
(voice of Bradley Cooper), a raccoon who speaks and likes to steal, and his
pal Groot (voice of Vin Diesel), a living, walking tree whose conversation
consists of "I am Groot." After a stint in space prison they are joined by
Drax (Dave Bautista), who wants vengeance against Ronan for killing his
family.
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"The bottom line is that Guardian of the Galaxy is fun!" |
The movie has two things going for it. One is its terrific cast, which
includes everyone mentioned above plus notable bits by John C. Reilly, Glenn
Close, Benicio Del Toro, Djimon Hounsou, and Michael Rooker. Rooker is
standout playing the leader of the gang that kidnapped Peter who likes
reminding him about how the other aliens wanted to eat him.
The other thing going for
it is the look of the film. Credit goes to everyone from cinematographer
Ben Davis to production designer Charles Wood, to everyone else involved in
creating the imaginative sets, costumes, and make-up effects. The aliens
come in a wide range of colors, and such is the attention to detail that
Gamora’s green skin is perfectly set off by the yellow prison outfit she has
to wear at one point. The integration of the CGI generated characters of
Rocky and Groot with the human actors is seamless. Groot, in particular,
becomes so real in expression that he seems completely real. A mixture of
motion capture work (as in the recent Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and
computer wizardry, it raises the bar for this sort of work.
The bottom line is that
Guardian of the Galaxy is fun. You don’t really have to be immersed in
the Marvel Universe to get it (although there are plenty of references and
in-jokes for the initiated), and as the group get over their problems and
bond as friends and allies, we find ourselves joining in the celebrating as
well. The film ends on a note that the Guardians will be back. There have
been other films promising sequels that never came, but one suspects that
isn’t going to be an issue here.
- Daniel
Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel is a
veteran movie critic and author of a host of film-related books. He recently
released his first novel, Shh! It’s a Secret: a novel about Aliens, Hollywood
and the Bartender’s Guide. He lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.
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