Guardians Of The Galaxy

Of all the Marvel Studios films so far, Guardians Of The Galaxy was the one I was originally most dubious about. A bunch of Z-List characters, bearing little resemblance to the Guardians I remembered from the comics of the 1970s, in a mega-budget movie by a director known for small-scale, Earthbound comedies? It didn't sound good. But as advance word and trailers began to appear I started to think this could either be one of the best films of the year or a big, steaming pile of Bantha droppings. So, last weekend James and I dragged Sarah along to see "that stupid film with that hedgehog" ( her words ) to make up our own minds...

GoTG is the story of Earthman Peter Jason Quill, rudely snatched as a boy from his home planet by a gang of galactic scavengers, who then becomes the outlaw known ( mostly by himself ) as Star-Lord. After stealing the film's intergalactic McGuffin, the Orb, Quill finds himself the target of fanatic Ronan The Accuser and falls in with a gang of homicidal outer space misfits who, against their better judgement, wind up saving the galaxy. For the half-dozen or so people in the world who don't know, these misfits are Gamora ( sexy assassin out for revenge ), Drax ( psychotic bruiser also out for revenge ), Rocket ( a raccoon-like alien not out for revenge, just here for the violence ) and Groot ( a talking tree ). Yes, a talking tree...

I have to say I really enjoyed this film. ( And, yes, James and even Sarah did too. ) It's tongue-in-cheek, action-packed and colourful, with a fine sense of its own ridiculousness, some great dialogue and a knowingly cheesy soundtrack of '70s and '80s pop. Director James Gunn does an impressive job of introducing viewers to this crazy, complex universe with its multitude of worlds and civilisations and he absolutely nails the huge space-action set-pieces. All the Guardians prove to be more layered and interesting characters than at first glance, with even the raccoon displaying moments of pathos beneath his cynical, wiseguy exterior. ( I know I'm talking about a collection of pixels as if they're a real character  -  and a frickin' raccoon, at that  -  but the realisation of Rocket is fantastically convincing, with some hilarious voice acting from Bradley Cooper. )
If I was picky I'd say there are a few plot-holes large enough to fly a spaceship through and Karen Gillan is wasted as one-note badgirl Nebula... but the good stuff outweighs the bad for me. There are starships designed by the great Chris Foss, fan-pleasing hints at a larger Marvel Universe ( Thanos, the Celestials and a certain wise-cracking fowl all have cameos ), jokes about Kevin Bacon, and Zoe Saldana kicking arse. What more could you want? Oh, and Chris ( Star-Lord ) Pratt is going to be a big star...