One of the most anticipated cinema releases of the summer,
Guardians of the Galaxy has a lot riding on it. On one hand, it represents
Marvel’s foray into unknown territory – a raucous space opera that is self-aware,
irreverent and features some of the their more obscure comic book characters - prior
to the film’s release, anyway.
On the other hand, Guardians is still very much shackled to
Marvels Studio’s existing continuity, and as such the story feels slave to the
rather generic McGuffin-chasing plot that plagued Thor: The Dark World. All of
which is building up towards the real climax that will be the third(!) Avengers
movie that follows on after next year’s Avengers sequel: Age of Ultron.
Shortcomings of the plot aside, it’s the likeable characters
and humour that is the real draw here. Chris Pratt is excellent as Peter Quill,
a wisecracking rogue (the self-dubbed ‘Star-Lord’) who isn’t as notorious as he
wants to be, who finds himself thrust together with a motley crew consisting of
a green-skinned assassin (Zoe Saldana), the bounty hunting duo of Rocket Racoon
and Groot (voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel respectively), and the hulking
bruiser Drax (Dave Bautista). From being adversarial to each other before
eventually learning to work together as a team is certainly a well-worn trope,
but the witty banter and interplay between them is such that they are a joy
every time they are all on screen.
The acerbic Rocket Racoon (an almost unrecognisable vocal
performance from Cooper) predictably gets a large portion of the laughs, but it
is former professional wrestler Bautista as Drax (with his tendency to take all
figures of speech very literally) that provides the most unexpected guffaws.
The main cast is so good that unfortunately the supporting
cast don't really get too much time to shine. Karen Gillen is effectiive as icy
sub-villain Nebula and Michael Rooker has his moments as a blue-skinned version
of his character Merle from The Walking Dead (making good use of a nifty whistle-controlled
spear), but there is just not enough screen time left for them. Similarly, the
remaining impressive cast that includes John C. Reilly, Djimon Hounsou, Peter
Serafinowicz, Benecio Del Toro and Glenn Close, only get a handful of scenes
between them. Lee Pace is a threatening presence as the big bad Ronan The
Accuser, but his role follows much of the same template as Thor: The Dark
World’s chief antagonist Malekith – seemingly hell bent on destroying the
galaxy by means of acquiring a powerful weapon (one of the infinite stones)
just because the Marvel film’s overarching continuity demands it.
Still, the visuals are great, the action sequences do not
disappoint and the climactic battle is suitably grandiose. The soundtrack is
also bound to be talking point – largely consisting of kitsch hits from the seventies
(deriving from the mixtape that is Quill’s only keepsake from his childhood on
Earth), that interestingly serves the dual purpose of being nostalgic for older
viewers (as is the space opera adventure of the film’s various influences), but
also sounding very alien and out of place for younger viewers (which parallels how
most other characters in the film respond when hearing Quill playing these songs).
Despite having to align with Marvel’s bigger picture,
writer/director James Gunn has succeeded in managing to deliver an entertaining
intergalactic romp that feels at once both familiar and yet also fresh and
engaging. It’s not without its flaws, but Guardians of the Galaxy is a solid
entry into the Marvel Studio’s repertoire and will likely appeal to both comic-book
fans and the uninitiated alike.
2nd August 2014
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