Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Four Stars out of Five

PG13

Peter Quill: Chris Pratt

Gamora: Zoe Saldana

Drax: Dave Bautista

Goot (voice): Vin Diesel

Rocket (voice): Bradley Cooper

Director: James Gunn

Writer: James Gunn and Nicole Perlman

Art Direction:  Ray Chan

Is it really necessary to review a comic book-movie? One could argue "yes" based on Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy; a series of movies that truly were works of cinematic art and fine acting. But that is not really the argument in the case of Guardians of the Galaxy (GOTG). Right from the beginning as the characters are introduced in the movie, one quickly surmises that movies with talking trees (whose entire vocabulary consists of “I am Groot”) to wise-cracking raccoons to a sound track from the eighties (on a Sony Walkman, no less) are not aiming for Best Picture nominations.

However, I must say, this movie was thoroughly enjoyable. The wise cracking raccoon (voiced by Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper – nominated for American Sniper) and the equally wisecracking hero, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) had me laughing through most of the movie. Even the dour, incapable of not taking-any-comment literally Drax (WWE wrestler Dave Bautista) was able to drop a few one-liners into the dialog. The dialog is often funny, and the final scenes of destruction (apparently obligatory in comic book movies) were oddly anti-septic, and while not funny, not engaging in any real way such that the mood of the movie was not diverted.

The movie begins with an odd little side story involving young Peter Quill at his dying mother’s bedside. Following her passing he races outside to be captured by a spaceship (yes, I get this makes little sense). The movie jumps forward 26 years and we watch the now-grown Peter as he makes like Indiana Jones and many other pulp fiction heroes. He has obtained an object that his employer and several other malefactors want to possess. Thus begins a ridiculous story of bad guys and good guys chasing after the object, Peter, and his new gang of friends. Besides the aforementioned raccoon, talking tree and Drax, there is also a green-skinned Gamora played by the previously blue-skinned (Avatar) Zoe Saldana. There’s not that much point in detailing the story line or the various plot holes in it. But it is fun to watch for the various big money actors in the movie: Glenn Close as the leader of the Good Guys (Xandarians), John C Reilly (one of Glenn’s soldiers), Josh Brolin (a really bad guy named Thanos), and Benicio del Toro (The Collector).

The acting and the story line aren’t the story. The art work and CGI are often astounding. I am amazed at what passes for de riguer CGI in 2014. Of course, talking trees and raccoons are ridiculous, but they are done so well in this movie that you completely forget how ridiculous a concept they are and just accept them as characters (and in the case of the raccoon, a pretty funny character). Bottom-line, if you like space operas and have a sense of humor that embraces the sarcastic, and if the ridiculous amuses rather than offends you, then GOTG might be your movie.