Directed By: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper
Tag line: "When things get bad, they'll do their worst"
Trivia: James Gunn's brother Sean Gunn was an acting double for Rocket Raccoon during filming
I first caught 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy while on vacation at the New Jersey shore, and the moment it was over I was already anticipating its home video release (needless to say, the Blu-Ray was a day-one purchase for me). An exciting Sci-Fi / Action / Adventure featuring awesome special effects and plenty of laughs, director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in quite some time.
Shortly after the death of his mother, a young Peter Quill (played as a child by Wyatt Oleff) was abducted by an alien spaceship that belonged to Yondu (Michael Rooker), the leader of a group of notorious pirates known as “The Ravagers” . Twenty-some years later, Quill (Chris Pratt), himself a petty thief, heads to the abandoned planet of Morag, where, armed with only his beloved Walkman (one of his few remaining earthly possessions) and a sarcastic sense of humor, he intends to steal an orb that’s supposedly worth a fortune. The plot thickens, however, when a group of Kree warriors, led by Korath (Djimon Hounsou), turn up at the same time, also looking for the orb. After a brief battle, Quill manages to escape with the orb in tow, and as a result incites the wrath of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), a Kree warrior working for the evil ruler Thanos (an uncredited Josh Brolin). As it turns out, the orb houses one of the fabled infinity stones, an item so powerful it can destroy an entire planet. Refusing to give up the search, Ronan sends Gamora (Zoe Saldan), one of Thanos’ adopted daughters, to track down Quill. Gamora, whose real parents were killed by Thanos, instead betrays Ronan, vowing to do whatever it takes to keep the infinity stone away from him. This forces Quill and Gamora into a tentative partnership, and along with an overly-aggressive raccoon named Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper); the brutal fighter Drax (Dave Bautista) who wants to avenge the deaths of his wife and child (both killed by Ronan); and Groot (Vin Diesel), a huge tree-like creature with an incredibly limited vocabulary, they travel from one of the galaxy to the other to prevent the orb from falling into Ronan’s hands.
I still can’t decide which of the many action sequences in Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite. One early scene, featuring a knock-down, drag-out fight that pits Quill against both Gamora (who’s come looking for the orb) and Rocket (who wants to capture Quill to collect the reward Yondu put on his head) is a lot of fun, but then so is the group’s escape from the Kyln prison colony, where Quill and the others are sent after being captured by Corpsman Dey (John C. Reilly), a solider for the Nova Empire. In fact, there’s not a single action sequence in Guardians of the Galaxy that isn’t spectacular. Bolstered by amazing special effects, each and every one of these intense showdowns is as thrilling as the one that came before it.
As for the film’s humor, most of it stems from the interactions of its very selfish characters that never miss an opportunity to degrade and insult each other; one of my favorite lines is uttered by Gamora, who, when things start to get real, says “I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy”. Her fears are well-founded too, if you take into account her companions’ previous actions. During their escape from the Kyln prison colony, Quill puts everyone’s life in jeopardy when he delays their departure to retrieve his beloved Walkman, which one of the guards had claimed for his own. Later on, Drax’s thirst for vengeance will lead him to make a rash decision, one that ultimately threatens the safety of the entire universe. Gamora, whose motives are the least-selfish of the group, still has trust issues when it comes to her male cohorts (and rightly so), while Rocket’s small frame and raccoon-like features, which have made him the butt of many jokes, contributed to a violent, hair-trigger temper that occasionally rears its ugly head, and always at the most inopportune time. As for Groot, he doesn’t say a lot; his only line through much of the film is “I am Groot”, yet the way Vin Diesel delivers it leads us to believe each utterance has its own special meaning. Yes, I know… hundreds of movies have brought self-centered men and women together, only to have them make a pretty good team (The Dirty Dozen leaps immediately to mind), but the characters in Guardians of the Galaxy are so well developed that we buy this time-honored plot device hook, line, and sinker
Topping it all off is the movie’s soundtrack, which, for the most part, features nothing but ‘70s rock music (songs that are on a cassette tape Quill’s mother made for him, which he listens to over and over). Not many Sci-Fi adventures would have tunes like The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” and “Hooked on a Feeling” performed by Björn Skifs, yet in the case of Guardians of the Galaxy, this music fits the picture’s tone to a tee. Despite the immense popularity of its superhero franchises, Marvel’s green-lighting of Guardians of the Galaxy was still something of a risk (the comic book it’s based on was never among the company’s most popular, and at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con, during which this film’s production was hinted at, studio president Kevin Feige himself referred to it as one of their upcoming “obscure” titles). Well, clearly it was a risk that paid off.
More than a solid entry in Marvel’s cinematic universe, Guardians of the Galaxy may ultimately prove to be the most entertaining movie Marvel ever produced.
I can’t wait for the sequel!
