Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley
Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro,
Josh Brolin, and Vin Diesel.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
(Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner, and Paul Corbould), and Best
Makeup (Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White).
What is it about?
Guardians of the
Galaxy is the tale of an orphan space pirate, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) who
is seeking to obtain a powerful infinity stone orb that will earn him a great
deal of money. The stone is simultaneously pursued by a super powered fanatic
cult leader named Ronan (played by Lee Pace), who isn’t unafraid to betray his
galactic master, Thanos (Josh Brolin). Also hot on Quill’s tail is his
surrogate father, pirate Yondu (Michael Rooker)- which leads to complications. While
trying to get paid for the stone, Quill runs into a group of misfits that
include a tattooed muscular maniac, Drax (Dave Bautista), a cybernetic talking
raccoon, Rockert (Bradley Cooper), an elastic walking trisyllabic tree, Groot
(Vin Diesel), and the green skinned estranged daughter of Thanos, Gamora (Zoe
Saldana). The unlikely group end up teaming up, for reasons that evolve into
more altruistic ones. Will this random assemblage of oddball personalities be
able to keep the stone out of the wrong hands and guard the universe?
Why is it worth seeing?
Guardians of the
Galaxy is the 4th film of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe (MCU), Marvel’s epic comic book franchise extravaganza that for better
or worse has dominated the box office. While Marvel made a mint (or 10) off its
better known characters (and subsequent team ups), Guardians’ biggest strength is its complete underdog status- and
surprise elation. Using a cast of characters from Marvel’s C list, zippy
humour, swashbuckling adventure, and one of the best soundtracks since Forrest Gump or The Big Chill, it's dangerously re-watchable.
We begin the movie exploring the virtues of the Walkman-
that piece of iconic technology that specialized in helping to wear tapes out
and eat the tapes themselves. Notwithstanding the technical issues, the music
choices translate to the film, and the synergy is effective, with it difficult
to separate the film and the music from each other, something Martin Scorcese
knows a little about.
Little known star Chris Pratt was in some television work
previously- but GOTG is his coming out
party to becoming an A-lister. His ability to be irreverent and heartfelt in
equal measure, combined with some serious time in the gym, shows why. But his
mojo is matched by Bradley Cooper’s voice work, and in particular Bautista’s
rage filled and verbally conflicted Drax. Their efforts, along with Saldana’s
green athleticism and Groot’s plant based can of kick ass, make for some great
chemistry.
It’s a bummer Pace’s Ronan can’t provide a compelling foil
to their efforts, once again proving Marvel at times shoots itself in the super
foot with a lack of compelling villains. Of course, Ronan merely works for the
allegedly superior Thanos, and only time will tell if he is a force to be
reckoned with as the Marvel machine marches on…
GotG’s other
strength is its pace. Along with references to Star Wars and Indiana Jones, we leap from exotic
place to exotic place, in a breathless race to obtain a Macguffin and meet
oddball characters, before the threat of doom to a planet. The swashbuckling
takes us places far beyond the irreverent The
Right Stuff/Armageddon references.
With a potent mix of oddball characters, well chosen music
in the right moments, comic irreverence, and zippy pacing, this is one underdog
group of guardians that is worth checking out.
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