More often than not, when I sit down to write these reviews I’m driven by an urge to share how much I want to slap the faces off of everyone who created whatever nonsense I’ve just watched or played.
Not this time.
Last night I went to see Guardians Of The Galaxy, that movie everyone’s talking about that was virtually unheard of two years ago when The Avenger‘s credits alluded to a feature film. Like most people, I had no idea what Guardians Of The Galaxy was and had little interest in seeing it especially after sitting through ballaches like Thor 2 and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. That was until I saw this trailer:
A space-racoon with high-caliber weaponry? Uh, yeah: I’m going.
I honestly felt like a kid again watching Guardians. Some of the characters’ antics and jibes had the entire audience laughing, and we’re English: you don’t get a laugh unless you’re genuinely funny. I left the theatre wanting action figures, posters, t-shirts: if it’s got anything to do with this quadrant of the Marvel universe I want it.
Han Solo Captain Mal Peter Quill - also referred to (mostly by himself) as Star Lord - is our main protagonist who, through a series of quick-paced events, ends up teamed with four other less than perfect strangers.
Necessary-sexy-female-member-of-the-group Gamora isn’t a complete victim of The Trinity Syndrome but leaves much to be desired. Except for butt-shots, there’s more than enough of those. That said, her character shows strength, self-reliance, and best of all a refusal to be one of the disposable women Quill often gloats about throughout the film. Kind of.
After Quill steals an ‘Infinity Stone’ - a space do-hickey so perfectly designed to destroy the universe and create chaos that it begs the question: why the hell was it created in the first place? - Gamora is sent to retrieve the stone by her creepy-blue-priest-boss-person Ronan The Accuser.
Meanwhile smurf Merle Dixon Yondu, who has raised Quill for the past 26 years having kidnapped him from Earth, places a bounty on him after Quill runs with the stone. That’s where Rocket Raccoon and Groot, basically a sentient tree with a beautiful soul and my new favourite character of all time, are introduced.
Of all the characters, Rocket is perhaps the darkest; often referring to his creation with sadness and anger. Instead of bringing the mood down though, this quality makes him more relatable and genuine, especially as these heavy moments are balanced with Rocket’s wonderfully pessimistic humour and deprecating quick wit.
Finally, there is Drax The Destroyer who seems like an odd addition to the rest of the Guardians at first, but you soon warm up to him and I’d even say that he has some of the best lines in the film.
Director and co-writer James Gunn manages to create an entire universe and develop five characters all in the space of 120 minutes, a feat that many others would and have failed at.
Of course, there are some hiccups. The narrative is rushed but not completely absent - I’m looking at you entire Transformers series, you bag of dicks - or ridiculously random such as in, let’s say… Thor 2, Iron Man 3, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, and Captain America. And admittedly we are yet again sitting through a Marvel movie where our heroes are trying to stop bad guys getting their hands on a space-thing because reasons, but that’s where the movie’s real spirit really shines through, and that spirit is dancing to 80’s music and shouting “WHY THE HELL NOT?” into space.
This is the first time in a long time where I felt like I was actually allowed to enjoy a movie based on a comic book without being bashed over the head by dead parents, gratuitous romances and the writers trying desperately to make you like the protagonist(s). Guardians is The Avengers’ laid back, carefree, badass, loveable, dare I say preferable cousin and I absolutely loved it. Most of all though, I love dancing baby Groot.
P.S, may I suggest that the next movie focuses on Peter re-uniting with his grandfather rather than his real father? Man lost his daughter and grandson in the space of about three minutes, he deserves closure dammit!
