Marvel Madness

Comic movie fatigue sweeps across the nation as I type. Super Hero culture saturation afflicts a majority of actions films. Folks were pining for new blood, something besides another super hero block buster. Guardians of the Galaxy steeps itself in familiar territory, yet remains distinct from other marvel films. My first impression was not high, especially considering the first trailer. As months passed, it began to grown on me. Thankfully, Guardians exceeded my expectations.


IMDB
Rotten tomatoes
Genres: Action, Science fiction, Space, Comedy, Marvel

Concept:

An Avengers comparison is unavoidable because both films have almost identical formulas: a team of individuals (super-powered and/or normal) must unite to defeat a giant threat. However, Guardians isn’t a clone or spin-off. Due to their similarity, Guardians doesn’t get many points for originality. Almost all first phrase marvel movies build a foundation: story threads and concepts that intertwine to be build upon in sequels. Characterization, compelling heroes/villains and plot can be sacrificed—to lesser or greater extents—for prolonged universe building. Unfortunately, Guardians is in its first phase. However, humor favors this film. I could count on my hand the number of action movies that maintain comedic elements. From Quill to Groot, the main cast has a plethora of funny jokes and circumstances that keep the mood merry.

Characters:

Peter Quill/Star Lord (Chris Pratt) is our protagonist. Some might argue all of the guardians are the film’s main protagonists, however, Quill’s story is followed with closer proximity. Other characters are interjected into his story versus separate character plots merging together. On my first viewing, Peter reminded me of an adolescent Han Solo and (dare I say?) a cooler Captain Mal. Sometimes he is Ravager who steals from others with little conscious, other times confusion about his identity and sadness from the loss of his mother show vulnerability. Above all else, a good man hides underneath his quirky exterior.

Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is an orphan turned deadly assassin by Thanos. Her deeds in Thanos’ name are renown throughout the galaxy, garnering hatred from people she encounters. Gamora is akin to a sword with a soul. She’s been wielded against her will by a being whom she hates. Out of all the Guardians, her back story piqued my interest the most. There is some romantic tension with Quill, but the film doesn’t explore it or any more of Gamora’s origins which disappointments me.

Drax (Dave Bautista) is a warrior whose family was killed by Ronan. His vengeance drove Drax to kill many of Ronan’s minions hence his title: “the Destroyer.” His race has no concept of metaphor causing Drax to take everything literally. Combine that with no verbal filter and you have comedic gold. Despite fabulous comic relief, Drax’s character left me wanting. His back story isn’t particularly engaging or original; however, his growth as the film progresses warmed my heart.

Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is a genetically enhanced raccoon. If that isn’t funny to you then some screws are missing. Rocket is the primary source of comic relief, a token asshole who happens to be a small fury rodent. Similar to Gamora and Quill, Rocket’s back story enters stimulating narrative opportunities. He laments his creation, viewing himself as an abomination. Sarcasm, insults and aloofness hide Rocket’s real feelings about living. Sadly, the film’s time constraints don’t allow exploration into Rocket’s story either.

Groot (Vin Diesel) is a tree-like alien who acts as a body guard for Rocket. His exchanges with Rocket are some of the funniest moments in film, the two make a wonderful comic relief tag team. Among the Guardians, Groot resides uniquely as a character with no depicted past. Major concepts and ideas are grasped by this living tree, but a certain “innocence” dominates his personality. Often Rocket’s voice of reason personifies itself in Groot. Due to a language impairment, Groot can only say, “I am Groot.”

Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) is the leader of a mercenary fleet called the Ravagers. He isn’t a major character in this installment, but I expect his role to increase in later squeals. His relationship with Quill both intrigued and confused me. Yondu acts as a surrogate father for Quill, yet neither really trusts each other. Quill is willing to incur Yondu’s wrath and does so multiple times in the film. Despite Quill’s trickery, Yondu seems to go easy on him.

Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) has cool name and that’s about it. He is a Kree fanatic who seeks the destruction of Xandar for their crimes against the Kree Empire. Mr. Pace was a great choice of actor because he sells Ronan as a villain. Sadly, our destroyer of worlds isn’t compelling. He’s a step up from Electro in The Amazing Spider-man 2, but a small one.

Story:

Narrative structure doesn’t offer much defense for Guardians, but a hero’s tale traces back to the earliest echos of human story telling. The plot isn’t bad just not original. However, narrative warms the bench while comedy becomes the super star. It’s strange concept for me because I think story is paramount to all successful movies. Credit where credit is due, Guardians doesn’t force a still-born narrative on its audience. Characters motivations and actions are established effectively. There’s logical progression to events, but problems slowly arise which brings us back to comedy.

Clever little people worked on this film with their clever little minds. I’m conflicted because Guardians has problems, objectively (as much as I can be) Avengers is better film, but I loved watching this film more. The dialogue personifies awkward. During my first viewing, I saw this as a problem. There a few scenes where character dialogue transitions poorly, but those can be overlooked because I think/hope it was intentional. Peter and his crew are all awkward and dysfunctional in unique ways. It makes sense that Peter couldn’t deliver an inspiring speech instead he stumbles through it. My second viewing shifted the awkward dialogue to a positive.

Action-Comedies are as rare as a German who doesn’t wear socks with his sandals. Usually, one genre consumes the other. A myriad of scenes stretching from beginning to end had me laughing out loud; however, this film can be serious when it desires to be. At one point Rocket is interpreting Groot’s dialogue, creating a one-sided conversation for the audience. Only Groot’s tone gives any indication of different meaning. It’s so funny. Near the end Peter dances in front of Ronan to distract him. Gamora, Peter, Quill and Groot have a silly chase scene on Xandar. Situational humor and character flaws cover Guardian’s blemishes.
Faults

Unfortunately, the voices reject my potential silence. I’ve beaten the “Guardians flaunts itself as a first phase marvel movie” point like a step-father beats a ginger step-child. Summary: there wasn’t enough time. Barely two hours of time captures Peter’s adventure and the friends he makes along the way. A small window of time to fit a literal universe content. You have to be a severe comic connoisseur for impact from characters, names, and places. Ronan rages about one thousand years of Kree justice that Xandar deserves.
My reaction:

A) What’s Kree?

B) What’s a Xandarian?

C) What’s Kree Justice?

D) Why should I care?

Some these questions were answered, but nowhere near satisfaction. I wasn’t invested in the main conflict at all. If I had know, as I do now after 5 days of intense marvel wiki-ing, I would have supported Ronan all the way. “Hell yeah, guy! They killed your daddy and your daddy’s daddy? You kill those Xandarian bastards with your infinity stone. Planetary genocide? Not a problem, they had it coming because Kree Justice is where it’s at.” But, I wasn’t in the loop, thus my investment was with the Guardians. Played me like a fiddle. Film makers had to assume their audience knew about the comics. I realize this criticism has no alternative. They couldn’t possibly give us all context and instead only gave necessary context. Otherwise Guardians would have lasted five hours and no one wanted that.

Another flaw manifested through excessive expository dialogue. Exposition comes in various forms, the most common are dialogue, narration (3rd person) or shown through action (i.e. a character reads a history book). My tolerance for exposition, especially in science fiction or fantasy, is high. Yet, Guardians devotes entire scenes and conversations to enlighten the audience. Peter and the crew are processed by Xandarian officials in preparation for transportation to a prison colony. The whole scene easily lasts five minutes and Corpsman Dey (John C. Reilly) verbally describes each person. Despite fitting logically into event progression, it was unnecessary because most of the Guardians give a compressed origin story through dialogue later on. Exposition is fine, but redundancy reeks of poor writing. Speaking of other plot holes, let’s talk about Xandar’s defenses.

So the Nova Empire and the Kree Empire have been fighting for one thousand years. That’s a long time. One would assume that Xandar, the capital planet of Nova, has epic level defenses to neutralize threats. For example: a fleet of space carriers, an orbital defense system/orbital shield, Huge-ass plasma canon that can erase threats from afar, basic anti-space craft cannons in case small fighters attack your capital city, or Unicorns who ride honey badgers that shoot death-rays out of their eyes. Does Xandar have any these? Nope. What they have is better: cute little fighters that can interlock to form an energy shield. Don’t misunderstand me, those fighters are cool. But the Nova Core has nothing else. How did Xandar survive one thousand years of war if one Kree battleship with an awesome name (Dark Aster <— nomenclature genius) can wreck through all of their defenses? An infinity stone is some crazy good kit, but seriously stopping Ronan would not have been hard. I imagine this plot hole was allowed to bring the Guardians and Ravagers a role of necessity; without them Xandar was screwed. All the writers needed to do was show Ronan using the infinity stone to destroy Xandar’s formidable defenses. Instead we get little fighters getting crushed by Dark Aster.
Score: 7/10

Faults aside, Guardians is worth watching. The CG impressed me. Maybe one moment in the film looked a little cheap, but everything else was fabulous. What movie technology can now create is mind-boggling. The stellar sound-track keeps the mood light and augments the humor. It brings to life some classic songs that deserve a listen from this generation. I look forward to future Marvel films especially Guardians 2.

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