GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
US, 2014, 119 minutes, Colour.
Chris Pratt, Zoe Sundowner, voices of Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Dave Bautista, John C. Reilly, Djimon Hounsou, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro.
Directed by James Gunn.
In the United States, Guardians of the Galaxy has become something of the Saviour of the summer box office. It has proven extremely popular.
To be fair, here is the opening paragraph of an IMDb blogger (Grey Gardens). This is a fan’s, no, FAN’S, response: Guardians of the Galaxy is nothing short of an amazing movie. If there's anything I can say, it's that it is the best superhero movie I have seen. Not only does it have the impressive set pieces and enough action to last you a lifetime, it has an emotional core and you actually get to care about each and every single character. Overall this movie is filled with all the required thrills and spills and is a first class action movie. It also has a great mixture of comedic value and a deal of seriousness. While acknowledging this, and the amusement and joy that the film will bring to younger audiences as well as science-fiction buffs and those who in due and surely come-in-cheek spoof of the space adventures and the super heroes, this review will not be so enthusiastic.
Acclaim must be given to the action, stunts, special effects. There is great ambition behind this particular film, capitalising on the popularity of the serious Marvel comic characters, but also capitalising on parody. One might imagine a film made of all those odd-looking at odd-sounding characters that are found in the bar, along with hounds solo, in the Star Wars films, a film about Chewbacca. those films were enjoyable but George Lucas, for some strange reason and imaginative about, created Jar Jar Binks, who not only sounded silly but looked silly and intruded a lot of silly behaviour into The Phantom Menace.
So, this reviewer was not so much thinking of Star Wars but of Jar Jar Binks and of the silliness. In fact, the word that kept surfacing while watching Guardians was “stoopid” – and this was too hard to get over.
Poor Peter Quill is abducted by aliens in 1983. Older now, he is in possession of an orb, with superhuman powers, which is sought after by an evil galactic lord, Ronan. There are some other assassins and destroyers.
But, Peter forms a group of guardians who whizz around here and planetary there. There is a raccoon called Rocket (voiced with sly enthusiasm by Bradley Copper) and a tree trunk who is able only to say ‘I am Groot’ since so many reviewers have said that this is most wooden performance, I won’t do it. Then there is a young woman, with a jealous sister, who escapes her planet and joins the guardians. She is played by Zoe Saldana, coloured green, a contrast to her blue appearance in Avatar.
Of all people, Glenn Close, appears as a planet leader (though come to think of it, she was in Tim’s Burton’s Mars Attacks) and Benicio del Toro has a cameo.
So, this is a comic book adventure with strange and funny goodies and quite an array of most evil baddies. There is no limit to the imagination and the special effects for these galactic skirmishes, schemes and battles. And the sequel is promised in three years.
1. The film? The target audience? Box office success around the world? The comic strip style, comedy,?
2. The imagination of the makers, galaxies, planets, different locations, space? Travel? Costumes and decor? Musical score?
3. The visuals, the characters, for Rocket, Groot? Colours and styles? Manner of speaking? Rocket and his cheekiness? Groot, monosyllabic?
4. The action sequences? In the super-heroes tradition?
5. Peter, at home, child, the abduction, his place in the universe, older, his character, Star Lord, the orb, the pursuit, the hero in action, collaboration with the other Guardians?
6. Bradley Cooper, his voice for Rocket? Vin Diesel and Groot?
7. Peter, his mission, Gamorra, the assassin, green, her change of mind, her plans? Her sister, and the struggles, jealousies, her father, the bond with
Peter? Going into action?
8. The Guardians, Rocket and Groot, Gamorra, Drax? Drax and the feeling of vengeance? The friendship between them all?
9. The enemies, Ronan and his pursuit, Korack, Yondu Udonta, the relationship with Gamorra?
10. The chases through the planets, the evil Lords, wanting powers, loyalties, betrayals?
11. The planet with Nova Prime, her defences, going into action?
12. The cameos: Corpsman Dey, the Collector, Thanos?
13. The battles, the conflicts, good against evil, the cosmic dimensions – and the spoofs?
