Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Written and Directed by James Gunn (Slither, Super)

The only fair way to begin this review is to announce that I am an unapologetic James Gunn fanboy. I’ve loved his work ever since I saw Slither in theaters in 2006, and I’ve seen basically everything he’s ever done. I went into this movie excited (as opposed to most people who entered with trepidation), because I had faith that whatever he did, it would have his distinctive charm. Most people know this movie as the point where the Marvel Universe really went off the rails. It exploded the possibility space of the series, opening up new avenues that would previously have been unthinkable. It’s a departure in so many ways from what came before that it’s difficult to believe it got made at all in the producer-driven Disney system. Certainly the stakes were lower for less mainstream characters, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted a 70s-soundtrack space fantasy would be one of the biggest hits the MCU ever produced. The plot revolves around Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), who was abducted as a child from Earth by a group of mercenaries known as the Ravagers, led by a blue-faced maniac named Yondu (Michael Rooker). Many years later, Star-Lord is looped into the hunt for a magical stone of immense power, a hunt in which he is opposed by a number of other powerful individuals. There’s Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the adopted daughter of MCU big bad Thanos; Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper), a genetic-experiment raccoon who loves big guns; and Groot, a gigantic walking tree with a limited vocabulary. The hunt goes badly and they all end up in jail where they meet a fifth and final outcast: Drax (Dave Bautista), a warrior looking to avenge his dead family. Eventually it is revealed that this movie’s villain, Ronan (Lee Pace) wants to use the stone to genocide an entire planet, and our reluctant heroes begrudgingly decide to stop him.

The first and most important thing about Guardians is that it is amazingly well-written. It might be the best-written entry in the entire MCU. And I don’t just mean the dialogue, either. The story beats actually make sense, there’s nary a coincidence to be found in the plot, and character motivations actually inform almost everything that happens in the movie. It’s clear and easy to follow, and everything that is set up is paid off satisfactorily. It’s easy to see that Gunn made a career out of fixing up troubled Hollywood scripts before he got more into directing. He approaches the many moving pieces of a multiple-character origin story with smooth professionalism, never dropping a beat as he shows us who each of these characters is and what makes them who they are. The only exception to this is the villain, Ronan, who is quite simply underwritten. He falls into the same old category of ‘really strong, really angry’ bad guys that far too many MCU movies feature. I think this is more a matter of runtime than anything else, though. Marvel likes to keep things around a tight two hours, and with so many characters already needing to be fleshed out and developed, the villain is a better place to leave stuff out. A nuanced, interesting villain is nice, but meaningless if you fail to make the viewers care about the protagonists. I think this movie makes the right decision in focusing on its heroes.

The other major problem with Guardians is that you can definitely feel the growing pains as Gunn steps up to a much bigger budget and scale of production. Some of the extended CGI action sequences (I’m thinking particularly of the mining robots vs. fighter ships one) definitely go on too long and show some difficulty in navigating how to do a scene that’s mostly being made by a bunch of Southeast Asian wage-slaves in post. That scene in particular has a good idea at least. Fighter spaceships against nearly indestructible wrecking balls is a cool idea, but there’s not enough going on in the scene, emotionally or visually, to really pull the whole thing together. It feels put in there out of obligation, rather than any actual dramatic import. On the other hand, the actual finale is entirely devoid of fighting (after an admittedly long fight to get to that point), and I absolutely love that. I understand that the dance-off conclusion is a very divisive subject for some people, but I adore it. It makes me grin like an idiot every time I see it. It fits perfectly with these characters and the motifs of the movie, and I can’t imagine a better way for these misfits to defeat their enemy.

And God, it’s funny. It’s hilarious. No matter how many times I see it, almost every joke still lands. From a broad perspective, I actually think that Marvel movies go for comedy too often, but not in these movies. They are wonderful. Almost all of the humor is based in character, which makes it work even better. It’s not just snark for the sake of snark, or purely verbal wordplay. The things that happen are funny because of who says them and what that says about them. Rocket needing the guy’s leg, Gamora’s denouncement of Starlord’s pelvic sorcery, literally everything Drax says throughout the movie. It’s all gold. And it’s accompanied by what I think goes without saying is one of the two best soundtracks in the entire MCU (and I think you can guess what the other one is). That soundtrack is so very key to this movie’s success, and it works perfectly. It made the movie connect with so many more people than it might have otherwise. It’s a truly inspired decision from Gunn, and one that miraculously isn’t gimmicky. It’s actually based in character. It plays into Starlord’s issues of arrested development, it ties the beginning and end of the movie together in a beautiful way, and it provides actual plot beats, like when Starlord has to go back into the prison to retrieve his walkman. It’s one of the most important parts of the movie, and that absolutely cannot be said for any of the other MCU’s entries, whose soundtracks are functional at best.

Rating this movie is really hard. My heart wants to just scream, “FOUR STARS” and start singing “Hooked on a Feeling” at the top of its lungs. My head knows that’s not accurate, though. While I love this movie, it definitely has its problems and it would be silly to pretend they don’t exist just because I’m really in love with this group of intergalactic scoundrels. I still think it gets close, though, even with the negatives factored in. It’s just hard to summarize how fresh and joyous and irreverent and colorful this feels after watching nine other movies that fit roughly into the same formula. One of Marvel’s best, and easily recommended even if you’ve never seen a Marvel movie before in your life.

Overall:

Stray Thoughts:

• The “Dark Aster” is a dumb name for a ship.
• Why is Glenn Close in this movie? And in a bit part, no less. She doesn’t have to do stuff like this.
• Always love seeing John C. Reilly, and he’s as great as ever here in another small, but funny and sweet role.
• It’s easy to see why Groot took off in such a big way. He’s immediately recognizable and distinct, with a funny gimmick.
• Nebula (Karen Gillan) is a little wasted in this movie, but it’s OK because the next one gives her her due.
• Post Credits scene: Howard the Duck is funny, I guess. He’s not really my ‘thing,’ so I find it kind of hard to connect with this one. It’s fine.
• Stan Lee cameo: Great. Bradley Cooper calling Stan Lee a perv is inherently funny. If you disagree, you probably really didn’t like the score I gave this movie.