(Before I begin this post in earnest, I just wanted to let you know that I recently started working at a new job in New York City. On the whole the job is great, good people, the work actually has an effect on the outside world, and so on and so forth; however, because of where it is in the city and the occasional periods of overtime, more often than not I’m simply drained by the time I get home. Hopefully after this job’s busy season I’ll be up for posting more stuff, but I can’t speak definitively one way or the other)
For those of you who follow movie news, especially sci-fi movie news, the San Diego Comic Con was probably one of your more exciting weeks this summer. You finally got to see Wonder Woman in a live-action portrayal (again if you watched her short-lived TV show), The Avengers sequel finally got its first poster, and a whole new crop of comic book-based television programming was teased to the ravenous masses. Naturally, you’d assume that anyone who’s a fan of this kind of stuff would be hysterically squealing and backflipping with delight, right? And yet, for all of this news, for whatever reason I was just decidedly nonplussed about it.
Even when the subject of today’s review, Guardians of the Galaxy, first teased its actors and scenes I was certainly curious, but just didn’t feel that same level of excitement I had when the first Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises did it. And let me just be clear that it’s not because the Guardians were easily some of Marvel’s more obscure characters; frankly I always felt a little excited whenever I saw characters show up on the Justice League cartoon or The Brave and the Bold, as I’m of the belief that any character can be interesting if given a good writer. Hell, there’s still a small part of me that genuinely appreciated the Nicolas Cage Ghost Rider film because I thought he was an interesting character that finally made it to the mainstream.
You could say that wordplay was intended with a vengeance.
Was it because of the cast? I mean, I definitely can’t say I’m really that big of a fan of an of the actors, but at the same time it’s not like I actively dislike any of them. I thought Chris Pratt gave a good voice performance in The Lego Movie, and he was easily one of the few things about Parks & Recreation (whenever I actually did watch it) that I actually found okay outside of the occasional part with Ron Swanson (sorry Internet, I just did not find that show appealing). Zoe Saldana and Vin Diesel I found to be perfectly acceptable actors in their other films (has anyone else noticed how Saldana’s becoming the go-to actress for sci-fi and/or action films these days?). Even Bradley Cooper and Dave Bautista, the first who I’ve found to just really exude that aura of skeeze and the second who I’ve not heard any good things about, didn’t really have much of an impact on my mind.
Then the thought occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I might actually be getting burnt out by this slew of Marvel movies. It certainly wouldn’t be an unheard-of phenomenon, as this “event fatigue” has certainly been talked about by other, better established bloggers. I can definitely say that’s part of why I haven’t been following comic news as closely, as it seems that even the people making the big announcements seem to have an air of “yeah, we’re going to fiddle with this guy for a bit, buy all of our crossover issues, check out our relaunch.”
There was a time, however, that American comics were exclusively the realm of superheroes. There were crime comics, horror comics, military comics – even romance comics were a thing at one point! One example that I like to point to was the Blackhawks series by DC Comics. It was just about a bunch of different fighter pilots from the various countries taken over by Nazi Germany who would do daring raids and such. And that was it – no time travel, no alternate dimensions, just regular dudes doing stuff that showed that you didn’t always need super-powers to tell an exciting story. This occurred to me after reflecting on what the Guardians were that I realized that this team may actually fit into these less used genres as well, in the sense that they aren’t miles above the rest of the alien planets they interact with in terms of what they can do or their significance to society (for the most part). Even in the 2008 Annihilation: Conquest crossover event, which I consider to be when this team really started becoming relevant again, it was more them trying to help the other planets get their act together in time to repel the invading hordes than them just single-handedly taking down the threat.
“But what did he think of the film itself?” you’re probably wondering to yourself right now. Don’t worry, my friend, I haven’t forgotten what this post was about.
If I had to describe the film in one word, it would have to be “fast-paced” (ok, a word and a half, sue me…). The film very quickly establishes the basic parts of the character you need to know: Peter Quill was taken from Earth after losing his mother and does whatever he wants; Rocket Raccoon was an experiment seemingly done for laughs and is accordingly angry with what he is; Drax lives only to avenge his lost family; Gamora is an assassin working for the baddest dude in the galaxy but wants out of the being-evil business; and, finally, Groot is Groot.
While I was somewhat aware of these characters and their, er, intricate backstories, I could definitely understand if anyone unfamiliar with these characters would find it hard to know why they matter. Even more so for the planet Xandar or the Nova Corps or the Kree people (who I feel I should point out have ZERO relation to these Cree).
Speaking of the Kree, the biggest difference in terms of characterization from the comics would be the film’s antagonist, Ronan the Accuser. Where in the movies he’s essentially a terrorist with a fanatical belief in the superiority of the Kree, in the comics he was more a hard-ass policeman of the Kree Empire that would occasionally help Marel’s heroes save the day (think Judge Dredd with Thor’s hammer). Likewise, the design of the Kree is vastly different from the comics, eschewing their comics counterpart’s more traditionally sci-fi vessels and technology for a black stone aesthetic akin to something from Prometheus or that second Riddick movie.
Although considering how Vin Diesel was in the movie as Groot’s voice…
It also felt at times like things were moving too fast for effective dramatic build-up, such as how quickly Quill, Rocket, Gamorra, and Groot fully cooperated in prison after perhaps one or two conversations. I point this out because from a plot standpoint they were all trying to kill each other only a day or two ago. Two other nitpicks I had were: how downplayed the Collector was in the movie – suffice it to say that he’s a far bigger deal in the comics instead of being just a somewhat perverted hoarder; and that it didn’t feel like the importance of the Infinity Gems was established in that one scene (such as how each one controls a different facet of the universe). On the plus side though, I was definitely intrigued when they had that brief clip of that Celestial (the same race that the severed head called Knowhere belongs to), as they are one of the few powers in Marvel’s roster that make both the god of all things Viking and the guy that eats planets genuinely afraid.
Marvel/Ellis/Immonen
And it’s not just because of their cutting remarks and insulting hand gestures, either
I would say that second point one would probably be more relevant to the future Marvel movies, considering how those gems will almost definitely tie into the inevitable fight against Thanos. And speaking of the titanic nihilist, I was definitely pleased with his first full speaking appearance , with Josh Brolin effectively conveying that this guy is not to be messed with without even leaving his space-chair.
Easily five times more intimidating than sitting on a regular Earth chair.
Another thing that I definitely enjoyed about the film was the characterizations of Drax, Rocket Racoon, and Groot. In spite of Bautista being a very unpopular person (supposedly, the dude bragged in his autobiography about cheating on his wife after she was diagnosed with cancer, in addition to his botched wrestling performances), he was perfect for playing someone with no understanding of metaphor/euphemism and all the understanding of how best to use physical force. Meanwhile, the interactions between Rocket Raccoon and Groot definitely supplied at least half the humanity in this movie, where you could genuinely sense that Groot was the only person that Rocket felt did not look down on him and why Rocket was so distraught at the idea of Groot sacrificing himself to save the team. The fact that they also bore so many similarities with Han Solo and Chewbacca definitely didn’t hurt things either.
J-Po
And clearly I’m not the only one who’s made this connection…
And speaking of Star Wars, I definitely was reminded of that watching this movie – not that it was necessarily an outright rip-off or anything, more just it hit on a lot of notes I hadn’t seen since those movies. Little things like when Ronan was speaking to Thanos and his lackey (who I definitely think was designed with Emperor Palpatine in mind), or the scene where Quill and Rocket fought the Ravagers’ fighter craft, or the stylish designs of the various locales the Guardians go to. And of course how could I talk about George Lucas without bringing up the surprise introduction of Howard the Duck for one last wisecrack. For those of you not in the know, Howard the Duck was Georgie-boy’s first movies made after stepping down his presidency of Lucasfilm. It’s also considered one of the worst films ever made and he would like it very much if you forgot it existed.
Marvel
Howard, however, has not.
Previews included: the finale to Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies; Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Day, which the only noteworthy I can say about it was that Steve Carrell was in it; and Big Hero 6, from the makers of Wreck-It Ralph and partly based on another fairly obscure group from Marvel comics.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a fast and fun sci-fi romp, having all the action of contemporaries like Oblivion or the Star Trek reboots but only half the angst. There are times where it can be a bit too fast-paced for it’s own good, but ultimately it does a good job of getting anyone unfamiliar with this part of the Marvel universe up to speed so that they can get right into the action and wisecracks. It also helps that there’s almost nothing else even close out in theaters right now, but that’s beside the point. Now hopefully awaiting for Howard the Duck and Donald Duck to meet in the next Star Wars film, I give Guardians of the Galaxy four Infinity gems out of six (or roughly 3.5 stars out of five)
Hey, if they could do it with ET…
Random Doesnt Even Begin To Describe It 
Nice review of the movie – thanks. As usual, you threw in some interesting phraseology and surprising references like “Howard the Duck”!