JUSTIN HALL AT THE MOVIES
On the surface, Guardians of the Galaxy may seem like a parody of the Marvel universe, but it actually succeeds as a stand-alone effort. For most of its time, it’s at once smart, hilarious, visually spectacular, and never forgets to have a heart.
It stars Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, a space pirate on a distant planet who comes into possession of a powerful orb. It isn’t long before every bounty hunter in the galaxy (no pun intended) is after him. He’s spared a doomed fate by a green-skinned alien named Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Together they are joined by another alien named Drax (WWE superstar Dave Bautista) and joining them is a tree-like humanoid named Groot (Vin Diesel) and a wise-cracking raccoon named Rocket (Bradley Cooper).
Altogether they team up to keep the orb safe from the forces of Ronan (Lee Pace) who wants to use it to, you guessed it, destroy the galaxy. What else would a good villain have use for a MacGuffin-like device?
Most characters in superhero movies are rarely memorable. They almost always have to say or do something idiotic in order to be remembered. However, that’s not the case with Guardians of the Galaxy. All of the characters get their moments where they can either be funny, exciting, or heartfelt. In terms of the humor, Cooper’s Rocket offers plenty of one-liners to rival Steven Seagal and Diesel’s Groot finds a charming combination of being childlike yet unsure about what he’s going to do.
Guardians of the Galaxy does drag on a little bit with its climax, but other than that, this is one highly entertaining movie that surpassed my expectations. Besides the terrific cast including the likes of John C. Reilly and Glenn Close, much of the credit has to go to director/cowriter James Gunn who’s put together a cross between Star Wars and The Avengers, though not nearly as original as either of those movies were.
In a weak summer movie season, this is certainly the way it should go out. This is an amazing start to what will hopefully be a great franchise.
Grade: A-
(Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and for some language.)
Until next time, White County, this is Justin Hall saying I’ll see you AT THE MOVIES!
Movie Review Guardians of the Galaxy Click here
