The most surprising thing about James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy isn't that Marvel somehow convinced us to care about a bunch of obscure misfit comic characters, but that Gunn's unique style actually made it through the Marvel machine. That's precisely why it is so much fun. Guardians is far different than any Marvel movie or even comic book movie. We (gasp) actually get some of the science part of science-fiction, mixed with a touch of humor and action that reminds us that these characters shouldn't be taken seriously. After all, if they can't take themselves seriously, why should we?
Gunn, who gained fame for his quirky 2010 superhero indie Super with Rainn Wilson, starts us off with an Indiana Jones-style mini-adventure with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) or Star-Lord, as he hopes everyone will call him. Peter is after some mystical orb, but unlike the idol at the start of Raiders of the Lost Ark, this orb is the object of desire for the rest of the movie and what drives our main characters together.
Since Gunn's plot is rather simple – keep the orb from crazy Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) - Guardians is all about style, and there's nothing wrong with that in pure entertainment like this. The characters are a joy to watch, even under all that make-up and animation. After all, two of our characters are completely animated. Rocket the Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) are incredibly well-rendered and interact well with the physical cast. It was remarkable seeing the work done on Rocket, particularly in close-ups.
Speaking of that physical cast, Chris Pratt really does well as Peter Quill. The comedic timing he developed over the years as the loveable Andy on Parks and Recreation serves well here and it certainly helps that Star-Lord is a surprisingly well-rounded character. He's the smug Han Solo of the piece, but Gunn and his co-writer, Nicole Perlman give Peter some added heart. It helps that Gunn and Perlman never get bogged down in slowing exposition for Peter's story. We have a short opening scene of Peter's mom dying, but any further information to give us a fuller picture of the character is well placed throughout the dialogue.
Zoe Saldana also provides a solid showing as Gamora, our heroic character who betrayed our villains. Thankfully, Gunn is so dedicated to pushing his story fast that we aren't slowed by much of her backstory either. That's the main success of the movie. Who cares if most of the moviegoing public hasn't heard of Star-Lord, Gamora or Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) before? Gunn has a story to tell and if we can get through origin stories in one sentence of dialogue, then let's do it.
Unfortunately, all these interesting hero characters have to come at someone's expense. As with most Marvel movies, we have an uninteresting villain, who again proves to be a Thanos (Josh Brolin) puppet. The studio's plan might be to give audiences bland villains so when Thanos finally comes face-to-face with our heroes, he appears even stronger. That's all well and good for future plans, but it might be nice to finally give us someone not hidden in a giant ship. Lee Pace is under so much make-up that he's really not more than a threatening face.
But let's face it. You didn't buy that $10 movie ticket to see a super strong villain. Guardians provides the audience with what Marvel knows we like – a bunch of charismatic heroes beating up the villain in a miraculous, explosive third act. Yet, even while we do get all the boxes on the Marvel check-list checked, Gunn is able to give us a unique moviegoing experience that shouldn't be missed.
There's a moment halfway through the film, which has unfortunately been used in trailers, where our five heroes decide to work together again, even after a setback. Sure, Star-Lord's plan to stop Ronan may be only 12 percent of a real plan (just a concept really, as Gamora says), but they have to put faith in it for it to work. That's really what Guardians is about, having faith that these misfits will pull it out, Marvel having faith in Gunn to fit the mold without forgetting his style and the audience needs faith in the filmmakers to entertain us. Thankfully, all that faith is not misplaced. We'll see you in 2017, Guardians.
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