Who the hell are the Guardians of the Galaxy?
I’m a minor comic book nerd having collected a bunch of Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I had some Avengers comics and I would look at the pictures often, reading only the large words that signified feet/fists smacking into a head/ass. THUD! PFRUUMPP! Things like that.
I (visually) know about Thor, The Incredible Hulk and Scarlet Johansson. Hell, I was even slightly aware of Rocket Raccoon because my dad picked up a one-shot series starring him because his name resembled the title of a Beatles song. But when it comes to being exposed to the Guardians of the Galaxy as the 10th Marvel Universe movie in the last 8 years my initial reaction was as I stated above:
Who the hell are the Guardians of the Galaxy?
But it turns out that taking a rare comic title from the 60’s and giving it the Marvel Machine attention makes for a fantastic idea. Much of the joy in watching these strangers form a ragtag band of misfits is that they are strangers to you as well. This isn’t Iron Man 7 with the familiarity soaked into the film stock. Every character feels foreign at first (and a bit silly) but you learn the background of human man Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), green goddess Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the talking raccoon and his slightly-talking tree. And you get to know Drax (Dave Bautista) who may be a little tough to love at first but you’ll come around. Turns out they are all pretty easy to root for and director James Gunn taps into The Avengers style comradery and banter with an unbelievable ease.
Place these characters in space, give them ray guns and slather on about 4 layers of comedy and you have the most entertaining film of the year. In the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe Phase Whatever, this sits right on top with The Avengers on the peak of the list.
The story’s mythology is dense at first and it was hard for me to keep track of who was a Kree radical or a peace loving Xandarian. I still don’t know why they are pissed at each other. The readers of the deep Marvel Universe are going to be in heaven though. Or Asgard. Or however that works.
The action is abundant and set to a mean clip. There are numerous belly laughs. With all this talk of Avengers comparisons I would actually say that there is a definite tone shared with the original Star Wars movies that can’t be ignored. The bond between the group and the quips and jokes. Hell, Rocket is the only one that understands Groot and that feels just a little like a Mr. Solo having a convo with Chewie.
Despite having pulled from some solid source material, Guardians dances (literally at times) to its own beat. My favorite component to this project is that Marvel took their massive clout and decided to go against the grain and cull material from one of the abstract corners of their universe. I respect that and it has reinvigorated me regarding the semi-monthly superhero movie. I want more Starlord!!