Guardians of the Galaxy

I admit that I have been sometimes hard on Marvel for creating films by committee and being aggressive about a house style that inhibits the amount of creativity that it allows creators. I still maintain this can, and is, a problem, how hard is it to create something that stands on its own when it must also tie in with eight other films and a television show? Practically impossible is what I would say. This is why so many of their films have a fast food level of flavorlessness – immediately satisfying but lacking in any nutritional value.

Guardians of the Galaxy comes damn close to escaping the formula and doing something unique with the material. Preferring to jettison comic book movie tropes, mostly, in favor of comedic space opera is a smart idea. Guardians has a real sense of fun, like Rio Bravo-meets-Star Wars, but it still comes into direct contact with the mandates of Marvel’s cinematic universe. These additions announce themselves easily, distinctly feeling like the additions of Marvel/Disney upon the material instead of an organic outgrowth of it.

For example, the film’s depressing opening note is in stark contrast to more anarchic sense of fun that permeates the rest. Peter Quill, our future Star-Lord, is but a preteen watching his mother die of cancer before being abducted by aliens. This tragic hero opening feels like a mandate from Disney, a company known for its dead parent trope, to make the hero more sympathetic, not allowing Quill to fully emerge as the charming, sarcastic, tough rogue hero that he is in the rest of the film. He must be sympathetic from the opening scene until the last.

And the plot, convoluted as any of the other Marvel films but always quirky and whimsical, once again falls squarely on the impossibly handsome shoulders of another white male savior. Marvel is at the forefront of comic book cinema, they have the creative and financial freedom to make films expanding away from the obvious properties like Iron Man and Captain America. To their credit they got more adventurous with Guardians of the Galaxy, but we’re roughly 15 movies into their cinematic universe (either already released, upcoming, or announced as in active development) and not one film has starred a person of color or female character in the main role, nor has one been announced as in active development. Guardians populates it’s world with plenty of unique and colorful characters, it’s to its credit that you walk away feeling the most amount of sympathy for a talking raccoon and a sentient tree that can only say three words, but this is a valid criticism against them and the current landscape of blockbuster entertainment.

But enough about my criticisms of the film, Guardians is a merciful reminder that comic book cinema, and science-fiction/fantasy stories, can be bright, colorful, and fun. Christopher Nolan’s grim, realistic and gritty The Dark Knight Trilogy is a great template for Batman, but that dynamic doesn’t work for every character. So thankfully, Marvel went with a goofier, more freewheeling spirit for this property. It’s a refreshing reminder that these films can be high-spirited and tongue-in-cheek.

Much of the success of Guardians goes to a terrific ensemble led by Chris Pratt. His oddball charisma is on full display, as is a previously unknown capability to essential play a variation of Han Solo like gangbusters. His introduction scene has him listening to a mix-tape while lip-synching and cheekily dancing while trying to steal a mysterious object. The four most successful performances belong to first time actor David Bautista as Drax, Lee Pace chewing the scenery with menacing relish as Ronan, and the vocal work of Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon, and Vin Diesel as Groot. Diesel’s ability to infuse “I am Groot” with various emotional resonances is commendable, that is not an easy task to ask of an actor to perform. And Cooper’s manic Rocket is a deeply sarcastic and strangely wounded singular creation. Pace, not given much to do besides bellow and rock ridiculous makeup, plays it up for all its worth as the primary villain. And who knew a wrestler like Bautista could be such a great comedic actor? Maybe it’s just a great marriage of actor and role, but it’s a charmingly literal character who gets a good share of the laughs.

Like many of Marvel’s films, the villains get lost in the shuffle and the female characters may not be fully realized as they change allegiances as needed by the plot. Karen Gillan’s Nebula and Zoe Saldana’s Gamora are nicely made-up, but they’re not terribly compelling as characters. Introduced as a secondary villain, by her second scene Gamora is already willing to switch sides and take down Thanos. There appears to be a few scenes missing in her back-story or a smoother transition from ally to enemy against Thanos. She’s also the least interesting of the five main characters. We are told repeatedly that she is a deadly assassin and bounty hunter, yet she is easily taken out of commission or throw into a damsel-in-distress situation repeatedly. Nebula and Nova Prime (Glenn Close, getting to essentially be the Nick Fury of outer space as leader of the Nova Corps) are given little to do besides wear freakish outfits and rock fantastical makeup. All three actresses commit fully and try valiantly to overcome their underwritten roles, but hopefully in the sequel this problem will be addressed and their characters given more to do.

As for Thanos, Josh Brolin’s voice works well with the visual of the character, but he’s still not a very interesting or credible film threat. All he has done is chose various lower-level mercenaries to do his business and sit back on his floating throne as each of them betrays or fails him. For being a supreme entity of enormous cosmic power and a character that should inspire awe and fear in equal measure in us, he’s thus far been a non-starter. Marvel’s taking too long to get to the point with him. Not to mention that we’ve only come across three of the six Infinity Stones.

I know it seems like I’ve criticized a lot of this film, and maybe I have over-thought it, but Guardians does so much that’s right and fun, that the problems become more glaringly obvious upon second-thought. At its best, Guardians blows off the shackles of Marvel film clichés and comic book movie beats to act out it’s freak flag inclinations as a space opera. What the film needed was even more of those moments, and maybe more fleshed out and credible threats to our heroes. It’s a good time, but too much of it does evaporate shortly after viewing.