Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy 

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Marvel Studios, Marvel Enterprises, Moving Picture Company, USA, UK, 2014. 

In 1988 young Peter Quill (Wyatt Oleff) loses his mother. Peter's father is an space alien who sends a spaceship to bring him home. 26 years later Peter a.k.a Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is exploring planet Morag. He has been brought up to be ravager, and he is a bit of combination of Indiana Jones and space pirate. He is searching for an powerful orb and gets attacked by some goons. Chris decides to make a quick exit. As a special detail he is a fan of Troll dolls and ALF, speaking of which I will some day soon make a post about some cool stuff I found at flea market. 

Peter Quill

Peter's cassette player

Kree Empire has signed a peace treaty with Xandar but all are not happy. Kree fanatic, mass murderer and otherwise unpleasant person Ronan (Lee Pace) wants to destroy Xandar. He needs the orb to get support from warlord Thanos (Josh Brolin) so he sends Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to steal the orb. Gamora has also a cyborg step-sister Nebula (Karen Gillan). Both ladies are adopted daughters of Thanos, but they have a difficult father daughter relationship. Interestingly Thanos does not do much in the story.

Ronan

Gamora

Also Peter's ravager boss, Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) wants the orb but Peter rips him off. Yondu sends bounty hunters cyborg raccoon Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and walking tree Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) to capture Peter. After misbehaving in public Peter, Groot, Rocket and Gamora are sent to space prison. They escape together with musclebrain prisoner named Drax (Dave Bautista) who has a score to settle with Ronan. They try to sell the orb to the Collector (Benicio Del Toro), but it proves to be too hot to handle. Madman Ronan gets the orb and gains power to destroy planets. It takes a bunch of lovable rogues to save the world. 

Rocket and Groot

Drax

Plotwise the story is standard Marvel-stuff, Big Bad wants to destroy the world and heroes must stop him. So nothing new in that aspect. As this is an origin story of the Guardians, the heroes start as mutual enemies but later find a common cause. Most memorable characters are short-tempered and cynical Rocket Raccoon and his calm partner Groot who has a limited vocabulary. When conflicts arise, Peter and Gamora try to keep the band together. Peter tells the legend of Kevin Bacon to inspire the group. The chemistry between the characters is good and as a light-hearted space adventure the movie serves well as entertainment. What makes this different than most Marvel-movies is that the characters are not superheroes with unlimited powers, but a group of  unwilling outlaw antiheroes. Also there is more comedy and wacky humour than the more serious superhero films. Even tough warrior Drax has some comedic moments. Spaceship battles look great and the weapon designs are creative.

Spaceship battles look great

As Peter is a 1980s kid, there are many references to 1980s pop culture and music his mother liked: 1970s hits and Motown. Some minor characters from previous Marvel-films make brief visits, so Marvel fans can find many interesting details. One of the Marvel's strangest characters Howard the Duck makes a cameo appearance, suggesting the return of the character to Marvel universe. Glenn Close appears as Xandar Prime Minister Nova Prime and John C. Reilly appears as law enforcer Corpsman Dey. 

Howard the Duck

Rating: Good 

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Laura Haddock, Sean Gunn, Peter Serafinowicz, Christopher Fairbank, Krystian Godlewski, Wyatt Oleff, Gregg Henry, Janis Ahern, Solomon Mousley, Lindsay Morton, Robert Firth, Melia Kreiling, Tom Proctor, Nick Holmes, Max Wrottesley, Stan Lee, Nicole Alexandra Shipley, Sharif Atkins, Brendan Fehr, Tomas Arana, Mikaela Hoover, Emmett J Scanlan, Dominic Grant, Spencer Wilding, Alison Lintott, Alexis Rodney, Nathan Fillion, Keeley Forsyth, Frank Gilhooley, Alexis Denisof, Enzo Cilenti, Richard Katz, Enoch Frost, Ronan Summers, Ophelia Lovibond, Laura Ortiz, Marama Corlett, Rosie Jones, Abidemi Sobande, Alex Rose, Ekaterina Zalitko, Emily Redding, Fred, Stephen Blackehart, Jennifer Moylan-Taylor, Bruce Mackinnon, Ralph Ineson, Rob Zombie, Naomi Ryan, John Brotherton, Graham Shiels, James Gunn, Douglas Robson, Rachel Cullen, Isabella Poynton, Imogen Poynton, David Yarovesky, Miriam Lucia 

Director: James Gunn