Guardians of the Galaxy August 2014

The Guardians of Popcorn

Movie review by Robert R. Woods
 

Peter Quill

So here we are: a thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac. But we're not going to stand by as evil wipes out the galaxy. I guess we're stuck together, partners.

 

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Why would you want to save the galaxy?

Peter Quill

Because I'm one of the idiots who live there!

 

And there folks in those few lines of dialogue is the entire plot of:  

 

Granted there's not much to it. But it is straightforward and to the point. Most “good” movies are simple in plot. The writers, the director, and  actors of Guardians of the Galaxy fill in the few holes the script has with cool, hip, outlaw heroes, a couple of nasty ass villains who want to destroy the universe— why? Well, I don’t know! That’s just what evil guys do! They threaten to blow everything up to give our heroes a reason for racing across the galaxy kicking asteroid butts and taking names! It’s a popcorn movie, for goodness’ sake,  not Greek tragedy!

Greek tragedy
1. A popular and influential form of drama performed in theatres across ancient Greece from the late 6th century BCE.

Popcorn movie

1. A motion picture without serious dramatic content, a weighty message, or intellectual depth, which serves simply as enjoyable entertainment.

Although most times I like a bit more intellectual meat with my popcorn, this really is a hell of a lot of fun. Got some wonderfully off the wall characters— a  talking raccoon named Rocket (possibly named after The Beatles “Rocky Raccoon”) and his pal, Groot, a sort of hipster’s version of an Ent. And then there’s a very sexy (hubba-hubba) female assassin named Gamora, the long suffering Drax the Destroyer . . . AND . . . our lead hero . . . the Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli  of outer space . . . Peter Quill: Star-Lord! Who? Yeah, that question is asked more than once.  And then you throw in some rather snappy jokes (mostly references to ‘80’s pop culture), some dazzling CGI effects, LOTS of explosions and you got me saying "Pass the popcorn, PA-leeeeeease!"

I do have a couple of mild complaints. There are so many characters with very little backstory that it’s hard to tell who the heck they are! This is one of those movies where it’s almost necessary to have read the comic—oh, excuse me!—“graphic novel” it was based on. Plus, when, oh, when, ol’ might filmmakers are you gonna STOP filming live action, hand to hand combat scenes in close ups with so much jump editing that the audience NEVER gets to see the fights! I mean, come on! You got Dave Batista in your movie! He’s a collegiate wrestler, he’s MMA trained, and he’s in the WWE! Just back the camera up, lock it down and let Batista and stuntman have it!

Sorry. Anyway, Guardians of the Galaxy is a fun, mindless good time. Go see it.