Spectacular sci-fi

Having not been overly- impressed with the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, believing it to be a much more light-hearted and child-orientated affair than other Marvel movies of the past few years, I went into the cinema with subdued expectations.

  How could a team of superheroes I’ve barely heard of get me as excited about a trip to the movies as Iron Man, Hulk or Captain America bringing down powerful villains and saving the world using their awesome powers and gadgets?

 How wrong I was. How emphatically, unequivocally wrong. I am not usually one for bold proclamations, but this time I am confident in saying that there will not be a better, more humorous or enjoyable movie this year.

 The action begins on Earth in 1988, with a young Peter Quill (Pratt) having a pretty bad day. First he witnesses his mother’s death and, moments later, he is abducted by a group of space pirates.

 Fast-forward 26 years and we see Quill, now masquerading as ‘Starlord’, in action on a foreign planet, stealing an orb containing immense power in a breathless sequence as he eventually escapes the deadly forces trying to intercept him.

The leader of these relentless pursuers, Ronan, tracks Quill and sends an assassin named Gamora (Saldana) to retrieve the orb. When a fight between the two ensues, they accidentally embroil a pair of bounty hunters in their scuffle; the genetically-engineered racoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and a humanoid tree named Groot (Vin Diesel).

Their brawl ends in a stalemate and the foursome are arrested and imprisoned in a gigantic space prison known as the Kyln. There, they meet Drax the Destroyer (Bautista) who is out for revenge against Ronan for murdering his family.

The five form a fragile truce in order to escape the prison, discover more about the mythical orb and stop Ronan from obtaining it and causing widespread destruction.

My favourite aspect of the film is just how funny it actually is. The chemistry between the Guardians is wonderful to behold, the humour is used at the perfect moments and the comic timing is spot on.

 In particular, the completely computer-generated Rocket is brought to life with some great one-liners and never gets irritating unlike the vast majority of movie anthropomorphous sidekicks.

 The casting works perfectly, with Pratt having just the right mix of cockiness and heroism to be the lead, while Diesel manages to defy his somewhat typecast reputation to bring a huge spectrum of emotions and depth to what is essentially a monosyllabic tree whose only words are ‘I am Groot’.

 Most surprisingly, Bautista appears very comfortable and accomplished in his role as Drax. The history of professional wrestlers transitioning to Hollywood is patchy at best (in fact, arguably only The Rock has been a success), but Drax has the right mix of brute strength and emotional vulnerability to make him much more than the brawn of the group.

He is also the butt of the most hilarious running joke in the movie, as he is completely unable to grasp the concept of a metaphor.

In contrast to the usual cinematography style of Marvel movies, most of the scenes take place in internal environments and small sets, which means the grand scale space battles and sprawling futuristic cities are few and far between, making them more special and exhilarating when they do appear.

My favourite scene, and one which showcases sci-fi at its very best, sees thousands of small fighter ships link together to form a giant net to stop Ronan’s giant ship from landing on a planet, which really has to be seen to be believed.

 The soundtrack is delightfully quirky and incongruous to the setting, as Quill carries a Walkman and blasts 70s and 80s pop tunes from his spaceship’s tape deck thanks to his only possession from his childhood on Earth being a small cassette titled Awesome Mix Tape #1.

 Hearing I Want You Back and Ain’t No Mountain High Enough blasting from the speakers as ships dogfight in space and superheroes exchange fisticuffs with bad guys is no doubt bizarre, but fits the tone of the movie perfectly and it would be a poorer movie with a traditional orchestra providing the backdrop.

 There are very few qualms I have with the movie, as is testament to its quality. However, Ronan could have been a stronger villain, with the ‘obtain powerful item, use it to rule the world’ shtick becoming increasingly tiresome.
 
Furthermore, a throwaway scene with mega villain Thanos serves no purpose other than to foreshadow upcoming stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and remind the viewer that this film is connected to that mythos. With the movie so concentrated on the Guardians and their relationship, I felt there was no need to cut away so drastically to give an update on ‘the bigger picture’.

Despite these nitpicks, they are negligible compared to the positives. This is the best Marvel film yet (yes, better than The Avengers) and has the potential to be the Star Wars for a new generation.

I had similar feelings coming out of the cinema as I did all those years ago as a young boy when my video tape (remember them?) of A New Hope came to the end of its reel and I rewound it immediately and watched it again. Buy your tickets now, you won’t regret it.