Marvel’s latest mega-movie is big, noisy, and fun to watch. Although the comic-book source isn’t familiar to most moviegoers, the template of this elaborate space adventure certainly is: a band of misfits finds strength by joining forces to battle some ruthless interstellar bad guys. The motley group includes a genetically modified raccoon with a wiseguy attitude (voiced by Bradley Cooper), an anthropomorphic tree named Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a feisty and athletic woman (Zoë Saldana) who may or may not be loyal to her evil father, a hulk of a man bent on revenge (wrestler Dave Bautista), and a cocky, shoot-from-the-hip Earth orphan who becomes their de facto leader. Chris Pratt hits just the right note in this role and establishes the movie’s irreverent tone and sense of humor from the very start.
It isn’t easy to follow all the exposition the movie throws at us, but before long it becomes clear who’s worth rooting for. That’s all we really need to know to invest in the fast-paced adventures that follow.
Photo By Film Frame – Courtesy Of Marvel
Director James Gunn, who wrote the screenplay with Nicole Perlman (based on the Marvel comic by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning) plays out his story on a broad canvas, and continually finds chinks and challenges in the interrelationship of his key characters. Time and again they test each other to see if their trust is misplaced. (No spoiler here: it isn’t.)
Guardians is laden with visual effects, but it’s the relationships and the sharp dialogue inspired by them that makes the movie enjoyable. This Marvel production doesn’t take the “less is more” approach, and it’s too bad Gunn and company couldn’t decide on a definitive conclusion: the movie now has several endings, any one of which would have sufficed. A climactic piece of dialogue leaves the door open for another chapter and a closing title promises another gathering of the clan. I’m happy to say I won’t mind going along for that ride.
