ReelWorm Speaks!- Guardians of the Galaxy

Reelworm Speaks! 

Guardian’s of the Galaxy 

Produced by Marvel Studios

Directed by James Gunn

The Story: Based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, Guardians of the Galaxy is an action-packed, epic space adventure, that expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy's fate in the balance. (Rotten Tomatoes)

The Good: It’s Space Opera!

Seriously, there has been a tragic lack of such a medium both on the big screen and the silver screen. What attempts there have been have been met with little success. That is such a problem with tv and movies of a specific genre. For every one good one that comes along there are about a dozen that are either bad or just mediocre. This film takes the Space Opera back to its roots. Cool spaceships, views of outer space, blasters, alien vistas packed to the brim with personality. 

The effects of this movie are top notch. A great deal of cg is used, but many practical effects are used, particularly in the more intimate scenes where a tangible material is needed. But it is not just the big things that are impressive. If anything, the small things are even more impressive due in no small part that was always the hardest part. While watching this movie and Rocket shows up, take time to just look at his face. Despite being that of an animal, he is remarkably expressive. Truly a testament to how far CGI technology has come. His eyes widen and contract and you can see his tongue move in his mouth and fur looks soft and cuddly.  

At first Rocket just seems like a trigger-happy maniac, but as the film goes on we see a deeper shade of his character and his inner pain. This goes for all of the characters. Drax, Quill, Gamora, and Rocket. Come off as one thing when they first appear but as the film goes on, their characters and stories are deemed much more than meets the eye. 

Some characters, such as Ronon and Groot are not that deep but they don’t have to be as so much personality is invested into them that they are immediately identifiable. Groot has a lot of heart and Ronon is a diabolical bad guy that is a lot of fun

The greatest thing this movie does is (hopefully) teaches the creative medium a valuable lesson. All of the Marvel titles and even DC titles and even other franchises tend to focus on well known titles and intellectual properties. Superman and Spider-man are expected to draw in the big crowds. Guardians of the Galaxy was a really obscure comic book title, most of us had never even heard of it. Yet this film was a big success, one of the most successful movies of the year. Why? It had great characters and a great story and great effects. If effort is put into something, audiences will respond positively. Quality is in the effort. Hopefully, Hollywood will learn that lesson. Don’t expect change overnight though. 

The Flaws: Very little is wrong about this movie. It has a great story, a great cast, and it teaches a great lesson.

In recent years, there has been a great deal of discussion and controversy about the diversity or lack thereof of diversity in the comic book medium. The primary audience has deemed by the powers that be, to be heterosexual, caucasian males, which is exactly what Peter Quill is. 

The character of Gamora also helps to reinforce this stereotype. Gamora is a strong character but twice in the movie she gets caught by a bunch of thugs and becomes the damsel in distress for the white lead, Peter Quill, to rescue. Gamora is supposed to be master assassin, that’s been trained and cybernetically enhanced to be a ruthless killing machine. It seems odd that she would bested by a bunch of prisoners and mercenaries. Again, it falls into the heteronormative paradigm’s that has dominated entertainment for decades. These facts do not break the movie but it would seem that the film has concurrently broken and reinforced the mold

The only other flaw is really more of a technicality but it is one of those things that bugs the audience. It has been nearly thirty years, so how exactly does a Sony Walkman still keep working? Even Ipod’s don’t last that long.  How has the tape lasted this long? Where does he get Double A batteries in outer space where humans from Earth are still a relative unknown? It can only be surmised that he found some workshop on Xandar to keep his stuff running. Where did he get a tape deck for his ship? That or he has returned to Earth in the preceding time. 

Final Verdict: The Worm watched this movie for five nights in a row and never got tired of it. That is how good this movie is. 

Five out of Five Stars. 

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