Like X-Men: Days
of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy is a movie for those who want to see
superhero movies taken in a different direction. Instead of taking its
superhero-ness seriously, it subverts the tropes of the genre, and the result
is, at times, genius.
I say “at times”
because it doesn’t always work. The movie takes itself too seriously
emotionally speaking, and while this sort of thing can be done well, such as in
X-Men: Days of Future Past, most of the serious, emotional scenes fall flat.
Only the finale feels real. Much of the blame for this has to fall to James
Gunn, the director, for while the script he co-wrote makes both the fun-loving
and the serious sections equals, his direction fails to create the uniqueness
of place necessary to juxtapose such scenes and still have a separation of
tone. As a result, many of the serious scenes, while certainly full of heart,
something the film has in abundance, feel unfortunately wrong. Fortunately this
is the film’s biggest flaw.
Like many
superhero flicks, the movie suffers from a case of exposition disorder. That
is, it occasionally strays into sequences during which exposition is thrown out
at every turn, causing the casual viewer to tune it out, which is rather
unfortunate if a nugget of necessary information is embedded deep within the
otherwise esoteric monologue.
Virtually every
other aspect of the movie, though, is great. Chris Pratt’s winning performance as
Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, buoys the movie, and the other performances aren’t
half-bad either. Zoe Saldana gives her best to-date, and WWE-fixture Dave
Bautista delivers his metaphor-less lines decently, though not fabulously.
Outside of
Pratt, though, the voicework of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel is really the
standout of the movie’s main cast. Cooper makes Rocket’s every line sparkle,
and Vin Diesel exudes every emotion Groot needs with just his three words.
Diesel’s devastation over the untimely death of Paul Walker is apparent
throughout his heartfelt voicework, and it helps tremendously.
Even the
supporting cast, though often underused (especially Glenn Close and John C.
Reilly), is rather good. I don’t know why it took so long, but Lee Pace has
finally given a good villainous portrayal. It is by no means a deep,
multi-faceted portrayal, but at least he seems invested enough in the part to
make sure his lines don’t get stuck to his tongue like they did in the second
Hobbit movie. Michael Rooker, best known as the eponymous Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and a Merle in The Walking Dead, really carries the
supporting cast as Yondu Udonta, the closest thing Quill has to a father. He
gives Yondu the depth he needs to make him more than just a jealous thief.
Judging from the
comedic success of films this year, it seems the key to getting people to laugh
is to make fun of life in general. This is the third movie I’ve watched this
year that has succeeded in making me laugh not because it had funny gags, but
because it made fun of itself. Meta-humor is engineering a rise, and I, for
one, am not complaining. No, the jokes aren’t all perfect, but every member of
the cast believes they are doing something new and interesting and important,
which makes even the jokes that would otherwise fall flat instead make you
smile.
The special
effects are gorgeous, and the 3D, though not really utilized all that much, is
not distracting, which is not something most 3D movies can boast.
Overall,
Guardians of the Galaxy deserves every cent it makes. It’s strange to think
that the superhero movie subgroup could be brought back down to earth by Peter
Quill’s ever-temperamental rocket-boots. Though certainly not perfect,
Guardians of the Galaxy beats much of the schlock we tend to get this time of
year, and it offers a rather interesting deconstruction of the superhero genre.
80
No comments:
Post a Comment