Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) ***½/5: Entertaining to some extent but it is a lightweight film. You get to understand that it's a lightweight film as it runs out of gas towards the end despite all the zany characters involved.

I read the early reviews and my expectations were altered a bit into thinking that a possibly major film is about to be released (the next Star Wars maybe?). I have come to expect that Marvel films get a lot of support from professional critics, overwhelmingly so at times, even if the flaws are there for all to behold. They jack it up with their reviews fuelling some unwarranted high expectation. That’s another story. This film, however, is good but  it’s also a light weight. All the mysteries of the universe that confronted the Avengers in Marvel’s 1^st  phase have now been dashed and it’s there for all to see. When you do see  the film you come to realize that what lurked  behind the mystery of the universe (or the galaxy in this case)  is quite unremarkable and conforms to what you expect of how a vast galaxy is supposed to be portrayed. I am predicting that by Marvel’s 3^rd phase the scale, which will obviously become grander, will also become more monotonous, predictable and trifling. All of this is due to the release of Guardians of the Galaxy. There are a lot of good moments that anchors the film and gives it some gravitas but the presentation of a band of misfits uniting for the common good is highly predictable and gets quite annoying towards the end. I was not sold on the characters, which was said to be the primary positive highlight, because most of them are caricatures.

The film stars Chris Pratt as Peter Quill or Star Lord a high profile thief, originally from earth by the way, that steals an orb of significant value to the primary villain, Ronan who wishes to use it for his own destructive ends. He ends up being pursued by multiple targets and this unites him with his eventual companions who all have rogue designs. There is Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Bradley Cooper as the talking raccoon, Rocket; Davie Bautista as Drax the destroyer and Vin Diesel as the lovable tree like being known as Groot. They assume the role of heroes after learning to unite to stand up to the overwhelming might of Ronan, who plans to use the mysterious orb as a part of his nefarious designs for the planet of Xandar.

Positives

The primary positive of this film is the scope of the galaxy which these guardians must defend. This is reinforced by some fantastic visuals and some interesting destinations especially a mining colony that is home to a lot of history. It also has the same casual, planet hopping  approach that begun with the  Star Wars series of films. Compare this with the upcoming feature Interstellar where humans are desperate to just leave our very small solar system. In this Guardians film you can be beamed up or go into hyper drive etc. The mystery is gone here and this superficial approach to the galaxy conforms to what you come to expect from films like this which are all influenced by Star Wars. It’s the Star Wars tradition whereas Interstellar will be more in line with the tradition of the masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. The greatness of Star Wars IV: A New Hope is not disputed here but it’s successors, in the form of this film, have not superseded it’s approach. The fact that this film conforms to a particular tradition does not make it great but makes it interesting because it is clearly a different sort of galaxy with a different aesthetic design as well as different types of villains that rely on various cosmic energies to destroy nations whereas in the Star War series domination by the empire was due to very, very advanced forms of technology with only the Jedi clan dealing in some form of mystical energy such as the life force. It was a much more organic approach. (Light sabers are a bit of technology not magic). In this film very large cosmic energies rule the day. The advanced technology is there but that is not what makes you a dominant force. When they tell the grand histories of certain events or places in this film it all surrounds a grand cosmic energy force. This would make Guardians stand out when compared to Star Wars. This is what you come to expect from marvel particularly as the tesseract was the bone of contention in the 1^st phase of films. The villains in this current release appear more like gods from on high (Thanos, Ronan etc) rather than the embodiment of a particular organic system. This adds its own sort of superficiality to the whole premise. I liked the presentation  but this  may be an Achilles heel in the marvel universe when the scale becomes much more grand. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 3^rd avengers film is called War of the Galaxies or maybe the 5^th one.  There will be more Guardians films and I suspect that the scale will become a monotonous one and not very awe inspiring.

The characterizations were fairly good but the emotional core lies with Quill. Having lost the source of his inspiration from an early age we can understand why he has a longing to unite on a positive level. He finds it with the other guardians and you eventually come to the same old realization that even though they are considered misfits they have a streak of good within them. Most of them were torn from something they cherished and they all had this desire to unite positively. If not torn from something they have been used to standing alone or existing in a state of isolation. Once you unite with others you have a sense of belonging and it just so happens that they all united around Quill who wants to do some good.  The influence of Quill is so paramount that the other characters seem like mere caricatures at times. Groot is an interesting character because at first you assume that he only says ‘I am Groot’ but by the end you realize that he is actually speaking and you come to understand what he’s saying. He is the most original character but the rest are fairly predictable. The other characters outside of the guardians are also caricatures and have little substance to make them seem like they embody a distinct culture associated with the Galaxy.

This film likes to have a lot of fun by challenging clichés and mocking a lot of things that are associated with grand standing. The comedy is also a source of a lot of dialogue as the characters seek to challenge the existing order of how things are usually presented. This does undermine the film to some extent and there are times when you wonder if the premise about the galaxy in which they reside is also a joke.

The action is not very thrilling but it gets the job done.

I didn’t mind the  cassette player device because at least that’s one way that Quill holds on to what makes him human.

Negatives

The primary negative of this film is the flimsiness of the whole premise. It does not seem to be held together by an original driving force and seems to serve its purpose only as an extension of the marvel universe but does not necessarily have much backbone. Yes there are zany characters and splendid visuals but what else is there? The guardians do not seem to have a specific objective and you realize that towards the end when they fly off into deep space. The film gives you a momentary feeling as you’re supposed to know that these people exist.  There are a lot of superficial elements like pop references and a mocking humour  that seem to carry the film along in its stride instead of a more concrete premise apart from a warlord bent on wreaking havoc on a planet *yawn*. Even the grand standing of the primary villain is mocked in one scene and he comes across as a mere caricature in that one moment. All that was done before seems meaningless as it leads to a weak conclusion.  

All the mystery associated with deep space that was slowly being revealed in the 1^st  phase of marvel films now appears meaningless. I remember revising upward my rating of the first avengers film because I saw one of the post credit scenes featuring  Thanos and I said to myself ‘well that explains a lot.’ I thought that there would be so much to discover and to anticipate. Well this film makes that expectation of mine  seem trivial. Now that we have seen the galaxy and all it entails we should not expect more surprises. The grand scale envisioned for the 3^rd phase of marvel films will look a lot like the final battle in this film. Thanos will be revealed some more by then and he will come off as no different than Ronan in his desire to rule the universe or the many galaxies in the universe.  When Tony Stark got panic attacks in Iron Man 3 after realizing that there is a vast universe, with other living beings, out there this film makes you wonder if that was a necessary plot device. There is nothing remarkable out there in the vast galaxy. I was not stunned by the clichés on display. The main point here is that the film really brings down the marvel universe to a very superficial level.  In the 1^st phase marvel kept the sense of anticipation high however that sense of expectation has died down a bit after seeing this film. The extravagance of marvel is beginning to show and that is not necessarily a good sign.

This boils back to my original point that the film is a lightweight despite all of the comedy and false dramatizations. By the end of the film you get to see how a clichéd premise can run out of gas. The great characterizations initially are drowned out by the corny heroic actions. As they unite the heroes become guardians of a galaxy. Is that an official title? Why not make people believe that there are people looking out for them? Why not allow the people to acknowledge their heroic deeds? The only acknowledgment comes from top bureaucrats and a villain. The film never explained how the legend of these guardians were born. The characters come together for sure but it does not explain  why they should be considered guardians of a entire galaxy that their leader barely understands. They only helped to save one planet from destruction. I just never got a sense that a genuine movement had started because no objective was laid out. They saved the planet and that’s it.

 No real risks are taken in the end and so all the razzle dazzle achieved in quality is a mere extension for the marvel studios. There is not much to discuss until there is a true revelation, apart from howard the duck, of what this means for the many series of marvel films to come.

Why is it that a lot of characters are painted in different colours? Is that how they distinguish them from humans? Also why aren’t there different languages, apart from English, especially when you consider the many  life forms in the galaxy. At least the Star War series of films understood this.