Welcome back readers. I realize that
most of my writings have been either Horror or Sci-fi titles so I
thought we could hunker down to a more popular franchise brought to
us by Marvel Studios.
What do a hybrid, a
genetically/cybernetically altered raccoon, a talking tree, the
galaxy's deadliest assassin and a raged filled literal minded man
have in common? Well not a whole lot.
This is Guardians of the Galaxy.
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| This Googles Map app sucks, Groot. |
Our film opens with the beginnings of a
young Peter Quill who loses his mother to cancer, is abducted by
aliens and his mother's family never sees or hears of him again.
Good call on the taking care of the boy after mom dies. Top notch.
More than 20 years have passed and the
boy is an accomplished thief, con artist, trickster and roguishly
handsome Star Lord (Chris Pratt of Parks and Recreation,
Jurassic World, The Lego Movie, Lego Jurassic World, Lego Dimensions,
The Magnificent Seven, Passengers and The Kid), a half human,
half something else man who loves his 80s pop culture minutia that
baffles the rest of the galaxy.
Contracted to steal a stone of unknown
content or power from a remote,dead world. Quill decides to cut out
his boss/father figure Yondu (Michael Rooker of Days of
Thunder, JFK, Cliffhanger, Mallrats, The Replacement Killers, The
Walking Dead and Call of the Dead) out of the deal, make
enough scratch to flee from the Ravagers (Intergalactic crime
syndicate) and be on his own.
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| Presenting my large, pulsating ball. |
Decidedly pissed, Yondu puts a contract
out on Quill and a talking tree and raccoon proceed to planet Xandar
to capture Quill alive. Yeah a talking tree known as Groot (Vin
Diesel of The Fast and the Furious, Pitch Black, Knockaround Guys,
XXX, The Chronicles of Riddick, Fast & Furious and Avengers:
Infinity War) and a raccoon with disconcertingly human like
hands and unfeasibly large guns known as Rocket (Bradley Cooper
of Failure to Launch, Alias, The Midnight Meat Train, The Hangover,
The A-Team, Limitless and Avengers: Infinity War).
A
group of religious zealots of the Kree empire want the stone too. Led
by a fanatic lunatic known as Ronan the Accuser (Lee
Pace of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation
of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Program and
Driven)
loathes his own people striking a treaty with Xandar and will see the
whole planet wiped out. Xandar not the Kree home world, Hala. Yes I
am that big of a Marvel Comics geek fanboy. What of it??!!
Ronan's
underlings were supposed to retrieve this all mighty Maguffin for one
of Marvel's nastier villains, Thanos (played by Josh Brolin but not a
huge part at this time so move on) and he even aided Ronan by
offering his "adopted" daughters, the deadly assassin
Gamora (Zoe Saldana of Avatar, Star Trek, The
Losers, Star Trek Into Darkness, Out of the Furnance and Avengers:
Infinity War)
and cybernetically enhanced Nebula (Karen Gillan
of Doctor Who, Occulus, In a Valley of Violence, The Circle and
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle),
devious and crafty killer in her own right.
Gamora
volunteers to acquire the stone and ends up running into Quill, Groot
and Rocket.
Less
than 12 hours in for their collective charges, the four offer to help
one another to escape the Kiln, a Supermax prison full of the dregs
of the universe. One such inmate last his wife and daughter to
Ronan's crazed killing spree, Drax the Destroyer (Dave
Bautista of WWE Smackdown, WWE Raw, The Man with the Iron Fists, L.A.
Slasher, Heist, Marauders and Enter the Warriors Gate)
a
literal minded warrior with strength levels of the Hulk and about the
moral code of Wolverine.
The
five of them escape from prison, nick their gear and head out into
the big black for fortune and glory. No time for love, Doctor Jones.
Ronan,
the Ravagers and most of the Nova Corps of Xandar are breathing down
their necks while the choice must be made. A bunch of loners unite
against a common enemy or get blasted into bits across the cold
vacuum of space.
Okay
first off, I absolutely love this flick. Aside from real fans of the
comic book franchise, these characters are positively unknown to the
average movie goers. Plus it is delivered is such a fashion, that
you can instinctively have emotions for or against the characters.
Clever writing, action, Sci-fi and still that comic book formula that
fleshes out comic books to the silver screen is so wonderfully done
here.
The
casting really works and honestly, MCU's Star Lord has a superior
backstory than his original comic book counterpart. Tragic yet
brought him to adulthood (more or less) far better than his long
winded, duller story arc of the comics.
Snaring
the likes of Glenn
Close, Benico Del Toro and Dijmon Hounsou
for bit roles still brings life into these personas. Well crafted
for all ages to watch, similar how George Lucas pulled off Star Wars:
A New Hope, this film lends itself to easily a follow up movie in
2017.
And
yes you should watch its sequel.
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| Deadliest of eye candy. |
