IMDb #199 Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Source: Wikipedia

The Marvel movie money machine transmogrifies a comic book nobody read into a quirky summer smash hit, just to prove they can.

Cashing in on nostalgia, the protagonist embodies the so-lame-it's-cool-again eighties appeal. The soundtrack gets in on the action, with licensed classic rock soundtracks on cassette tape.

When the geeky hero is just a boy, his mom dies of cancer, which makes him sad. So sad he runs outside and gets abducted by blue space hicks. Which gives you an idea of what kind of mood whiplash we're in for.

Overall, the movie thrives on fun. The klutzy badass hero desecrates a planet's sacred ruins with the glee of schoolboy Indiana Jones. Reality interrupts monologues. Urban action sequences end realistically: with all parties incarcerated. (To set up a swell opportunity to suspend reality and other natural laws for a fantastical prison break.)

And what a crew. A mouthy trigger-happy raccoon. A walking, talking tree. An overly literal tattooed dude. A green assassin girl. You might have seen the merchandise.

The anti-heroes are out for money, revenge, very human motivations. None of this "save the universe" tripe. Not at first.

These lovable freaks fight alongside a parade of rainbow-hued humanoids sporting a plethora of absurd head prosthetics, like a Star Trek convention. Meanwhile, second-rate race of space Nazis terrorizes the galaxy from the least aerodynamic spaceship ever, a sideways-moving corkscrew tube.

If the cast isn't enough, the plot is just bonkers. A barrage of technobabble, dazzling arrays of factions and hidden agendas, and a scientifically dubious MacGuffin. And so many fights. Fistfights, gunfights, dogfights, swordfights, word fights. It's glorious.

Shameless cash grab? Sure. Calculated cocktail of cliche and snark? You bet. Equal parts CGI tech demo and nostalgia bait? Triple yes to the nth power.

And it's worth every minute of your time.

122 minutes.