HUB Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy
Prepare yourselves for criminals, who really should be in jail and punished for their crimes, become unlikely heroes and let free to roam the universe/galaxy.
They are the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Meet Peter Quill (Chris Pratt, Parks and Recreation), a human abducted from Earth as a kid and brought up by outlaws in deep space. All grown up, he has adopted the outlaw life, which ultimately gets him into major trouble when he retrieves a mysterious orb wanted by Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug). Meanwhile, he is also chased by bounty hunters and an assassin, all of whom, plus another, end up as team with different ideas to reach their goal: stop Ronan; whether it’s for money, revenge or to save billions of innocent people and space creatures (either one of those work).
The Guardians consist of Gamora (Zoe Zaldana, Star Trek), a deadly assassin; the bounty hunters Rocket (Bradley Cooper, The Hangover) and Groot (Vin Diesel, Fast and Furious), a raccoon and a tree, respectively; and Drax (Dave Bautista, WWE), a really strong man bent on revenge. How are they similar? Well, they know how to break and evade the law. These are your heroes. Lovely.
They break out of jail together and traverse the galaxy with this mysterious orb, not sure what it is apart from that it’s dangerous. Of course, Ronan and his minions, including Nebula (Karen Gillan, Doctor Who), are coming after them and ends in death, destruction, and somehow, many laughs.
The movie got better reviews (from some outlets) than Marvel’s other blockbuster, The Avengers (2012), which was huge, so that should tell you something about GotG (yes, I’m making that a thing). RottenTomatoes.com certified it fresh with 90% of critics liking it, and 91% of audiences liking it. Metacritic rated it at 76 (Avengers was only 69), and IMDb users gave it an 8.5 (Avengers 8.2). I’m comparing it to Avengers because both are from Marvel, completely hyped up, and unlikely heroes teaming up. It’s not a fallacy.
On the Penn State Scale...
1—when Penn State loses a game (Ohio State...),
2—an 8 a.m class (which are awful),
3—a canceled 8 a.m class,
4—free books for a year,
and 5—free Creamery for a year,
GotG is around a 3.7. Despite the cool action scenes and legit fighting scenes, I found the whole thing too comedic (and too much comedic relief). Sure, it wouldn’t be good either if it was all about the impending doom and our heroes feeling utterly despaired about their chance of winning, but that is where filmmakers need to find a balance. Yet, I would like some gut feeling inside me where I have a sense that the villains have the upper hand. But in this one, I did not feel that.
I thought the story with the orb was cool (and what it does, those special effects were incredible!). But still a little “meh.” With that said, all the special effects are actually really groovy. The villains were cool, too (Ronan and Nebula were creepy as—), though I wish they were smarter. Dangerous and crazy is scary, but dangerous, crazy and smart, now that is terrifying (a la the Joker and Loki).
The movie, which is an introduction to the Guardians, provided enough background on each character so as to not have to question everything, such as motives, but it still leaves you intrigued about their whole story. Especially Groot. Like, come on. What is up with that (him?)?
I definitely enjoyed the music choices, because even as a Generation Zer, the songs are ones that I know and have heard before, and that I can enjoy. It also made the whole movie more epic than some instrumental, uplifting song.
GotG was so overly hyped, and I fell victim to it, which ended in my not liking the movie as much as if I had zero expectations. Or maybe it just wasn’t that good. I’ve said my bit so now…you decide.
****Oh, and as always with Marvel, stay after the credits.****
Sofia Westin is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism and economics. To contact her, email sgw5090@psu.edu.
