Why not try….Guardians of the Galaxy?

Guardians of the Galaxy, the latest movie in the Marvel universe, is fun. There is no better word to describe it, so I’m sticking to my guns and staying with ‘fun’. Written and directed by James Gunn, Guardians tells the story of a group of misfits (a self-aggrandizing scavenger, a green warrior woman, a metaphor-immune battler, a monosyllabic tree and a criminal raccoon) who put their differences aside for the greater good. The script is full of wisecracks and (occasionally juvenile) humour and the action is well-paced and exciting.

The cast do a good job of the material, especially Chris Pratt as Starlord and Zoe Saldana as Gamora, while former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista is a nice surprise as Drax the Destroyer, who is from a race of people that don’t understand symbolism or metaphor, which is a good source of comedy throughout.

On the other hand the plot is weak and very similar to that of Avengers Assemble, in that a powerful villain desires the submission of ‘unworthy’ beings and needs a powerful, barely explained MacGuffin to achieve his goals. The baddie, Ronan, is almost as forgettable as.... oh, you know the one.... nope, it’s gone. Anyway, his motivations are thin and the rest of his gang, including Karen Gillan’s blue sidekick, aren’t really given a huge amount to do other than look mildly perturbed.

Yet the flimsy plot can be forgiven because of the snappy dialogue, strong cast, fun thrills, 80s soundtrack and impressive and imaginative visuals. Gunn, most famous for dark comedies such as Super and Slither, follows Marvel’s recent trend of hiring similarly cult figures (see Joss Whedon and Shane Black) to helm their films and I would say that it is paying dividends. Long may it continue.