Marvel hasn’t made a duff live action piece, by my reckoning, since the last Fantastic Four. Their logo has become a guarantee of quality, like HBO’s, and so it was with trepidation that I approached the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. The trailer hadn’t been promising and I went into the cinema half expecting to be out of there in 45 minutes or so. The bleak and moving opening scenes were the first promising sign, almost on a par with ‘Bambi’ or ‘Up’ in the misery stakes, a brave move. And then the movie gets going. I doubt that it’s a spoiler to tell you that the heroes are a guy who reminds me of Ewan McGregor (but less annoying), Rihanna (but green and articulate), a talking tree, a scarified roider and a talking raccoon who should overstretch credulity but doesn’t, AND gets all the best lines. Sporty Spice is also in the mix as is a spaceship that appears to be loosely based on the Angel of the North. Oh, and there’s also a turquoise redneck. All the ingredients are in place for either a mindless piece of unwatchable schlock or an overcomplicated humourless trudge of a Space Opera (yes Star Wars, I’m talking about you). ‘Guardians’ deftly avoids these traps by never taking itself too seriously. Big and portentous one moment and then poking fun of the whole thing the next. The sound track is part of the fun, full of guilty pleasures and incorporating possibly the perfect closing tune. This film isn’t going to be for everybody, not even some sci-fi fans, but it’s got heart, intelligence, style and a sense of humour and I think it just may be the movie of the summer so far. Switch off your brain and enjoy the ride ☺
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:30:54 +0000
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