Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy takes the rather hoary conceit of a group of misfits, some of whom hate initially hate each other and/or are bitter enemies, coming together to achieve an admirable, even heroic goal: in this case, the saving of the universe from a megalomaniac. What makes this film different from the rest of the science fiction pack that use the same plot outlines is its injection of a consistent sense of humor throughout the special effects battles. Each of the five central characters has her/his own backstory involving pain and sadness. For example, Peter Quill, or, as he prefers to call himself, Star-Lord (played by Chris Pratt), was abducted by aliens as a young boy on the day that his mother died. The green-skinned Gamora (Zoe Saldana) was orphaned when Thanos killed her parents, only to have him train her to be one of his personal killing machines; he even ironically calls her his “daughter.” Both Quill and Gamora are trying to obtain and/or hold onto an orb, the McGuffin for this film, only to be thwarted initially by the attempts by Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a raccoon that has been genetically engineered against its will, and the tree-like Groot (hilariously voiced by Vin Diesel), to capture Quill for a huge bounty. Add to their company Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), a hulking, scarred alien out for revenge for the death of his wife and daughter at the hands of Ronan, Thanos’ henchman who is the primary villain in this film, and you’ve got an intriguing mix of criminals who must come together for the good of everyone in the universe. The beats will likely be familiar to anyone knowledgeable about science fiction stories like The Avengers, and even though the orb, which contains something called an Infinity Stone that gives infinite power to its possessor, is allegedly central to the plot, what really draws our attention is the interplay between the main characters and the ways that they become friends and develop strong feelings of love and concern for each other. I’m not sure that the movie really takes itself too seriously, and that’s good because, frankly, the names of most of the secondary characters and the different planets and cities and such became too much to remember after a while, and Ronan (an unrecognizable Lee Pace) isn’t truly frightening enough to create significant tension. Using great pop music from the 1970s—my personal favorites here are Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” and Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”—to punctuate the emotions in various scenes, Guardians of the Galaxy keeps our focus on the interpersonal more than the spectacular, and that’s probably one of the reasons that it was such a successful film.

Oscar Nominations: Best Achievement in Hairstyling and Makeup and Best Achievement in Best Visual Effects