The other DrC and I saw Guardians of the Galaxy yesterday afternoon. It is visually stunning, and I ended up caring about the characters, but it was a struggle.
The story doesn't amount to much, the villains are vile, the heroes somewhat less so -- a matter of degree, the MacGuffin is a Marvel infinity stone or gem of dubious likelihood, and which villains work for, or contest with which other villains is murky. The uniqueness of music is a throwback to episodes of the TV drama Angel in which alternate universe Pylea has no music.
The tree-evolved life form known as Groot, is a Wookiee-clone in concept, if not in appearance. Vin Diesel was wasted in voicing the character, whose total vocabulary is 5 words, only 3 of which are used more than once.
My favorite character was the GMO raccoon named Rocket, he has a nice combo of 'tude and feral cuteness. The other DrC likes the connection between the Beatles' Rocky Raccoon and Rocket (the) Raccoon, a very apt name evolution in a space opera.
Small spoiler ahead: the arrow-like weapon carried by Yondu Udonta at one point kills a hundred or more scattered enemies one at a time while they all stand around like dummies watching it fly and waiting for it to reach them. Troops this dumb deserve to die. Wouldn't you think somebody would have taken a shot at Udonta while the arrow whizzes from body to body? I sure as blazes hope so.
Guardians of the Galaxy was a pleasant enough way to spend a Sunday afternoon, but it doesn't encourage me to see more Marvel pix. It is not in the same league as Fifth Element, Blade Runner, or Dune (either version), my science fiction favorites.
