'Guardians of the Galaxy" review

Happiness is a warm Gunn

I have been a BIG fan of writer/director James Gunn from the beginning.  His first film, “Slither”, was a raucously revolting and hilarious horror debut.  With Hollywood’s laser vision greedily focused on tween wallets, it’s rare to find a horror film for adults that’s rated “R” for wicked practical effects instead of a plastic parade of fake pneumatic breasts.  Talk about a horror show!  Yet underneath the filth and slime, there is a love story that hurts because we recognize the compromises that adults sometimes make.

Gunn’s next film, “Super”, was a surprisingly dark and disturbing descent into superhero dementia.  Rainn Wilson plays a man whose dreamland delusions compel him to stitch up a homemade costume and wield a crescent wrench in the name of justice.  However, the cost exacted for this vengeance is heartbreaking, and “Super” reveals a bitter after taste underneath its candy coating.  Despite Crimson Bolt's good intentions, his bloody crusade quickly becomes corrupted by the consequences of his actions.

For more than a decade I was a comic reader and collector, and although I knew of the Guardians of the Galaxy, I’d never read the series.  When the film was announced, what reservations I may have had were banished when I heard that James Gunn was set to write and direct.  That gave me faith.  I had a feeling that Gunn would be able to balance the tween desire for epic action with the adult necessity of real pathos, and I was confident that he could weave these often disparate elements together into one helluva fun ride.  I was right.

As a glib mercenary whose most recent theft has suddenly surrounded him with enemies, Chris Pratt evokes an intergalactic Indian Jones in his hangdog portrayal of a cocky kid just making it up as he goes along.  The character’s charm and lackadaisical attitude keeps the audience grounded, and the sly wink behind every gesture lets us know to not take things too seriously.  While the film begins with family heartbreak, it ends with the joy of a family newly forged.  The journey is breathtaking in its scope, eye-popping in its action and tear-inducing at its emotional core.  And it’s a helluva lot of fun!  Did I mention that?

Of course, much of the screen time is spent introducing characters and storylines that will only come to fruition in succeeding movies, but James Gunn knows this.  He also knows how to make origin stories interesting and exciting even though we’re not quite sure what the kerfuffle is all about.  I have a vague notion of why the Infinity Stones need to be kept away from the bad guys, but beyond that, I'll keep the faith in Marvel's grand plan.  James Gunn knows this plan and is thankfully aware that the audience doesn’t need a long lecture on the history of this galaxy.  That can wait.  For now, let’s just relax and let the kids play.  Grown up time will come soon enough.