Guardians of the Galaxy

Here is the biggest problem with any movie in general and Guardians of the Galaxy in particular - when the character you relate most to on a humane level is a giant, talking tree.

Guardians of the Galaxy is sort of the boozy, rowdy, more rough and tumble version of The Avengers. They are led by Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), who calls himself Star Lord, and he's sort of like a poor man's Han Solo - a bad ass, cool, ladies man in space. He was abducted from Earth when he was 8 and has spent his formative years as a planet jumping scavenger. When he happens upon an orb that may or may not have the power to destroy the world, he must team up with a rag tag group of misfits in order to defeat evil and save the world. It's pretty much the plot of the Avengers, or any Marvel movie, really, but with different characters. This time around we've got Gamora (Zoe Saldana, who somehow has managed to get a part in just about every franchise or big budget movie of the last 8 years or so without really demonstrating any talent), a green skinned assassin, Draxx (wrestler Bautista), a red skinned, hugely muscled, very literal tough guy, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a foul mouthed, machine gun wielding raccoon, and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), the aforementioned tree who can only say "I am Groot" and is also, hands down, the best part of the movie. The rest of the highly eclectic cast includes Oscar winners Glenn Close (as the leader of a planet, or something) and Benicio Del Toro (as The Collector), and TV stars like Michael Rooker (as an interplanetary bad ass, obviously), and Lee Pace (whose otherworldly beauty is wasted, hidden behind make up and giant head dresses).

Now, I'm not saying Guardians of the Galaxy is bad, per se, but it's also not really all that good. I saw the movie a week later than everyone else and the hype was already fully formed. I'd read the reviews, saw my friends raves on Facebook and Twitter, saw all the commercials announcing it as the best movie of the summer. I have to say, I was thoroughly disappointed. I was expecting a non-stop thrill ride, a funny, exciting, non-stop comic/action movie. I didn't get any of that. The funniest parts of the movie were in the trailer, and the action is fine, if not terribly jumbled (it's possible to make a movie where you can film action scenes and still know what is happening - just ask the guy that directed The Winter Soldier). The movie takes quite a while to even get started, but there are fun moments, and Pratt is definitely deserving of his sudden thrust onto the A-List. Dude has great charisma and is charming as hell (also, those abs). But, like I said, we don't care about any of these characters, except for a giant, CGI tree who can only say three words. The soundtrack is fun and parts of the movie are enjoyable, but for the most part this movie just falls into the realm of so many other Marvel movies for me - a giant disappointment. This movie surely seems like a wasted opportunity for me and like I've said, the bar has been raised this summer. There are far better movies than this, which is merely mediocre, at best.

Grade: C