Guardians of the Galaxy

After suffering through The Avengers, Thor, Iron Man 3, and the unbearable Man of Steel, I swore off going to see any more of these comic book superhero movies Hollywood currently pumps out in an endless stream. However, when invited to see Guardians of the Galaxy (this summer’s biggest hit and the latest disposable blockbuster to somehow receive universal critical acclaim) at my local IMAX Theater, I figured, what the heck. After all, this isn't really a superhero movie; it's sci-fi/fantasy. Indeed, this picture has more in common with Mel Brooks' 1987 sci-fi spoof Spaceballs than it does the X-Men franchise. Based on a Marvel comic series in which writer Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning cobbled together a bunch of previously unrelated characters created by a bunch of other writers and artists, the picture is intentionally loose, tongue-in-cheek, and placed outside of the current Marvel canon of interconnected heroes and storylines.

The lighthearted and absurdly convoluted origin story about a group of likable misfits who reluctantly band together to save the galaxy from a spectacularly unimpressive villain is enjoyable for about 30 minutes. But once the team forms in a ridiculously silly prison escape, we're basically into the same old boring chases, mediocre fight scenes, and unimaginative space battles we've seen countless times in the past fifteen years, though peppered with slightly better-than-average comic character development. The climactic battle even pits our heroes against a giant vessel that threatens to destroy an entire city--honestly, is there no other way to end these movies? The film's self-referential humor makes it possible to sit through its two+ hour running time, but nothing is especially sharp or inventive about the comedic tone. Most of the jokes and character bits are at the level of what you'd expect from the average animated kids' movie.