Guardians of the Galaxy, the latest blockbuster from Marvel and a decidedly different one than what we’re used to, works because it walks, with all the seemingly effortless adroitness of a funambulist, the fine line of not taking itself seriously and taking itself seriously. That’s the most intellectual line I could come up for this film, because it is a mess, but an entertainingly endearing mess, make no mistake. It’s a space opera that is entertainingly madcap at best and barely comprehensible at worst, burdened by a substandard Marvel storyline involving a glowing blue MacGuffin and indistinguishable bad guys but also, weirdly, liberated by it: since the plot is so uninspired, the emphasis devolves onto the characters which, luck would have it, provide a beguiling mix of goofiness and seriousness, and are the best thing about Guardians. You have the newly emergent Chris Pratt, a truly charismatic, enjoyable presence mostly because, I suspect, he wasn’t asked to do things that weren’t already in his wheelhouse. As Peter Quill, A.K.A Starlord, a scruffy thief of little galactic renown (think Han Solo and/or Indiana Jones), he gets to groove to 1970s music and trade quips with the rest of the Guardians: a green-skinned Zoe Saldana, both flinty and vulnerable; an mostly genial talking tree (think Lord of the Rings’s Treebeard) named Groot who says “I am Groot” to everything and is inexplicably played by Dwayne Johnson, somewhere under all that bark; an belligerent anthropomorphized raccoon with issues and a lot of firepower named Rocket, voiced snarlingly by Bradley Cooper; and former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista’s muscled brute out for revenge, Drax, whose defining trait is his literal interpretation of everything (“Nothing goes over my head—my reflexes are too fast”). They’re a silly bunch, and not always funny, but still hilarious enough. Mostly, they’re a lot of fun to watch, and that’s the joy of Guardians of the Galaxy: It’s pure, unfiltered fun. I say “pure” because the humor exists solely to please and not to self-deprecate. Sure, Guardians occasionally pokes fun at the self-serious pseudo-portentousness of many Marvel movies, including itself (most notable during the wonderful opening sequence), but it does so organically, without trying to; there’s no negativity to be seen. It embraces its inherent absurdity and stupidity instead of attempting to be a postmodern or obnoxiously “smart” superhero movie; rather than “We know you’re laughing at this angry little raccoon, but we’re laughing right alongside you! Doesn’t that make it so much better?” it’s “We’re having a lot of fun here. Come laugh with us.” And with that in mind, there becomes very little reason to not give Guardians of the Galaxy the utmost respect it most deserves. A–
