A Mediocre Gift in Gold Wrapping Paper/The Case When IMDb Users Get it Wrong

Rating: 6/10 (28 December 2014)

As usual, I headed to IMDb before renting this movie. I didn't even bother reading the reviews since it received the outstanding score of 8.3. I was reassured that I would be getting a great movie when the girl at the store said she absolutely loved it and watched it "everyday." Maybe she was a big fan beforehand? Anyway, I placed serious doubt as to whether this could actually be that great of a movie and was sad to see that I was right.
Guardians of the Galaxy (GOTG) is a movie that has been done many, many times before it. You might even say that it is a bunch of pieces from different movies combined into one title. Those who think they are going to get something unique and interesting are in for a shock because this movie does not have a single original idea of its own. In fact, imagine a plot that you would tell a young child in order to keep him/her from getting confused and this is exactly what you're going to get.
The characters will come across as very familiar because they've all been done too many times before, but these characters do worse because they lack authenticity. For example, the Ravagers are supposed to be a group of smugglers and thieves, but you never really get the sense that these guys are true representatives of their profession. The only character who manages to stand out is Groot because he adds a little variety to the movie by not being so painfully predictable, but do not expect to hear much from this character throughout the entire movie. As far as the other characters go, there is next to zero character development, and there are times when characters fail to give you a sense that you are in a certain environment, especially the ones that are supposed to be hostile.
The true highlight of the movie is how good it looks. The makeup artists did an outstanding job. There are also some very good looking scenes in the movie. Next, the jokes also help improve the quality of the movie but they are often simple and sometimes irrelevant. The action is just OK. Last, the music that Star-Lord likes to play helps but feels awkward at times and never really finds a scene where it actually belongs.
In conclusion, GOTG looks right but does mostly everything wrong. This is a movie you watch when you are bored and do not want to be challenged to think. If this is the case for you, a single rental might be worth it. If you want a solidly good movie, you will be sadly disappointed. This movie comes nowhere close to great, highly rated movies such as Forest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, Gladiator, Fight Club, and Pan's Labyrinth and shouldn't be rated so close to them. There are equalizers who will give the movie a single star to see its overall rating go down, but I won't go that route, although I would like to in this particular instance. GOTG is a soft 6.3 and probably rates a little higher if you like eye candy and simple jokes.