Hilarious but empty

Rating: 9/10 (3 August 2014)

In perhaps Marvel's riskiest move, 'Guardians of the Galaxy' was released this past weekend and found traction that few expected. Grossing in the 92-million dollar area over its first weekend, 'Guardians,' and the particularly talented marketers of the film, drew in many viewers and sent away many fans. This one included. 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is an extremely fun film about a band of five misfits who come together through necessary circumstances to save the universe. With a little bit of a bumpy road along the way, we are allowed to enjoy, laugh at, and surprisingly care for these characters over the course of a fast-paced two hours.
Chris Pratt, an actor well known for his comedic roles, headlines the cast of characters in this film, and does an excellent job of not being left behind in the story and by other, more interesting, characters. Pratt is able to hold his own in the film, and may walk away as many people's favorite character, which is a feat when he's standing alongside a sassy raccoon and a gentle, talking tree. Zoe Saldana played the apparently green-skinned Gamora, who's fairly realistic acting was an unfortunate misplace in this film. I'd personally like to see a standalone film for Gamora to see what it was Saldana was intending to do with her character, because in this film the director, or at least the producers, did not allow her to follow through. Sadly, because of this many people are going to walk away with dislike of her part in the movie.
Also making up the five Guardians are WWE fighter Dave Bautista as the not-so-destructive Drax the Destroyer, and Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel lending their voices to the film's favorites Rocket Raccoon and Groot, respectively. I particularly liked what Cooper did, actually lending some effort to voicing the raccoon, and Vin Diesel's performance was extremely subtle and small, but excellent nonetheless. Lee Pace, Benicio Del Toro, Djimon Hounsou, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, and a brief hint of Josh Brolin make up the impressive supporting cast in their various and hilarious roles.
This movie was, in a whole, absolutely hysterical. This isn't the first time a Marvel movie has been that way (cue unpleasant flashback to 2011's Thor), thankfully this time around it was completely intentional. After getting through a very rough first ten minutes, I was laughing out loud until the very end. Director James Gunn took every opportunity he had to change any sort of suspense or drama that might sneak its way into our head into a moment of uncontrollable laughter. And it worked. That's the best thing, it absolutely worked. Here and there you'd run into a moment where you were ready to get on with the story, but in the end that didn't matter. This isn't a movie where afterwards you go and tell everyone about all the cool things the heroes did and how intricate the plot was, and it's not meant to be. This movie is meant to make you laugh, and it does.
'Guardians of the Galaxy' had many imperfections. The visuals were amateurish for a film with such a large budget, the necessary storytelling dialogue was forced and predictable, and the fight cinematography left you dizzy with a bad feeling in your stomach. In the end though, it didn't make a difference. What director James Gunn and his co-writer Nicole Perlman decided to do from the start was allow just enough plot and action to make it a "superhero movie" with the final intention of making a laugh-out-loud comedy. They did, it was, and I laughed for two hours.
But for just those two hours. I look back at the film now and realize that it left me with nothing. I laughed hysterically while I was watching it, but now all I have left to take with me from the movie is a couple funny lines to quote. For a movie to take the leap from good to great is that wish to watch it again because it found a good place in your heart. "Guardians of the Galaxy" wasn't able to do that for me. I can't say I disliked this movie, because I didn't: I was laughing harder than I have for a while, it just couldn't go that extra mile, and I don't think that in a couple years anybody will be remembering this film with any special fondness. So as I left the theater I was loving this movie; unfortunately, it stopped there.
I give "Guardians of the Galaxy" a 7.9/10.