Style over substance - space edition

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2014)

Right after his mother dies of cancer, a little boy is abducted by an alien spacecraft. And so begins the story of Peter Quill, or Star-Lord, who will travel to unimaginable places, will find the most unlikely friends in the most unlikely situations and will save the galaxy from the ruthless space maniac along the way.
The humankind has always had a soft spot for the adventure movies. The far-and-away lands, hidden treasures, exotic beauties, deadly perils and of course the fearless heroes - what could be more fun to watch on screen? Add "space" to it - with multiple planets, crazy spaceships, bizarre alien creatures and literally limitless freedom - and the audience will simply be lying in orgasmic convulsions asking for more. It's actually funny that two of the most iconic and cult adventure franchises of the last 40 years, Indiana Jones and Star Wars, are created by the same person, and that Indy and his space cowboy twin brother Han Solo are portrayed by the same person. Now that duo probably knows everything that there is to know about the genre.
Guardians of the Galaxy is probably the first movie i've seen that delivers that feeling of a space rodeo, something we first experienced thanks to the original Star Wars trilogy. And that really is something to value if you are into this sort of things. The locations, characters and names change with a speed of antelope stampede, plot twists and turns like a giant python around its victim, and the only good thing you can do to yourself is to stop trying to rationalize what you see and just enjoy the show. Pew-pew, ka-boom, yeehaw!
Unfortunately, if you are older than 10 years, don't have ADHD or just have a brain that's not easily switched off, you'll notice, to some degree of regret, that the abundance of style this movie boasts covers a serious shortage of an actual substance. The whole idea of a mighty artifact being sought after by some of the baddest and meanest of the guys in the galaxy, only to be found by a small-time treasure hunter who doesn't even know what it is, just makes no sense. Exactly like the motives of the other characters, who switch from "shoot first, ask questions later" to "best buddies ever" in a split-second. The biggest and the most plot-important things happen mostly due to luck, stupidity, recklessness or a combination of those, as if you're simply not allowed to think straight in this world. For instance, two planets just signed an important peace treaty - but their leaders clearly don't give a damn about being friendly and respectful to each other, as if they are old buddies who can f**k with each other verbally with no consequence. And one of those leaders is an evil woman from 101 Dalmatians. Yeah, sure, give me a break.
Treating GotG seriously would only inflict brain damage on you, so i can hardly analyze this movie as a whole. Probably, it doesn't even want to be treated that way. Instead of trying to give a solid impression, it breaks itself into a multitude of small episodes where the little things like a dude dancing around an abandoned planet listening to a cassette player and kicking alien lizards, a ship flying over some space station with the 80's pop hit playing on background, or a walking tree that probably escaped from the Lord of the Rings production pretending to be Eywa and launching some luminous spores, can do the trick.
In these little moments and the crude but harmless banter that usually accompanies them lies the true power of this movie. The bad thing is that besides them, and some pretty decent CGI, GotG can hardly offer you anything else. The good thing is, it doesn't pretend to be anything more than it. So if this space adventure is your kind of game, do hop in!