Guardians Of The Galaxy


Tonight we put the baby to bed and drove out to Dartmouth Crossing, a soulless collection of factory outlet shops, where there’s also a multiplex cinema with Guardians Of The Galaxy playing in 3D. We returned home just as our child woke up and started howling, so I have to admire some powers of synchronicity there.

The film was great: I’d heard a lot about how good it was but it wasn’t crushed under the weight of expectations. Bradley Cooper as a cyborg raccoon is a little perturbing, Vin Diesel’s acting was hilariously wooden, and Zoe Saldana was reliable as another funny-coloured alien.

There are a few flaws. It was possibly very slightly too long. There’s a fight scene near the climax where there’s just too much stuff jammed in, and it keeps cutting between three different battles, with diminishing returns as you get more and more confused about what’s going on. And the main villain is called Ronan The Accuser, which sounds to me like one of the boys from Westlife, but angrier.

Aside from that, it has an inspired soundtrack and the right blend of stupidity (every one of the eponymous Guardians calls the others idiots at one time or another), mega violence and talking trees that a modern blockbuster needs. It’s also directed by James Gunn, which guarantees it will be one of my favourites, given the respect I hold him in for directing Slither.

Whether the 3D is worth it or not I couldn’t say; I’m tempted to rewatch it just to spot all the details I may have missed the first time around. Perhaps I’d be even more creeped out by the CGI raccoon than I was the first time through. But certainly a film worth leaving your child (in the competent care of others) for a couple of hours.


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