Review of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) by Cole R — 14 Aug 2015

A refreshing alternative to the same old, boring classic comic movies, but not without a medley of flaws. This movie makes a few serious errors in comedic placement, especially during the climax, which is completely ruined by a dreadful bit of silliness. The dialogue is generally strong but scattered throughout are platitudes and trite stupidness. An example of the latter is when Rocket impossibly understands Groot's different pronunciations of "I am Groot" as intelligible sentences.

Groot is a strong character, but his cuteness was at times overplayed. For example, one shot focuses exclusively on him growing a flower for a child. This would've been more subtle and nice in a faraway shot of the group walking through the mining colony, where only paying attention to Groot in particular will yield the pleasant surprise of seeing that interaction. Instead, it's in your face, begging you to swoon, "Oh, look how cute Groot is.".

The main stars, including Chris Pratt, weren't bad, but Glenn Close phoned it in and John C. Reilly was just mediocre. Michael Rooker's villain was okay, but his whistle-guided levitating arrow was really cool. I'll probably see the sequel, and he's the guy I'm most looking forward to.