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“Guardians of the Galaxy” is pretty much where action movies are these days — a combination of comedy without wit, action without drama and elaborate visuals that are nothing much to look at. That just this little is enough to take “Guardians” into the realm of “not bad” says more about the state of action than it does about the movie itself.
It deals with an effort to save “the galaxy,” but this is a notion without emotion. We are shown nothing about this particular galaxy that should make us care whether it gets saved or blown up like Vulcan in “Star Trek” (2009). There’s no burning reason to root for one set of space ships over the other. Rather, the mere concept of “saving the galaxy” is supposed to engage the audience — for two hours.
Yes, there are jokes, but most of these are along the lines of the movie’s making fun of itself before we all notice there’s nothing to take seriously. In place of wit, “Guardians” offers a sort of generalized willingness to be amusing, an atmosphere of high spirits that feels like lots of people pumping air into a tire that has a hole in it. Everyone is clearly working, but nothing is really happening — and yet the effort is so evident that there’s an impulse to reward it.
As for the three dimensional visuals, there’s little here that couldn’t have been rendered just as well in two. In fact, the three dimensions just dim the movie into murkiness, making the experience too much like watching it with sunglasses on. Taking the 3-D glasses off during the close-ups provides the occasional relief.
The movie starts with a poorly acted but recognizably human situation, of a little boy saying goodbye to his mother, who is on her deathbed.
After she dies, he stumbles out of the hospital, inconsolable. And just as we’re forgetting the kind of movie we’ve signed up for, a flying saucer shows up — as unwelcome and as out of place as any fictional flying saucer in history — and beams the boy on board.
Twenty-six years later Peter (Chris Pratt) is a merry, roving space rogue, a happy-go-lucky fellow flying through the universe, living off his smarts, so it’s a wonder he doesn’t starve to death. He comes upon a metal orb, about the size of a soft ball, which apparently everyone wants for some intense yet unspecified purpose. Suffice it to say, it’s like the ring in “Lord of the Rings” or the little box that raised hell in the “Hellraiser” series.
Most of “Guardians of the Galaxy” consists of Peter trying to hold on to the orb, or trying to get the orb back, or trying to prevent someone from doing something really horrible with it. The actual powers of the orb aren’t quite specified. The powers are there for the convenience of the screenwriters, to allow great but not ultimate damage, to make things always desperate but never hopeless, dangerous but still doable.
The situation is, in fact, analogous to that of Marvel Enterprises, which produced “Guardians,” based on its comic book series.
Right now, Marvel holds the orb of power, and it seems nothing can stop it. But will it really take over the entertainment galaxy? With movies like this? I’m beginning to doubt it.
Anyway, while the evil Ronan (Lee Pace) pursues him through the universe, Peter goes about putting together his team of misfit space guardians, which includes a half-man, half-raccoon (nicely voiced by Bradley Cooper), Zoe Saldana as a lethal and damaged woman of mystery, and a human-like tree, known as Groot. Vin Diesel is the voice of Groot, and something needs to be said about the use of Diesel in the promotion of this film. In the action realm, Diesel is a name to be reckoned with, an actor people look forward to seeing. But in “Guardians,” his voice is not only unimportant; it’s doctored.
What’s more, Groot has only one line of dialogue, which he repeats over and over. For all intents and purposes, there is no recognizable sign of Diesel in this movie — and too bad. He could have helped.
John C. Reilly does appear, as a politician on a threatened planet, and he gets the film’s few genuine laughs. Glenn Close also has a small role, lending an illusion of gravitas in exchange for a paycheck, which seems a fair exchange.
To its credit, “Guardians of the Galaxy” belabors little, so there’s no time to get bored, and the fact that it takes nothing seriously, including itself, saves it from all of the usual outer space ostentation.
It’s a cheerful emptiness, neither good nor bad, and pleasant enough.