MCU Sunday #10: Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol.1)

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the tenth installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

The first movie characters of the MCU universe in which Stan Lee did not have a direct hand in creation, the so-called Guardians of the Galaxy are a disparate group of criminals who are brought together to achieve a goal that none of them are really gung-ho about.

There are some great names who came on board to bring this film to fruition.  Not in the starring roles, since most of the actors in the Guardians were basically unknowns. Not that they hadn't had careers before this, just that most people would probably not recognize them.  But in the supporting roles you got Glenn Close, John C. Reilly and Benecio del Toro.  (as well as a couple of other names you might recognize if you are a credits watcher like me... 

Of the four main characters, the only one that most people would know by name is probably Vin Diesel. Although you won't recognize him as the character he plays, or probably even his voice.  Diesel plays Groot, an animated tree. And his vocabulary consists solely of "I am Groot." (Which words convey his entire demeanor, but it requires his companion Rocket to translate...)  He did have some previous experience with which people of my stripe would know him however.  He was Dom in the Fast and the Furious series, as well as Xander Cage in XXX.

Chris Pratt, as you will remember from previous entries in the MCU Sunday series, had been in consideration for several other superheroes, but the roles ended up going to others.  He finally succeeded in getting his own mark on the MCU Universe here by playing Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord  ("Who...?" is the oft repeated response when he says that.  Apparently Snake Plissken he is not... Nobody knows who he is.)

Zoe Saldana MIGHT be familiar (if it wasn't for that green skin I might have recognized her right away.) She was in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film. 

Additionally. if you like a variety of movies, one of the more familiar faces is Michael Rooker, an actor who had memorable roles in several movies on my list of favorites: Eight Men Out, Mississippi Burning and JFK , among others.

One of the best parts of the film, for me, is the soundtrack.  There are several songs from the 70's that crop up in the film (and this is established by the fact that Peter Quill has a mix tape that he has apparently had ever since he was a kid.)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014):

(Note: retroactively because the sequels have been named "Vol. 2" and "Vol. 3", this film as been given the appellation of "Vol. 1", but it was originally released without that.)

On Earth in 1988, a young boy watches his mother die. Before she dies she gives him a mixtape. He runs outside to cry and is abducted by aliens. What are the Ravagers? (Not exactly a good time, but be that as it may).

It turns out that the creatures who abducted him are known as the Ravagers.  What are the Ravagers?  Apparently a race of thieves for hire.  Peter is shown next trying to retrieve a mysterious orb.  He approaches the orb while playing a mixtape he has brought with him from his past (playing "Come and Get Your Love", which for the past few years I thought he played "Hooked on a Feeling" in this scene, but that song comes later). 

But he isn't the only one showing interest in the object, as just as he has freed the orb from it's secure location a band of others show up to try to take it from him.  (There is no honor among thieves... more's the pity.)

Peter of course succeeds in being the one to leave the planet with the orb.  He takes it to Xandar, where a collector has hired him to retrieve it.  But it turns out when the collector finds out who is also looking for the orb, Ronan, he backs out of the deal.

Ronan has sent a mercenary Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve the orb.  Also in the mix are Rocket (Bradley Cooper), a cybernetically enhanced racoon (Rocket Racoon?  What is this "Rocky and Bullwinkle"?) and his companion, Groot (Vin Diesel) an animated tree creature.

Where is Stan Lee? While Rocket and Groot search for Peter, Rocket makes some disparaging remarks about the inhabitants of Xandar.  One of them is an old man hitting on a woman about 1/3 his age.

A fight ensues over the orb as each tries to gain possession.  The end result however is that all of them are arrested and sent to prison. Where none of them are very well liked... Especially Gamora, whom it seems, was involved in the death of one of the other prisoner's significant other (Dave Bautista as Drax).

Although nearly every prisoner in the facility wants to see Gamora dead, Quill convinces Drax that the true enemy is Ronan himself and they can succeed if they escape the prison.  With the help of escape whiz Rocket. the crew manage to initiate a jailbreak.  But not without Quill's treasured mixtape.... (Is there something about that mixtape that is key?  It remains to be seen...) The person who has his tape is playing "Escape".  Have I said how much I love Quill's choices for a mixtape?)

So everybody is after this Orb.  Including, as we see, a character revealed to be known as Thanos, who has even Ronan under his thumb.  Thanos really, really, really wants that Orb... And threatens Ronan with a severe demise if he doesn't retrieve it.

Meanwhile back on the escape ship, Quill's own private ship, the disparate group of renegades have to TRY to learn to work together if they are going to succeed in their mission. The group not only includes Quill and Gamora and Rocket and Groot, but Drax has gone along for the ride.  Because Drax's mission is to kill Ronan because Ronan was instrumental in the deaths of members of his family.

The crew end up going to a place called "Knowhere (which is essentially, according to Gamora, the "severed head of an ancient celestial being: (Whoa).  (David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" plays as they approach.)

We find that Gamora is not Thanos' daughter as Quill thought. Thanos killed her parents.  And she asks Quill about his mixtape, why he would risk his life for it.  He reveals that it was the gift of his mother (Remember the first scene of the film?  Maybe there isn't all that much power in the tape after all...)

We meet The Collector (Benecio del Toro), the person of interest in the Orb.  And the tantalizing revelation from him that the Orb is actually one of the Infinity Stones that where  around since the beginning of time.  And the power that each Infinity Stone has. 

When Ronan gets possession of the Orb, which he now knows has an Infinity Stone, he decides to keep it for himself rather than turn it over to Thanos.  (Probably not the best decision he ever made, but that is to be seen.)

Now our heroes have to finally find some way to band together to stop Ronan from destroying the galaxy with his new found power through the Infinity Stone. And with the help of Yondu and the Ravagers, they have a chance to succeed.  And save Xandar, which wants Quill back in custody, so only Quill's sense of honor spurs him on.

The end result of course is the bad guys are defeated (surprise, surprise). But the future of the crew is now set.  These are our new heroes.  The GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.  And the immediate future of the Infinity Stone is now in the hands of Xandar and the Nova Corps (at least for now).

And the Credits Roll:  At the end, the Collector sits among his ruins.  We get introduced to a couple of other (future?) characters; Cosmo an astronaut dog,, and Howard the Duck. Note Howard the Duck had been a movie endeavor all it's own back in the 80's, but this one looks to be a bit more like the comic book version which gives one a bit of hope. 

As a final footnote:  My memory of this one is going to see it in the theater with someone other than my sister (or alone, which was my usual way of seeing movies).   That woman who has since passed on is a fond memory, and I dedicate this post to her.

Time to fire up the jets on the old Plymouth and blast off to worlds unknown.  Drive safely folks.

Quiggy