Guardians of the Galaxy - The Marvel Revival?

It was a summer blockbuster from last year, but it has taken me quite a long time to get around to seeing Guardians of the Galaxy, the Marvel action adventure that pits a disparate band of ne'er-do-wells against some sort of pan-galactic terrorist intent on using the Maguffin of Doom to enslave / destroy the universe.  Classic.  The film combines action, a simple and effective story, good special effects, witty asides and most importantly of all - a sense of fun.  It does this very well, making use of an entertaining ensemble cast to provide 2 hours of entertainment that - though hardly genre-defining or boundary-breaking - is seldom seen these days in superhero action genre that's packed with far too much pain, anger and portents of doom.

The plot for Guardians of the Galaxy is simplicity itself.  Chris Pratt plays Peter Quill, literally the most 'everyman' of all men as a human abducted from Earth as a child who has now grown up to be a small-time space adventurer / good-hearted pirate in a galaxy full of no two creatures that seem to be of the same species (erm - Star Wars universe?).  When he comes into the possession of an "orb of power" that's wanted by arch-villain Ronan, he finds himself pursued by one of Ronan's reformed minions and a cartoon rat version of Han Solo with his very own Chewbacca Ent.  Eventually they decide that the fate of the galaxy is more important then the monetary value of this orb, and decide to band together to defeat Ronan before he can unleash its power.  Cue badass kung-fu moves, weird space ships, even weirder weapons, bad 80s music and a tone that from the opening credits has its tongue wedged into its cheek.

Now this isn't exactly the rocket science of story-telling, but it's effective and showcases what is possible with the superhero action genre when it remembers that it's possible to enjoy yourself watching a film.  It's a film that gets very close to ripping Star Wars off completely, but Star Wars itself was a product of a coming together of a variety of old stories, tropes and action adventure serials that George Lucas commonly cites when talking about his inspirations  So I think we can let Guardians of the Galaxy off there.  And what's wrong with something fresh and new that channels the sense of adventure and simple story-telling of the original Star Wars?  It makes you remember why you loved Star Wars in the first place!

I may offer up a small criticism?  Obviously this is not a film that's meant to be taken seriously but I do get annoyed by the stereotypical use of genders in the film.  Our heroes are all meant to be rogues, but it is constantly Zoe Saldana's character Gamora who provides the heart of the gang, reminding us that people need to be saved and "wont someone please think of the children?!" (she never says this - but you get the point).  She is introduced to us as a rebel who say her family killed at Ronan's hands, so it would have been nice for her to have a slightly harder exterior - maybe a bit like Anne Hathaway's Catwoman in the recent Batman series.  Also the film currently scores over 8 on IMDB, which is way too high.  Yes Guardians of the Galaxy might be a lot of fun, but it definitely isn't Casablanca.

If Marvel can make films like this then why do they need to persist with reboots, rehashes and repeats of stories, characters and mythologies that have been rinsed to death and thousand times before?  The answer is of course money, and the fact that yet another reboot of the Spiderman franchise generates more buzz and ultimately more cash than taking a chance on something new and interesting.  The commercial success of Guardians of the Galaxy is beyond question though, and so I expect to now see an entire Guardians of the Galaxy franchise that balloons out of control. With a bit of luck though it will encourage Marvel to take a chance on more stuff like this in the future.