So, I did finally get out to see Guardians of the Galaxy. And I enjoyed it lots, good, old-fashioned, goofy/awesome space opera stuff that it is. It did maybe leave me feeling a little off-balance at the beginning, because, boy, does it just drop you into its universe without giving you much of a chance to get acclimated. Although I suppose that might be less true for people who, unlike me, are already familiar with the comics. And it's better than bogging everything down in tons of tedious exposition, anyway, so I'm not really complaining.
But, yeah, mostly it was great fun, with enough going on that I'm sure I could easily watch it again without being bored. Whether I will or not, I don't know -- so many DVDs, so little time! -- but I'm already looking forward to the sequel. Also (among many other things) it kept giving me Farscape flashbacks, which is never a bad thing. Seriously, Peter Quill and John Crichton? Tell me those guys aren't long-lost cousins!
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People are pointing out similarities between it and everything under the sun. (I've heard Star Wars and Firefly most often.) Which because, yeah, ragtag bunch of losers/criminals/misfits who come together to save the day? Not super original. Wasn't when Star Wars and Firefly (or Farscape) did it either, actually. Doesn't make any of them, including GotG any less enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't think anyone's too familiar with the comics. This version, with no real relation to the previous one, has only be around since 2008.
Yeah, the Star Wars and Firefly parallels are also very obvious. And, no, I don't think it's a bad thing. It's absolutely one big collection of tropes that are familiar from long traditions of SF and action-adventure storytelling, but -- also like Farscape -- it feels to me like it's deliberately having fun with those elements, for an audience it fully expects to be familiar with them. (I love the fact that Quill basically points out that the McGuffin is a McGuffin, complete with movie references.) It feels to me like a fun-romp homage to the entire history of TV and movie space opera, rather than a tired retread of tired ideas, and I'm totally on board with that. It helps, of course, that Ragtag Band of Criminal Misfits in Space is a formula I, personally, never get tired of.
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