GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (US - 2014) Directed by James Gunn. Written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman. Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly, Gregg Henry, Peter Serafinowicz, Christopher Fairbank, Sean Gunn, Tomas Arana, Krystian Godlewski, Laura Haddock, Wyatt Oleff, Alexis Denisof, Ralph Ineson. (PG-13, 121 mins)
In keeping with the recent tradition of Marvel installments being tailored to the stylings of their directors--Shane Black's IRON MAN 3 and Anthony & Joe Russo's CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER--James Gunn fashions GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY as very much his own film in the guise of a Marvel production and the results are fantastic. Starting his career by scripting Troma's TROMEO & JULIET (1996), Gunn moved on to Hollywood and penned the two SCOOBY-DOO movies before making a name for himself by writing Zack Snyder's surprisingly good 2004 remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD. That got Gunn his first feature directing gig, 2006's tragically underappreciated and wonderfully oozy and slimy SLITHER. Never the most prolific of writers or directors, Gunn resurfaced five years later with the dark-humored indie SUPER and again with a segment in last year's awful MOVIE 43. Gunn seems an unlikely choice for Marvel, but really, it's that kind of outside-the-box thinking--turning IRON MAN 3 into a smartass Shane Black movie or CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER into the superhero version of a '70s paranoia thriller--that's made much of their recent run of films so successful. As someone who's not a comic book guy, I take these kinds of films at face value for what they are in and of themselves, not where they fit in the Marvel universe or how faithful they are or whatever. That said, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is the best Marvel movie I've seen. It's the best movie of the summer. And it may very well be the STAR WARS of its generation, a film that helps shape a childhood with its spectacle and imagination. Yeah...it's that good.
Moviegoers of a certain age--I'm 41--look back fondly on the films of their youth, sometimes inducing sentimentality that's not really warranted. Let's face it, folks: not every '80s movie is a "classic." But to be someone who saw the STAR WARS movies, and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, and E.T., and a lot of those timeless blockbusters in theaters, on their first runs when they were kids--it shaped you. You don't forget the first time you experience those movies. Seen-it-all-cineastes who have a sort of multiplex misanthropia--I include myself in that category--often sound like bitter old men lamenting how today's special effects-heavy blockbusters just aren't like they used to be. People still talk about those older movies today. Who's going to be talking about the fourth TRANSFORMERS movie or the second AMAZING SPIDER-MAN three decades from now? My point is this: watching GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY took me back to that time in a way that no film in recent memory has. It's a genuinely great crowd-pleaser of the classic sort: it's clever, it's funny, it's filled with action, and it's made with affection. This wasn't a job for Gunn--it was a labor of love. You can feel it in every scene. You can see a committed cast rallying behind their director, believing in his vision. Today's blockbusters have lost touch with that sense of commitment, and people have grown accustomed to the clock-punching soullessness and predictability of most of them and continue to see them out of...obligation? I'm not aware of a single person who was enthused about THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 a few months back, and yet it still grossed $200 million in the US. Enough people flocked to TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION for it to gross nearly $1 billion worldwide so far, but has anyone really enjoyed it? With any luck, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY will remind moviegoers of how things used to be and how they still should be, but you can't help but wonder if today's audiences have become so conditioned to accept mediocrity that they'll fail to appreciate what Gunn has accomplished here.
In a sequence that's an obvious nod to the opening of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, mercenary Ravager Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), who's given himself the name "Star Lord," acquires a mysterious orb for blue-skinned Ravager leader Yondu (Michael Rooker). Said orb is also desired by Kree supervillain Ronan (Lee Pace), working in the employ of the feared Thanos (voiced by an uncredited Josh Brolin). Ronan dispatches Thanos' daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to intercept the orb. Quill and Gamora have an epic scuffle that ends up involving bounty hunter Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a cynical, genetically-altered raccoon with anger management issues, and his plant/muscle Groot (voiced and motion-captured by Vin Diesel), a tree whose vocabulary is limited to "I am Groot." All four are rounded up and sentenced to The Kyln, a space prison, where they meet vengeance-obsessed and metaphor-impaired Drax (Dave Bautista), whose family was killed by Ronan. The quintet of outcasts and misfits form a classic unholy alliance as they very slowly learn to trust one another, taking on Ronan's forces and working to keep the orb--which has the power to destroy worlds--out of the hands of both Ronan and the greedy but good-natured Yondu, and returned to the galactic leader Nova Prime (Glenn Close), where it belongs.
Filled with nods to Lucas and Spielberg, and some blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos (in addition to the requisite Stan Lee appearance, you'll also spot Troma chief Lloyd Kaufman and Gunn pal Nathan Fillion, and stick around through the end credits for the best one), GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is the summer movie to finally remind everyone what a summer movie should be. Funny without being snarky, using hit '70s singles without being ironic, and demonstrating some sincerely heartfelt affection for its characters, the film sends up the superhero/comic book genre while recalling the spirit of wonder and adventure that captivated moviegoers when STAR WARS became the phenomenon that not even 20th Century Fox was expecting. Laugh-out-loud funny but never slapsticky, GUARDIANS succeeds in working for both children and grown-up audiences (listen to all the adults in the theater laugh when Gamora tells Quill his ship his filthy and he says under his breath, "She has no idea...if I had a blacklight, this place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting"). Even the referential bits--so many films today think that just making the reference is good enough--are thoughtful and legitimately creative and funny: it's one thing to have the requisite "ragtag group of badasses walking in slo-mo" shot set to a classic rock tune (in this case, The Runaways' "Cherry Bomb"), but Gunn's take on it has Gamora yawning and Rocket adjusting his nutsack. The leads are perfectly cast, Pratt is a smartass without being grating, and Cooper's vocal delivery of the hard-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside Rocket is spot-on (Gunn's brother Sean filled in as Rocket during filming to provide sight-lines and a model for the actors to look at; similarly, Krystian Godlewski was the surrogate Groot on-set until the effects were completed and Diesel's motion capture work was CGI'd in). Everyone else, from the supporting actors on down--even Gunn regular Gregg Henry--gets a moment to shine, and the film is so good that you don't even mind that the great Djimon Hounsou is saddled with a stock henchman role when he could've made a terrific Ronan himself.
Hollywood needs to take note. The summer blockbuster has lost its way. The budgets are too big and the results are too bland. Too much blurry CGI and too much shaky-cam. A movie needs to gross $200 million before it's not considered a "flop." And regardless of how popular it is, it's still out of theaters in three weeks. Remember when movies played at first-run theaters for months? GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and James Gunn are like curious visitors from another time and another place, arriving just in time to save the summer blockbuster from itself. You won't see a more infectiously fun, witty, and smart "big" movie this summer, and it's the best time I've had at the multiplex all year.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (US - 2014) Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp, Jenny Agutter, Toby Jones, Hayley Atwell, Maximiliano Hernandez, Callan Mulvey, Garry Shandling, Chin Han, Georges St-Pierre, Salvator Xuereb. (PG-13, 136 mins)
Around the time Joss Whedon got the AVENGERS gig, there seemed to be a conscious effort by Marvel to bring some outside-the-box personality to the proceedings while still meeting the demand for intense action and grandiose visual effects. Shane Black brought his patented LETHAL WEAPON smartassery to IRON MAN 3 while semi-regular GAME OF THRONES director Alan Taylor fashioned an appropriately darker THOR: THE DARK WORLD. One could argue that the trend started before Whedon, as CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER director Joe Johnston utilized some of the same WWII-set atmosphere way back in 1990's THE ROCKETEER. For the sequel, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, the sibling directing team of Anthony and Joe Russo seem as unlikely a choice as you can conceive. Best known for directing episodes of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and COMMUNITY, the pair hadn't made a film since the 2006 comedy YOU, ME AND DUPREE but here reveal themselves to be secret '70s post-Watergate political paranoia/conspiracy fans. The spirit of Alan J. Pakula seems to permeate THE WINTER SOLDIER, and it's an interesting approach that keeps things fresh and exciting. Does the world need another run-of-the-mill superhero movie? Most of these films are entertaining on their own, but I've found that even the ones I really like--SPIDER-MAN 2, IRON MAN and THE AVENGERS, for instance--I never feel compelled to own or even revisit (Christopher Nolan's DARK KNIGHT trilogy being an exception). Letting the filmmakers bring their own style or ambitions to these films gives them something more tangible than just wall-to-wall CGI. I mean, be honest--it made a ton of money, but how many people really like IRON MAN 2?
The Russo brothers and returning screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely open the film in the present day, two years after the events of THE AVENGERS. Steve Rogers/Cap (Chris Evans) is still adjusting to the modern world, regularly updating his list of things to check out ("See ROCKY (ROCKY II?)" S.H.I.E.L.D. head agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) informs Rogers of Project Insight, a secret operation involving three helicarriers routed to various spy satellites around the globe for the purpose of pre-emptively halting terror threats. After he receives a flash drive from Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Fury is unable to access the encrypted data and is soon ambushed by mysterious agents posing as cops. Meanwhile, Rogers incurs the wrath of top-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. official Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), who believes he's up to something with Fury. Soon, Rogers, Romanoff, and Sam Wilson/The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) find themselves on the run after uncovering information about HYDRA, a rogue unit operating within and against S.H.I.E.L.D., and their top assassin is the unstoppable Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), whose true identity--not a surprise to Marvel fans--makes him closer to Cap than the hero realizes.
I enjoyed Johnston's THE FIRST AVENGER but found it generally forgettable despite the wonderful WWII-era production design. But this is a different story. One of the best films in the Marvel canon, THE WINTER SOLDIER is a much darker work, jettisoning the 1940s idealism for a strong sense of modern cynicism. There's a rampant mistrust of government and its abuses of power throughout, and while Cap decries the measures S.H.I.E.L.D. is taking in the name of protecting the people, Fury reminds him that the Greatest Generation has its own issues and shouldn't be pointing fingers. Also note how Pierce informs Cap that "building a better world sometimes means tearing the old one down." There's much humor throughout, with Rogers and Romanoff frequently coming off like a pair of ballbusting partners in a cop buddy movie, and Cap looking at another night in by explaining "All the guys in my barbershop quartet are dead," and nods and inside jokes (including a quick reference to Jackson's Jules Winnfield from PULP FICTION). But where THE WINTER SOLDIER really succeeds is not with its title-sharing villain (Stan is fine, but he's really a secondary bad guy), but with its vividly 1970s atmosphere--not in terms of the look, obviously, but in the style. It plays a lot like a Marvel superhero version of THE PARALLAX VIEW, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, or ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (watch the tense scene where Rogers boards an increasingly crowded elevator and realizes he's a target), and one of the key elements is the inspired and almost subversive casting of Redford as the primary villain. Redford acts infrequently these days, and never in huge films of this sort, but seeing him play the kind of callous, duplicitious, well-connected string-puller that his characters used to face decades ago is a treat for fans of the screen legend. Redford's casting isn't mandatory for the film to work, but it adds a clever layer to the proceedings (had he turned it down, I can picture Warren Beatty serving the same function), and fortunately, the Russos don't let him down.
While the conspiracy elements inevitably take a back seat to non-stop CGI action in the latter half, it's generally convincing and well-handled. Some of the up-close fight scenes have a too-dizzying shaky-cam element to them, but it's not too overwhelming and it makes up a small percentage of the film. In keeping with the '70s aesthetic, many of the action scenes and a couple of car chases are handled, for the most part, practically, thanks to second-unit director and veteran stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos, who cut his teeth working on B-movies by the likes of William Lustig (MANIAC) back in the '80s. Razatos has done second-unit work for a number of CGI-heavy action films in recent years, like THE EXPENDABLES and last two FAST & FURIOUS entries, but the Russos use him for his old-school skills here, and he does some exemplary work. Given my lukewarm response to THE FIRST AVENGER and my general one-and-done sentiments when it comes to watching most of these things, I found THE WINTER SOLDIER to be a cut above the norm. It's a superhero film with a dark, gritty streak, and its unusual fusion of comic book action and cynical conspiracy thriller makes it an unpredictable spring surprise at the multiplex.
Directed by Marc Webb. Written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves. Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Irrfan Khan, C. Thomas Howell. (PG-13, 137 mins)
Rebooting the SPIDER-MAN franchise just ten years after it began and five years after the last installment, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN exists only so Sony could hold on to the rights and not lose them to Marvel's deal with Disney. To its credit, the film has some good elements and is not overtly cynical in its execution, but really, it only exists as a contractual clause obligation. Director Marc Webb (500 DAYS OF SUMMER, and music videos by No Doubt, Green Day, and 3 Doors Down) and screenwriters James Vanderbilt (ZODIAC), Alvin Sargent (SPIDER-MAN 2, SPIDER-MAN 3), and Steve Kloves (several HARRY POTTER screenplays) hit all the expected building blocks of Spidey's origins, often glossing over them in a way that suggests even they know how familiar we are with the whole thing, because really, we just saw it, and it's still on TV all the time. To put it another way, as I've gotten older, I've seen a number of films from my childhood remade, but a kid who saw Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN in theaters when he was five still isn't old enough to drive to the theater to see the reboot. And we also need to retire the term "reboot," since it's no longer relevant. BATMAN BEGINS was a reboot. CASINO ROYALE was a reboot. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is a $215 million legal document.
Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Having said that, it has a lot of positives. Fashioning a Spidey for Generation Skinny Jeans, Andrew Garfield (THE SOCIAL NETWORK) turns in a believable, natural performance as outcast Peter Parker. There's a bit more of a focus on the disappearance of Peter's parents (Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz) and his being raised by Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field), but after that, Webb and the screenwriters are just running down a checklist: Peter getting into Oscorp to meet his dad's old colleague, the one-armed Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans); being bitten by a radioactive spider; discovering and controlling his superhero powers; falling for classmate Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), who's an intern at Oscorp; Peter inadvertantly causing Uncle Ben to get killed in the wrong place at the wrong time, etc. Dr. Connors is experimenting with a reptilian regeneration hormone for those with missing limbs, and suffers tragic consequences when he tests the drug on himself, bringing out his dark side and transforming him into the rampaging Lizard.
Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy
Garfield, despite playing a high-school student at 28, is a good Peter/Spidey, but once the mayhem starts, it's all CGI and video-gamey set pieces. When Sheen's Uncle Ben exits the film, so does the warmth and humanity, especially since you don't see much of Field's Aunt May afterwards (Sheen and Field are both superb here). Through no fault of Ifans, Connors/The Lizard is a dull, one-dimensional villain that's just a retread of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin from SPIDER-MAN and Alfred Molina's Doc Ock from SPIDER-MAN 2. Even the always-charming Stone is rendered somewhat inert here. She doesn't even seem shocked by Peter's revelation that he's Spider-Man. There's also supporting performances by Denis Leary as Gwen's police captain father, Irrfan Khan (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE), and even a rare big-screen C. Thomas Howell sighting (in addition to the usual Stan Lee cameo), but actors aren't really even important in films like this. There's a few impressively-done action sequences and some nice bits of humor, but some of it falls flat, especially Spidey's Ratso Rizzo-ish "I'm swingin' here!" and his taunting "Somebody's been a bad lizard!"
Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors, soon to become The Lizard
Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May
It basically boils down to there being no reason beyond rights necessities for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN to exist. It's reasonably entertaining and nothing about it is bad, but nothing's particularly great, either. It's big, loud, colorful, and generally fast (even if it overstays its welcome a tad at a bloated 137 minutes), and hits as much as it misses. It'll make a ton of money and there'll be two sequels, and in 2022, another "reboot," if we're still using that term by then. It's OK, it's watchable, but you've seen it all before and there's just nothing here to really get excited about it. The biggest achievement of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is that it took me to previously unforeseen levels of complete and utter ambivalence. (2D version seen)
Written and directed by Joss Whedon. Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Stellan Skarsgard, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Gwyneth Paltrow, Powers Boothe, Jenny Agutter, Jerzy Skolimowski, Harry Dean Stanton, Alexis Denisof. (PG-13, 141 mins)
The kickoff to the summer movie season is a wet dream from geek god Joss Whedon, on quite a roll with this and THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. I should mention up front that I've never been a comic book guy, I don't know the extent of everyone's backstory and the best I can do is generally keep Marvel and DC characters in their right camp. I have no allegiance to Stan Lee. I have no opinion on how much Jack Kirby got screwed. Perhaps ignorance is bliss, but I'm just here to see the movie. And it's a blast from start to finish.
Ruffalo and Downey
Though perfectly fine as a stand-alone film, THE AVENGERS ties together plot threads from various big-screen Marvel predecessors. S.H.I.E.L.D. is in possession of the Tesseract, an energy source of unknown potential, in an underground facility raided by THOR villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Loki casts a spell on master archer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard, also returning from THOR) and abducts them to take part in his evil plans of universal domination. S.H.I.E.L.D. chief Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) assemble the Avengers: Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). They're eventually joined by Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who comes from Asgard in search of Loki.
Tom Hiddleston as the evil Loki
THE AVENGERS is a pretty hard movie to dislike. It gives you everything you'd want in a great big-budget summer movie: terrific action, solid performances, and top-notch visual effects. Even the CGI'd Hulk is a huge improvement over its past big-screen incarnations, where it essentially looked like Shrek. The Hulk actually more or less steals the movie (especially when Captain America is giving complex directions to everyone and when he finally gets to the Hulk, simply says "Smash!"). Whedon incorporates much humor into THE AVENGERS (the Galaga bit is hilarious), but is careful to never let it get silly. Whether it's one of many quotable one-liners ("He's adopted" or "Phil? His first name is Agent", or Stark calling Thor "Point Break" and Hawkeye "Legolas") or the virtually non-stop action, THE AVENGERS is the kind of entertainment where even people like myself who aren't particularly into the comics just have a big stupid grin on their faces for the duration. Once the plot is set-up and everything is in place, a good chunk of the film (over half) is basically just two really long action sequences: the attack on S.H.I.E.L.D. by Loki's Chitauri accomplices, and later, their attack on Manhattan, which finally unites the bickering Avengers in truly spectacular fashion. All of the Marvel vets have their parts down perfectly, but really, Ruffalo is the big surprise here with a character that's been problematic, to say the least, as no one really likes either previous big-screen HULK attempt. Ruffalo finds just the right mannerisms and delivery to make Banner a credible, sympathetic character, and easily the best interpretation of Banner since Bill Bixby on the late '70s/early '80s TV series THE INCREDIBLE HULK.
There's not much else to say that hasn't already been said. I've enjoyed recent Marvel films like IRON MAN (probably the best until now), CAPTAIN AMERICA, and THOR (IRON MAN 2...not so much), but have never really felt a need to revisit them. THE AVENGERS, even more so than IRON MAN, really gets it right and for once, I can't wait to see it again. Just terrific fun all around. (Seen in regular version, because I just don't go for post-conversion 3-D)
