Guardians of the Galaxy

 

After spending a few months perfecting my vocal performance of Hooked on a Feeling Guardians of the Galaxy finally arrived in the cinema.  A convincing trailer, general Marvel excitement and internet hype meant that Guardians was always going to be one of the most anticipated films of the summer.

Would it deliver?

PLOT:  Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is taken from earth as a young boy and grows up to be a thief working for Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker).  Quill steals a mysterious orb and is hunted by half the galaxy.  After a street brawl Peter, Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) are all sent to prison where they meet the already incarcerated Drax (Dave Bautista).  The inmates work together to escape and are chased across the galaxy by Ronin the Excuser (Lee Pace) and Yondu who has placed a bounty on Han’s Peter’s head.  Quill and the others must learn to trust each other and work together to save the galaxy.  END PLOT

Guardians of the Galaxy marks the first time that I have gone into a Marvel film completely blind.  I had no prior knowledge of the characters or the events which unfolded and I spent the vast majority of the film thinking that Nova Prime was a planet and not Glenn Close. 

Not a planet since 1947.

 

As the film was introducing the unknown it was essential to have a strong script as there were a lot of new characters and relationships which needed to be set up in a relevantly short space of time.  The plot was fine but there were segments which were very clunky and towards the end of the film a throwaway line involving Peter’s father made the entire cinema exclaim “huh?” in unison.  The story felt familiar and on occasions there were feelings of déjà vu but any issues were forgotten whenever the five Guardians were on screen as their chemistry sizzled and the film became a pleasure to watch.

The tone throughout was fun although some of the humour did miss the mark.  There were some very decent dramatic scenes and I was surprised that the big emotional moments came from Rocket and the loud laughs from Drax and his literal understanding of the English language.  It was nice to see that the team offered more than the two minute trailer suggested.

The Guardians of the Galaxy introduced a brand new cast of actors to the Marvel Cinema Club and they did a fine job of it.  Chris Pratt was very likeable as Peter Quill and grew into his role as group leader with ease.  Zoe Saldana has been typecast in this role for years but when she does it so well is there really any reason to complain?  Former WWE star Dave Bautista was much more entertaining than expected however it was Bradley Cooper’s Rocket and Groot who stole the show.  Overall the main players were very well cast but with all ensemble pieces there is always a weak link and with Guardians it is Lee Pace who claims that award.  Pace got the balance between a grandiose performance and over acting like hell very wrong.

Bromance of the year: 2014

Guardians of the Galaxy gave us some more Thanos (Josh Brolin) who was teased at the end of The Avengers.  I hope I am forgiven when I say that I really don’t know where the Thanos storyline is going or what the significance of the character is.  I am not asking either; I am happy enough to let Marvel play it out on screen.  We also got more time with Benicio Del Toro’s character, the Collector, but this added absolutely nothing to the film other than a room filled with head nods to fans of various comics.

My biggest complaint about the film was the proclamation during the closing credits that the “Guardians of the Galaxy will return”.  Everyone knew before the film was released that there would be a sequel and I have no problem with this at all.  I just don’t want Marvel to cross the line from confident into cocky filmmaking.  A little bit of humility goes a long way.

The Guardians of the Galaxy successfully expanded the Marvel Universe and gave the audience exactly what it wanted – a great time.  It gets 8/10.  Now the Guardians have been established the next instalment can motor on without as many introductions.  I have already saved the date in my diary.

Mundane Rambling will return to review Guardians of the Galaxy two.

Lincoln

 

Oscar Season is well underway but Lincoln was the film that I cared about the least.  It was only after watching a few tv spots that I began to take an interest.

It has now got to the stage that I don’t feel comfortable writing a review without issuing some sort of disclaimer.  It will come as a surprise to no one that I have no idea how historically accurate Lincoln is and staying true to myself I am not inclined to partake in any research before writing this blog. 

PLOT:  During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) begins a campaign to pass the 13^th Amendment and abolish slavery.  Lincoln’s team are in a race against time to gain the votes to have the Amendment passed before the war ends.  END PLOT

I have watched the first four seasons of The West Wing often enough to know that political drama is not only exciting but also down right stressful.  Lincoln was neither.

Despite all the political manoeuvring there was no tension or sense of urgency and in a film that clocks in at a mammoth 150mins (IMDB) this is not a good thing.  By the time the Amendment was passed I was more than ready for the film to be over. 

The script glossed over the 13^th Amendment, the Democratic Party, the Civil War and slavery to the extent that it was no deeper than – North/Lincoln = Good. South/Democratic = Bad.

If Sorkin had written the script both parties would have put forth eloquent arguments before the Amendment was passed.  There is no real political debate but there are numerous speeches – Tommy Lee Jones gets one and the rest involve Lincoln sauntering into various rooms to monologue at whatever poor sod who happened to be there.

The storytelling didn’t impress me but I went to Lincoln to see if all the fuss over Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance was justified.  There is no denying Daniel Day-Lewis' acting abilities and his performance as Abraham Lincoln was absolutely amazing.   

The supporting cast of Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader and Lee Pace are all very capable but Lincoln is Daniel Day-Lewis’ film.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt popped up in a small and underdeveloped role as Lincoln’s son but the scenes with Lincoln’s sons and wife (Sally Fields) added unnecessary length to an already bloated running time.

The sets, costumes and cinematography were all stunning but in Lincoln the most interesting thing is always Daniel Day-Lewis. 

Lincoln is too long, slow and at times verges on boring but it is worth a look if only to watch Daniel Day-Lewis.  It gets a 6/10 but will never be watched again.  I can't sum the film up any deeper than Daniel Day Lewis = Good. Lincoln = Bad.

Breaking Dawn: Part 2

I promise you that I am not a secret fan of the Twilight Saga.  I read the first book and watched the first three films under extreme duress.  I skipped Breaking Dawn: Part 1 as even the idea of going to the cinema to make fun of it felt like too much effort.  I will be honest though – curiosity did get the better of me.

PART 1 RECAP:  Bella had a kid and is now a vampire END PART 1 RECAP

PART 2 PLOT:  Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) are happily married and raising their hideously named child Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy).  Jacob (Taylor Lautner) appears to have moved into the Cullen residence and has fallen deeply in love with a creepy CGI baby.  The Volturi find out about the child, which they believe to be immortal, and set off to Forks to kill the Cullen family.  Jacob takes his clothes off for no reason while Edward and Bella rally the covens and prepare to make one last stand.  END PART 2 PLOT

The Twilight Saga isn’t known for in depth plotting and Breaking Dawn: Part 2 is certainly not the exception to the rule as absolutely nothing happens.  The first ninety minutes focuses on groups of vampires sitting around discussing what may/may not happen in the final thirty minutes of the film.  Nothing happens in the slightest yet, despite being just shy of two hours long, I didn’t feel the time slip by.

It is very easy to hate the Twilight series because of the non-performance of Kristen Stewart and her lack of chemistry with Robert Pattinson.  As Breaking Dawn: Part 2 has a large cast there were very few scenes which featured the two leads alone.  I was thankful for this as those scenes are either tedious or cringe-worthy but always boring.  I have no love for Stewart or Pattinson’s performances in the Twilight films and I simply don’t care about Bella and Edward as characters. 

The Cullens all returned and proved that while they are fun to watch none of them are particularly talented actors.  They should all be grateful that they have their looks. 

The arrival of the worldwide covens was handled fairly well although I was concerned to see that the Irish contingent flew in from the late 1800’s. I would like to point out that we do not wear dowdy wool spun dresses and look as though we have just finished a hard days work picking spuds.  It is easy to make fun but I can’t complain too much about the Irish, Brazilian or Middle Eastern covens as I wasn’t expecting anything other than clichéd characterisation.

The newcomers (or at least new to me) were all great fun with Lee Pace (Garrett) being the most enjoyable of the lot.  A Lee Pace film would have been more interesting.

Over on the dark side we have Michael Sheen leading the Volturi.  I wouldn’t do Sheen the disservice of accusing him of showing up for the pay cheque as he was hamming it up nicely and clearly having a ball.  It normally annoys me when actors are having more fun than I am but Sheen got away with it!

It is always nice to see Maggie Grace and it was enjoyable watching the brilliantly evil Dakota Fanning get what she deserved during the battle.

On the human side we have the long suffering Billy Burke as Bella’s father.  Poor Burke looks typically confused and his acceptance of the creepy CGI baby and the rapidly growing child was oddly amusing.  The CGI baby was replaced by Mackenzie Foy who was not as creepy.

I will admit that the casting of Joe Anderson was the reason for my curiosity.  It was not worth it as he appeared in a few scenes to bitch about being there and then left without saying goodbye.  I suspect that quite a few of poor Joe's scenes ended up on the cutting room floor but I will never watch the dvd to find out.

The final Act was the big battle which was hinted at in the (decent) trailer.  The battle sequence was fairly impressive although the Twilight Saga has never had strong effects which, given the amount of money each film makes, shows just how little the filmmakers care about making these films respectable.

The only compliment I can give Breaking Dawn Part 2 is that it wasn’t bad.  It caught my attention for two hours and I didn’t laugh too obnoxiously at the unintentionally amusing parts so I will give it a 5.5/10.  I will hear arguments for 6/10.

In terms of the franchise Breaking Dawn: Part 2 is easily the best of the lot but this is the equivalent of saying gonorrhoea is the best of all sexually transmitted diseases. 

Thank the gods it is finally over.