More like, Guardians of the Good-axy

Dumb science fiction done well

Last night I walked to my local single screen theater, bought a pint of pale ale, and settled in to watch what was probably the best sci-fi action flick I’ve seen in years. Maybe even in… decades? It is that hard to think of a better one.

First, let me be clear about a personal quirk. For me there are essentially two genres of science fiction. The first of these is “serious scifi,” whose exemplars include classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Contact, and very probably last year’s Her. “Serious scifi” movies don’t make many concessions to genre, and they’re usually regarded as excellent on their own terms.

The second class of films are something I might call “action scifi,” or if I was feeling less charitable on that day — “dumb scifi.” Dumb scifi is, well, dumb. It doesn’t raise big questions, and it definitely won’t leave you with any philosophical nuggets to chew on. And there will probably be lots of lasers and shooting and bad guys. But just because dumb scifi is dumb doesn’t mean it can’t be good.

I’m hear to tell you that Guardians of the Galaxy is good dumb scifi.

Some things Guardians gets right are its sense of style, and its sense of place. It handles the “big, weird galaxy” genre trope with an enthusiasm I probably haven’t seen since the original Star Wars trilogy. It honest to god just perfectly feels like old school pulp space opera fiction — almost to the point where it starts to collide with what contemporary audiences expect from a space scifi setting. I mean there is straight up a planet named “Xandar.” Tell me that isn’t quaint. And even the vehicle designs are retro. The Big Bad Guy’s ship evokes familiar 1970's brutalist star ship design, while the protagonist’s ship looks like it was ripped right out of a late 80's or early 90's arcade shoot ‘em up. Throw in a plot-motivated soundtrack of 70's pop hits and, man, is this film ever a treat.

Another thing I loved about Guardians is that it didn’t get completely lost in 20-minute, confusing action sequences that seem to serve no purpose other that to make idiots say “wow cool.” (Obviously the primary offender for this kind of stuff is Michael Bay, but I’ve noticed Marvel films also seem to get lost down this alley quite a bit.) Now this isn’t to say that there aren’t a number of lengthy action sequences — only that they’re done relatively tastefully, in way that you can follow, and they for the most part (this is important) advance and develop the characters at the same time. Now, doing that isn’t a very hard thing to accomplish, but most dumb scifi movies don’t even try these days so Guardians picks up some major points here.

So. That’s why it’s good. But it’s definitely not perfect. I’m sure I’ll think of more stuff to nitpick later, but for now the thing that bothers me most is that Guardians has a tired-as-hell hybrid Get-The-McGuffin/Stop-The-Planetary-Scale-Superweapon plot. Perhaps trying something a little more novel might have undercut the retro feeling this movie so capably provided, but I think in this case we can separate narrative from aesthetics.

However, that misgiving aside, Guardians is a fine film with pitch perfect genre qualities that’s absolutely worth a watch.