GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY REVIEW
By Barry Dutter

I promised myself I wouldn’t do this.
Whenever a new Marvel movie comes out, I always have to complain about how they made too many changes from the comic and how much better the original story was in the comics.
But with Guardians, I have never read the 25-issue series (from 2008-10) that the movie is largely based on, so I figured I’d have nothing to bitch about. I mean, the only thing I have read recently is the first few issues of the relaunched GUARDIANS series written by Brian Michael Bendis.
That series (from 2013) starts off with an all-new origin for Starlord… And guess what -- that’s right, it’s better than the one in the movie. But isn’t the origin in the movie basically the same? Not exactly.
The comic begins with a space alien coming to Earth, impregnating Peter Quill’s mom, and then taking off, leaving behind only an awesome ray gun.
When young Peter is about 11 years old, some evil space aliens come down and attack and kill his mom. Peter must then try to fight off the aliens, and then venture off into space to explore the mystery of who and where his father really is.
Like I said, a stronger start to the story. The movie gets bogged down with some hokey back-story between Quill and his mom, which only made me think how the greatest stories in all of literature are generally about fathers and sons, not mothers and sons.
Once you get past the origin of Starlord, though, GOTG is basically in uncharted territory. The writers of the film were free to plot their own path , and not have to worry about incurring the wrath of disgruntled fans, since, the GUARDIANS OF  THE GALAXY comic has never really had any fans.
And in this, they mostly succeed, crafting a lively space romp that feels like a lost action comedy from the 80s. (It's kind of BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA meets THE LAST STARFIGHTER meets BACK TO THE FUTURE meets GREMLINS meets TRON!) 

But more than anything, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is a salute to the classic pop songs of the 70s.
That was a canny choice for writer/director James Gunn, who was faced with the difficult task of crafting a movie about a group of super-heroes that not only have most people never heard of, but most comic fans don’t even like them or read their comics.
To make it even more challenging, this was the first Marvel movie that, by its very nature, could not feature cameos by any of the big Marvel stars like Robert Downey Jr..
Gunn knew he would have to give the film some kind of hook to reel people in. He figured the best way to accomplish this was to have the main character, Peter Quill, bond with his dying mother through a love of pop culture that audiences could easily relate to.
But what type of pop culture for them to bond over? A shared love of movies? TV shows? Video games?  No, it had to be music.
Music is the easiest way to win an audience‘s favor, especially when you bring back beloved pop tunes from the past. For older movie-goers, there is the irresistible lure of “remember when.” And young people could find themselves bopping and singing along to songs that came out before they were born.
But what type of music to use in the movie?
There were so many options available. 50’s Doo-wop. 60’s British Invasion. 80s New Wave. 90s Grunge. 2000s pop like the Spice Girls and Britney Spears.
But no, Gunn knew the perfect music to pick for his film. It had to be 70s pop, specifically one-hit wonders. Why 70s pop? Because like the Guardians themselves, the music of the 1970s was goofy, silly, fun, and had a charm all its own. It was also some of the greatest pop music of all time.
There was plenty of silly bubblegum music in the 50s, and things got really “groovy” in the 60s. But the best pop songs in the 70s were just about having fun.
Put on a song like “Hooked on a Feeling” or the Raspberries’ “Go All the Way,” and it just puts a smile on your face and makes you want to dance.
That was the mood Gunn wanted for this film.
He wanted this to be Marvel’s first out and out comedy, and there was no better way to indicate this than by loading up the movie with as many bouncy 70s tunes as possible. (It could be argued that parts of Iron Man 2 and 3 are very comedic, but GOTG is the first Marvel movie to maintain that tone all the way through.)
The first trailer for GOTG was set to “Hooked on a Feeling,” and from the get-go, that sent a message to movie-goers that this would not be your typical Marvel movie. If the other Marvel movies were Classic Rock (note the use of a Black Sabbath song in IRON MAN), this would be more like a K-Tel collection of pop hits.
GOTG begins with Quill as a child in the 80s, listening to a mixed tape made for him by his mom, who wants to share with him the music she loved from the 70s. (Quill’s mom was pretty cool. If my mom had made a similar mixed tape for me, most of the songs would have been by Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley!)
On the night of his mother’s death from cancer, Quill is kidnapped and taken into space by Yondu, a galactic fortune hunter (with a Southern accent!) who has come to Earth and chosen to take this boy at this time at the request of the boy’s never-seen father. 
The film then jumps 26 years to show Quill has grown into a young man who is still listening to the same Walkman he had on him when he was hijacked into space. The film never explains how Quill’s batteries in his Walkman could still be working so many years later. Also, that mix-tape of his is in surprisingly good shape considering he apparently listens to it every chance he gets!
The grown-up Quill is now a galactic treasure hunter who decides to rebel against Yondu and keep the latest treasure for himself. We are never really sure why this happens, but we can surmise that Yondu is not such a nice guy and maybe Quill harbors some resentment toward him.
Quill fancies himself a powerful being called the Starlord, but it is not really clear if this is a name that other people actually call him or just a nickname that he made up for himself that never really caught on.
The soundtrack includes one of the all-time best 70s songs, a little piece of sonic ear candy called "Go All the Way" by the Raspberries. I must confess, I was hoping to hear some similar bands like Sweet or Badfinger, but alas, those memorable bands are slighted in favor of some lesser artists. As Quill goes on a quest for a mystic gem, he listens to the Redbone song “Come and Get Your Love” on his Walkman. Not one of my favorite 70s tunes, but it works here. Later, as the Guardians go into battle, the Runaways' song “Cherry Bomb” plays.
This is the only real musical miscue in the film. I was around in the 70s and I never heard that song played when I was growing up. I never even heard of the band The Runaways until decades later.
I think a better choice here would have been an actual hit song that really defined the era. A song like “December 1963 (Oh What a Night), or “American Pie” or  “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” or “Crocodile Rock” or the Bay City Rollers classic “Saturday Night.”
Well, I guess I can forgive Gunn for using a more obscure song instead of just taking the lazy way out and sticking “YMCA” or “Stayin’ Alive” in there…
I can’t review GOTG without mentioning one thing I have in common with Peter Quill I, too, have a love of

A few of my own AWESOME MIX tapes of 70s music.

70s music. I spent a good chunk of the 90s making mixed tapes containing all my favorite music of the 70s.
The big difference between Quill and I is that  I actually grew up with the music of the 70s, while Quill had it passed on to him second-hand. My proudest possession is a complete set of the 25-volume CD set, Super-Hits of the 70s. I listen to it often. Even the terrible songs like “Run Joey Run” and “Convoy” bring a wave of nostalgia over me.
If any space aliens ever came down to take me away, the one thing I would bring with me would be my 25-set collection of 70s hits. (We’d have to stop by Target and pick up a CD Walkman, if they still make those things!)
The music of the 70s is so timeless, when you hear a band like the Raspberries or Badfinger or the Jackson Five, it just puts you in a good mood. Like I said, bravo, James Gunn, for figuring out a way to incorporate so many beloved 70s songs into one movie
GOTG is much more light-hearted than most Marvel movies. In the climax, when Star-Lord challenges the villain, Ronan, to a dance-off, you almost think the movie is nutty enough to go for it. (Honestly, I think the perfect ending to the film would have been a “Battle of the Bands” between the Guardians and Ronan’s gang, with each band playing one classic 70s hit. With the loosey-goosey feel of the the movie, an ending that comes from a Saturday morning cartoon show would have been a perfect fit.)
The movie is well-cast. Chris Pratt proves himself a likable everyman as the hero. Zoe Saldana adds yet another sci-fi character to her belt, thus ensuring she will be welcome at Comic Con from now until the end of time. Bradley Cooper does a fine job as Rocket, though I must admit it was odd when Rocket refers to Saldana’s character as a “whore” in one scene, since Cooper and Saldana famously dated in real life! Vin Diesel grunts effectively as Groot. And Dave Batista has big muscles as Drax the Destroy
GOTG is not a perfect movie but it is lightweight, harmless fun. Coming off the depressing MAN OF STEEL and the ultra-serious WINTER SOLDIER, GOTG was a refreshing change of pace.
Still, I wish the film were more clever. When Howard the Duck makes a cameo in the post-credits sequence, you think, “Here’s a chance for the writers to give this guy a memorable zinger.” But they can’t think of anything interesting for him to say.
My suggested line? Have Howard say, “It’s about time I got out of there! It feels like I’ve been in limbo since 1986!”
Movie-goers have embraced the Guardians, welcoming them alongside the pantheon of great Marvel heroes. Now GOTG fans are eagerly awaiting the inevitable future teaming with the Avengers. But for me, the legacy of GOTG is that it introduced a whole new generation to songs like “Hooked on  Feeling.” (The soundtrack to the movie debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.) 
A sequel to GOTG has already be announced. One assumes that part two will give us that father-son dynamic that was missing from part one, and it will pick up the 70s tunes where the original left off. (Quill even got a new mixed tape at the end of the first one!)
I am looking forward to seeing which songs get picked for GOTG II. All I know is, if I don’t hear some Badfinger in the next one, we are gonna have a problem!

A few more of my MIX TAPE MASTERPIECES!