dvd of the week
Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel’s surprise megahit, is hugely entertaining. Our hero Star Lord – played by crazily hot, adorable and very funny Chris Pratt –is joined by the furry Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), hilariously taciturn and wooden Groot (Vin Diesel), a green lady named Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and a super-literal muscleman Drax (Dave Bautista). Because of a lot of cosmic mythology too complex to explain here, they must break out of space jail and fight super-powered bad guys in order to save the galaxy or something like that. The pacing is breathless, and the cosmic, superheroic action – impressively directed by James Gunn almost entirely in CGI that is beautifully designed by Charles Wood and photographed by Ben Davis – is as thrilling as what Joss Whedon did in The Avengers or George Lucas did in the first Star Wars.
