Guardians Of The Galaxy

Back in the mid-70s, when comic books cost a quarter and stories were thirty - plus pages long, I'd buy a dozen or more each Saturday from the Ben Franklin and spend an entire afternoon reading.

The X-Men. Hulk. The Avengers. The Defenders. Tons of DC stuff. The fantasy world of comics was intoxicating; I read any and every title I could get my hands on.

Except Guardians Of The Galaxy.



Because I didn't like the first few issues of the comic,  I plunked down my two-bits for other titles. My memory  of the first run of that comic -- summed up pretty well as "Meh,"  -- made me doubt I'd enjoy this flick.

Boy, was I wrong.

James Gunn's space opera wastes no time drawing the audience into the story of Peter Quill. Quill loses his mother to cancer and gets abducted by space pirates within the first few minutes of the film. What follows is 115 minutes of pure popcorn fueled adrenaline. Guardians is a balanced blend of melodrama, romance, suspense, humor, action, 80s pop songs, and references to Kevin Bacon.

And it's the most fun I've had watching a Marvel flick since The Avengers.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Most often, I've been bored by the character of Captain America. I've never been a fan of naive patriotism, or of a system of values based simply on tradition. Those perspectives are short-sighted;  they feel good in the moment, but they don't advance society very far. At least that's my opinion.

But it's not the opinion of Cap. He lives, breaths, and sleeps Uh-merica.

I entered the theater expecting to see much of the same: a spandex-clad capitalist preaching the virtues of democracy. Instead, I was treated to a well-made action flick with a tight plot, terrific special effects, and top tier acting.

It wasn't the masterpiece that was Iron Man. But it was close. Very, very close.

Green Lantern

Let me start with the most important part of this blog post: I hate, and have always hated, Green Lantern.

I hate that the DC comic book superhero has A-List swagger when he's a C-List character. I hate that God-awful oath he chants as he charges his ring. I hate the premise that he's a space cop responsible for an huge section of the galaxy, but spends most of his time in Coast City fighting the Tattooed Man. I hate that the Lantern ring -- supposed to be the most powerful weapon in the universe -- is used by Jordan mostly to conjure up over-stuffed boxing gloves and cages for trapping foes.

The comic book Green Lantern has always been held back by the limited imaginations of various artists and writers. And, I'm afraid, the movie suffers from the same lackluster inspiration.

The special effects in Green Lantern are clearly the best part of this flick. Flying sequences are the best I've seen, the trips into space are visually stunning, and the lantern-made gimmicks look and sound real. Ryan Reynolds looks and acts like Hal Jordan. The other GLs -- some really unusual life-forms -- are well done.

But the flick lacks substance. Trying too hard to tell multiple stories, the film never really seems to go into depth with one particular story line. One minute Hal Jordan is experiencing an existential dilemma, the next he's overcome it and can be found lecturing the immortal Guardians of the Universe.

Green Lantern fits in nicely as part of a team. Perhaps as one part of the Justice League this character can be compelling. As the lead in his own movie, however, Green Lantern just doesn't work.

And I knew it wouldn't.

X-Men: First Class

Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class is so good, it's easy to overlook the inconsistencies with the legendary comic book series, and the problems that occur with continuity.

And there are lots of those issues: Mystique was never a childhood friend of Professor X; most of the students recruited for the team were not part of the original team in the 1960s; Sebastian Shaw, played wonderfully by Kevin Bacon, seems to be a composite of several comic book characters, and . . .

Well, you get the picture. There are lots of issues in this film that might bug some comic book geeks, and even annoy others.

But not me.

The X-Men storyline has always been about social issues. Those
-isms that create a lot of stress and strife, and the problematic nature of relationships. It's my opinion that the greatest aspect of X-Men was the complicated relationship between Professor X and Magneto: two strong, brilliant leaders who desire the same outcome, but hold perspectives on how to achieve it.


With a running time of more than 2 hours, Vaughn's movie runs long. But it's a necessary length, designed to allow the relationship between Xavier and Magneto to develop. The audience comes to appreciate their love and respect for each other, making the rift that occurs at the conclusion powerful.



This X-Men prequel lives up to the hype generated. It's also a worthy member of the X-Men movie franchise, the only comic book movie series that's never disappointed comic books geeks. Like me.