This month has seen the latest Marvel Comic franchise hit the big screen with Guardians of the Galaxy. Comic books normally translate about as well as that fake signer at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, so as a Guardians fan I was pleasantly surprised to be charmed with Marvel’s new offering.
The plot is relatively straightforward, and pretty much follows the ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ template: a bunch of intergalactic characters are thrown into a situation whereby they must work together to save the universe from a fascist overlord who is hell bent on destroying planets.
Played by Lee Pace, the fascist overlord takes the shape of Ronan the Accuser, and represents my only real gripe with the entire film. Ronan is angered by a peace treaty between his own kind, the Kree, and the planet Xandar. He goes rogue, and then decides to destroy the planet.
There’s just not enough justification for this apart from the fact that Ronan is a kind of religious fanatic who obviously wants to destroy the planet of Xandar because its inhabitants dress like new romantics.
