FILM REVIEW OF ''ATOMIC BLONDE" (2017)

Not only must good sequels live up to the original, but they must also transcend it. "Atomic Blonde" director David Leitch's "Deadpool 2" (**** OUT OF ****) makes Tim Miller's "Deadpool" appear almost prudish, boasting thrice as much profanity, promiscuity, and pyrotechnics, including our protagonist's smart-aleck asides to the audience. You've got to be a little warped yourself to appreciate Deadpool's antics. Make no mistake, "Deadpool" started the next stride in the evolution of cinematic costume-clad crimefighters. Starting with several "X-Men" (2000) epics, sequels and prequels, "Spider-Man" (2002) sequels and reboots, "The Fantastic Four" (2005) and its sequel "The Rise of the Silver Surfer," and then "Iron Man" (2008), "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), "Thor" (2011), "Captain America" (2011), "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014), "Ant Man" (2015), "Doctor Strange" (2016), and "Black Panther" (2017), the Marvel Cinematic Universe has outperformed its venerable rivals in the DC Universe, spouting risqué humor with PG-13 restraint, engaging characters, all swirled with sensational CGI. Although "Deadpool" (2016) never takes himself seriously, Ryan Reynolds is seriously sidesplitting. Skewering everything and everybody as well as himself and the eponymous character, Ryan Reynolds qualifies as the perfect match with 'the merc with a mouth.' Shattering the status quo PG-13 barrier, "Deadpool" plunged gleefully into forbidden R-rated territory. Earlier, no Hollywood studio would have green-lighted such an unconventional movie. Nothing in the "Deadpool" universe is safe from our crimson clad crimefighter's subversive sense of humor. If "Deadpool" ranked as the first exception to the rule, Hugh Jackman's, R-rated, swan-song "Logan" (2017) confirmed superheroes could thrive in an R-rated universe. "Deadpool 2" delivers every dollar's worth of its $110-million budget in energetic stunts, a James Bond opening credits parody, and a stouthearted Marvel character co-star who never lets Deadpool overshadow him. A minute under of two hours, "Deadpool 2" provides everything Reynolds promised during his after-credits "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" scene in the original.

"Deadpool 2" begins with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds of "Green Lantern"), aka 'Deadpool,' struggling to keep his gal, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin of "Serenity"), out of harm's way. Unfortunately, he cannot protect her when gunmen invade their apartment, and Vanessa dies from a fatal bullet! Tragedy strikes early in this rambunctious sequel, and Vanessa remains on 'the other side' for most of it! A grief-stricken Deadpool catches her killer, disposing of him painfully as only Deadpool can, and then he obliterates himself in a fireball inferno. As all Deadpool fans know, Deadpool is indestructible as long as he has his superpowers. Mind you, he cannot kill himself, courtesy of Ajax's cancer treatments inflicted on him in "Deadpool." Incredibly, Deadpool's body rejuvenates itself! During a momentary absence, Wade visits Vanessa in 'the other world.' Initially, Vanessa had wanted to have a baby, but a bullet destroyed those dreams. Now, Wade Williams/Deadpool vows to save a child. This child is an obese teen with an attitude, Russell Collins (Julian Dennison of "Shopping"), who has suffered grievously at the hands of workers in an orphanage. Russell can summon flamethrower fires from his blazing hands, and he vows to incinerate the perverted Headmaster. A sympathetic Deadpool befriends Russell, but the two land in 'the Icebox' Prison, where our hero loses his superpowers. He advises Russell to find somebody else. No sooner are they behind bars than a vengeful Cable (Josh Brolin of "Sicario") appears. Cable storms the mutant prison located in an isolated snow-covered mountain range. An indomitable half-man, half-cyborg, equipped with massive firepower, he blasts away at Russell. A flashforward reveals Russell cremated Cable's wife and daughter, after the teen had grown up. Cable plans to liquidate him before Russell grows old enough to harm his loved ones. However, Cable must bypass Deadpool, but Deadpool refuses to accommodate him.

Not only does grim-looking Cable resemble the Terminator, but he is also every bit as alarming. Deadpool compares him with 'the Winter Soldier.' A straight-forward, time-traveling titan on a personal vendetta, Cable has no tolerance for humor. Cable makes the perfect straight man, and the granite-jawed Brolin looks born to play the character. He disparages Deadpool as "an annoying clown dressed up as a sex toy." Cable looks nothing like Thanos. Another Marvel character who hasn't been seen since "X-Men: The Last Stand" appears in one of the more dynamic action scenes. After Deadpool abandons Russell, Russell forges a friendship with Juggernaut. Juggernaut is a muscle-bound behemoth who wears a lampshade helmet. Inevitably, Colossus and Juggernaut tangle, in a reprise of Colossus's clash with Angel Dust (Gina Carano) in the original. Deadpool resolves to thwart Cable and rescue Russell during an armored prison convoy transfer. Assembling team 'X-Force,' a bunch of mutant half-wits, he uses them to hijack the convoy. Their mission is doomed from the start, and Deadpool must contend with trigger-happy Cable as well as the barbarous Juggernaut. Amidst all this turmoil, Russell's chief adversary, the despicable Headmaster (Eddie Marsan of "The World's End"), makes an unforgettable impression despite the modicum of time allowed him. 

"Atomic Blonde" director David Leitch sets several exhilarating, over-the-top, acrobatic faceoffs to venerable Top-40 hit tunes. The action erupts with Deadpool's world tour where he assails crime families everywhere and racks up a double-digit body count. Indeed, "Deadpool 2" bristles with more scenes of simulated cinematic violence than its predecessor. Leitch's polished directorial flare; the top-drawer CGI effects; and Ryan Reynolds' nonstop humor distinguish this superior sequel. The scene where Deadpool shoots Ryan Reynolds as he reads the "Green Lantern" screenplay is riotous. Not as atrocious as Reynolds argues, "Green Lantern" went belly-up at the box-office, and he maintains his contempt for it here as he did in "Deadpool." "Deadpool" scenarists Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, along with Reynolds, make nothing easy for our protagonist. He suffers several setbacks. The Brad Pitt cameo highlights the hilarious "X-Force" debacle as well as the X-Men that Wade overlooks at the mansion. Altogether, "Deadpool 2" is far more entertaining and uproarious than "Deadpool," and the writers create greater depth and spontaneity in this follow-up.

FILM REVIEW OF ''THOR: RAGNAROK" (2017)

Chris Hemsworth looks like he had a blast making “Eagle Vs Shark” director Taika Waititi’s colorful, tongue-in-cheek, superhero saga “Thor: Ragnarok” (**** OUT OF ****), the third—and best--entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe about the Asgardian God of Thunder.  “Thor: Ragnarok” shares more in common with director Kenneth Branagh’s origins epic “Thor” (2011) rather than with Alan Taylor’s sequel “Thor: The Dark World.”  Unlike the first and third entries,” “Thor: The Dark World” (2013) maintained a serious and straightforward tone.  Basically, the second “Thor” spurned comedy, slaughtered Thor’s mom Frigga, and reformed Thor who had behaved like a blowhard.  Comparatively, Waititi and his three scenarists, Eric Pearson of “Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter,” Craig Kyle of “Planet Hulk,” and Christopher L. Yost of “Max Steel,” not only ridicule Thor, but they also challenge the Son of Odin as he has never been tested.  Typically, superhero sagas qualify as predictable since you know the hero will vanquish all adversaries and restore order to the cosmos before the end credits.  Although the original “Thor” was seldom surprising, our hero suffered the consequences of his hopeless arrogance.  Odin deprived his son of his supernatural hammer Mjölnir and banished him to Earth without powers.  Good movies run their heroes through a gauntlet, and “Thor: Ragnarok” pits the God of Thunder against a virtually invincible adversary--his heretofore unknown, elder sister Hela.  While she is more than enough to keep him occupied, Waititi and his writers have added the Incredible Hulk.  These adversaries keep Thor behind the eight-ball for three-quarters of its swiftly-paced 130 minutes.  Thor tangles with enemies for the first time who can withstand the worst he can dish out.  Hela ranks as one of his more memorable foes, and two-time Oscar winning Best Actress Cate Blanchett has a field day as Hela, the Goddess of Death.  Decked out in a black, dominatrix outfit, this Goth-looking gal resembles Angelina Jolie’s “Maleficent,” and the antlers that spring from her head before combat make her appear genuinely sinister.  When he isn’t dodging Hela, Thor tackles the gigantic Hulk in an off-world gladiatorial arena.

As “Thor: Ragnarok” unfolds, we learn the wicked fire demon Surtur (voice of Clancy Brown) has captured our eponymous hero and plans to execute him.  The haughty Surtur informs Thor that Odin no longer sits on the throne of Asgard.  Furthermore, he explains that a long, foretold prophecy referred to as ‘Ragnarok’ with bring about the impending destruction of Thor’s planet.  Once he plunges his crown into the Eternal Flame in Odin’s vault, Sutur boasts that he will conquer Asgard!  Trussed up like a turkey fit for a feast, Thor listens to Sutur’s boasts until the God of Thunder’s wayward hammer homes in on his location like a boomerang.  Thor smashes the fire demon’s dreams to smithereens.  He hastens to Asgard and discovers that his shape-shifting, half-brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston of “Kong: Skull Island”), has been impersonating Odin, who has been exiled to Earth.  While he awaits death, Odin warns them that his first-born child, Hela (Cate Blanchett of “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”), will break out of her prison and attack Asgard.  Earlier, Odin had incarcerated his daughter because she harbored ambitions far greater and destructive than his own!  No sooner has Hela returned to Asgard than she shatters Mjölnir as if it were glass and drives Thor and Loki off.  Afterward, Hela eliminates all of Thor’s compatriots, while the God of Thunder ends up on the remote planet Sakaar where gladiator combat is the rage.  

The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum of “Independence Day”) rules Sakaar and conducts himself like the Roman Emperor Commodus.  Commodus dictated which gladiator would triumph, even if he had to rig the outcome.  The Grandmaster has acquired an unrivalled champion in the form of the Incredible Hulk who vanished under mysterious circumstances after the battle at Sokovia in “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015). Thor surprises everybody when he clocks Hulk.  Previously, nobody left the arena alive after fighting Hulk, but Thor impresses the Grandmaster enough that the tyrant allows him to live.  Thor tries to recruit the Hulk to accompany him back to Asgard to overthrow Hela.  Scrapper 142 (Tessa Thompson of “Creed”), the bounty hunter who delivered Thor to the Grandmaster, keeps him restrained with a tazer. Eventually, Thor persuades her to join Hulk and he in a revolt against Sakaar’s founder. Further, Thor learns that Scraper 142 was a Valkyrie who fought against Hela and left after nearly dying in battle.  Meantime, Hela has lain waste to Asgard, but this doesn’t dissuade Thor from returning to rescue his people and then take them to a new homeland.  The scenes that depict thousands of Asgardians seeking refuge aboard a space freighter evoke memories of the British Army’s evacuation of Dunkirk during World War II.  

For the record, since it doesn’t take place on Earth, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), and Jane’s assistant Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) are nowhere to be seen in this second sequel.  Heimdall (Idris Elba), the gatekeeper of the Bifrost on Asgard, went missing in “Thor: The Dark World,” but he reappears in “Thor: Ragnarok” and plays a vital role in getting the people of Ragnarok in their ill-fated rebellion against Hela.  Thor’s merry threesome: Fandral (Josh Dallas), Hogan (Tadanobu Asano), and Volstagg (Ray Stevenson) show up briefly for this apocalyptic opus, but Lady Sif isn’t around because actress Jaimie Alexander of “Blindspot” could not fit the third “Thor” into her schedule.  Chronologically, “Thor: Ragnarok” occurs two years after the events in ““The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” while it happens four years after “Thor: The Dark World.”  If you look closely at a skit staged in Asgard when Thor returns, you’ll spot Matt Damon of “The Bourne Identity” playing Loki in a play, while Chris Hemsworth’s older brother Luke Hemsworth impersonates him as Thor.  Scarlett Johansson has a cameo as Black Widow, and Benedict Cumberbatch has a scene with Thor where the Son of Odin’s drinking stein replenishes itself mysteriously.

“Thor: Ragnarok” provides new perspectives on the franchise and exposes a wealth of untold backstory not only about Odin but also Asgard prior to Thor’s birth.  The revelation about Odin’s bloodlust for the conquest of alien realms makes him appear unsavory rather than avuncular as he appeared in the first two “Thor” epics.  Visually, Hela’s clash with the Valkyries resembles an Italian Renaissance painting come to life.  A low-budget, little-known independent director, Waititi brings an entirely different vibe to the otherwise hackneyed material. Waititi and his writers rely on humor to give the lead character as well as several supporting characters a greater sense of depth.  They have breathed new life into the franchise by cutting Asgard out from under the Thor, exiling Odin, and demolishing Mjölnir.  Thor often behaves like a buffoon, and it feels liberating to laugh at his oafish antics. Comparatively, Cate Blanchett radiates a malevolent pugnacity as Odin’s first-born who lives to slay.  She makes an unforgettable villain.  The scenes where she massages her temples and antlers erupt is striking.  Hela’s comeuppance is as spectacular as it is satisfying. The comic touches in “Thor: Ragnarok” may not sit well with some fans who will frown on such shenanigans, but this refreshing irreverence is long-overdue.

FILM REVIEW OF ''GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 2" (2017)

“Super” writer/director James Gunn took moviegoers for an irreverent, interplanetary joyride, peppered with pop culture references, in “Guardians of the Galaxy” back in 2014.  Happily, Gunn’s sequel “Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2” (**** OUT OF ****) qualifies as just as impressive with several surprises.  If you haven’t seen “GoTG, Vol. 1,” then you may have problems putting both the swashbuckling characters and their outlandish backstory into context in this imaginative, science-fiction, follow-up saga.  Good sequels always dig deeper into the original characters and conjure up newcomers. “GoTG, Vol. 2” reassembles the same quintet and scrutinizes them in greater detail.  Peter Quill, ostensibly the Guardians’ leader, catches up with his enigmatic sire, Ego, and father and son surprise each other with their goals during the second act.  We learn that Ego has been searching the universe for his long, lost son.  Later, Yondu observes astutely about the grandiose Ego: “He may have been your father, Quill, but he wasn't your daddy.”  This father and son connection yields the ultimate surprise, too, but discretion prevents me from divulging specifics.  The peculiar relationship that Quill has forged with Yondu Udonta, the extraterrestrial space pirate who abducted Quill from Earth after the lad fled from the hospital where his cancer-stricken mom died takes on an added dimension.  No character changes as much in “GoTG 2” as Yondu.  He evolves from a lowlife villain to an individual of integrity. Meanwhile, sibling rivalry keeps Quill’s quasi-girlfriend Gamora locked into a never-ending feud with her jealous sister Nebula.  Nebula hates Gamora with a passion because their evil stepfather Thanos preferred Gamora over her.  Smutty-mouthed Rocket Raccoon remains as obnoxious as ever, but his bad-tempered attitude thaws during the third act.  Good sequels send off the characters onto exciting new adventures against different villains.  The Guardians are summoned to a remote corner of the cosmos again.  The new aliens—the Sovereigns—constitute a petulant people with little sense of humor.  When the Rocket infuriates them, the latter pursue the Guardians with a vengeance until greater powers interfere. 

The last time we saw the Guardians, the Nova Corps had cleared them of all crimes and provided them with a refurnished version of his spaceship "The Milano.”  The arboreal, sentient-like, extraterrestrial Groot (Vin Diesel’s voice) had sacrificed himself to save his companions, but Rocket Raccoon scourged up a surviving twig and has planted it.  As “GoTG, Vol. 2,” unfolds, an arrogant race of gilded humanoids known as the Sovereigns have employed our motley crew to protect their priceless batteries from an enormous but absurd-looking trout with thrashing tentacles and thousands of thorny teeth.  During this hilarious opening credits gambit, the roguish Star-Lord (Chris Pratt of “The Magnificent Seven”), green-skinned Amazon Gamora (Zoe Saldana of “Colombiana”), blue-skinned hulk Drax (Dave Bautista of “Spectre”), and pugnacious Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper’s voice) tangle with this cartoonish Cthulhu-thing atop a lofty platform that resembles an electric razor where the batteries are housed.  During this far-fetched fracas, Baby Groot dances to a tune from Star-Lord’s mix tape—ELO’s “Blue Sky”--oblivious to any peril the goofy trout-squid poses while the Guardians struggle to defeat their nemesis.  The scene is clever because Gunn choreographs this blockbuster action scene with Baby Groot in the foreground rather than the contentious Guardians!  Afterward, the grateful Sovereigns reward our heroes with nothing less than Gamora’s deceitful sister Nebula.  No sooner have our heroes proven their nerve to the Sovereigns than they find themselves in trouble with them.  The contemptuous Rocket has taken it upon himself steal some of those valuable batteries.  The incensed Sovereigns deployed a drone fleet to annihilate the Guardians.  Conveniently, Peter Quill’s biological father Ego (Kurt Russell of “The Hateful 8") intervenes and saves them from the Sovereigns.  Ego invites Quill, Gamora, and Drax to accompany him to his planet, while Rocket, Baby Groot, and Nebula stay behind to repair their crashed spacecraft.  

Meantime, the haughty Sovereign Queen Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki of “The Great Gatsby”) hires arrow-whistling Ravager chieftain Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker of “The Belk Experiment”) to track down the Guardians.  What Yondu doesn’t realize is a perfidious faction within his gang of smugglers has been plotting mutiny.  Yondu’s grotesque lieutenant, Taserface (Chris Sullivan of “Imperium”), heads this uprising.  After they catch up with Rocket, Baby Groot, Nebula, the insubordinate Ravagers turn on Yondu and lock him up with Rocket.  Nevertheless, Yondu and Rocket aren’t idle behind bars for long because Baby Groot helps them to escape.  Mind you, Yondu was already up to his ears in trouble with the rest of the Ravagers and their commander, Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone of “Rocky”), who turned against him for kidnapping Peter Quill in the first place.  If you saw the original “G0TG,” you know Star-Lord tricked Yondu when he relinquished the Orb.  The wily Star-Lord replaced the Infinity Stone that had been in the Orb with a grinning troll doll.  Yondu had payback in mind when he sold his services to the Sovereigns, but then everything went sideways for him.  Nevertheless, once Rocket, Baby Groot, and he escape, they eliminate their adversaries. 

The major revelation of the “Guardians” sequel concerns the character of Ego.  Kurt Russel looks like he had a blast playing this imperious Celestial being who is a manifestation of a psychedelic planet that Ego created for himself.  Basically, he is an amoral deity who behaves like the Greek god Zeus.  During their brief stint on the planet, Peter and Ego begin on friendly terms until Ego slips up and reveals something terrible that alienates Peter.  With its sumptuous CGI of alien galaxies and landscapes, “GoTG, Vol. 2” looks a hundred times better visually than its predecessor. If you enjoyed the greatest hits music in the original film, the sequel serves up even more memorable pop tunes and incorporates them into the psychology of the plot, too!  As the fifteenth entry in the Marvel Comics Cinematic Universe, the tongue-in-cheek “Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2” ranks as one of the best.

FILM REVIEW OF ''GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY" (2014)

“Slither” writer & director James Gunn’s outlandishly hysterical, but high octane science-fiction spectacle “Guardians of the Galaxy” charts an entirely different course in the Marvel Comics Universe. Unlike Marvel’s traditional lineup of superheroes, such as “Iron Man,” “Captain America,” “Thor,” and “The Incredible Hulk,” the “Guardians of the Galaxy” constitute a quintet of non-traditional, anti-heroic protagonists endowed with supernatural abilities. Traditional Marvel heroes are respectable, upstanding, productive citizens in private life when they aren’t clashing with larger-than-life adversaries.  As the son of Odin, Thor is the exception in the cinematic universe because he has no alter-ego.  Comparatively, the “Guardians” are criminals and outcasts, essentially mercenaries thrown together by the exigencies of fate.  A synthesis of Indiana Jones and Han Solo, Peter Jason Quill leads the “Guardians,” probably because they fly with him aboard his intergalactic spacecraft.  An abducted Earthling urchin turned scalawag smuggler who refers to himself as ‘Star-Lord,’ Quill makes an affable enough anti-hero. Quill’s loose cannon compatriots are Gamora, an elite, green-skinned, female warrior assassin; Rocket, a genetically-altered, foul-mouthed raccoon who searches for anybody with high bounty on them; Rocket’s ligneous partner Groot, a humanoid plant that entangles its adversaries with its tree limbs, and Drax, a vengeful, blue-skinned, hulk of a humanoid who parades around without a shirt. If earlier Marvel Comics superhero sagas required audiences to suspend their disbelief to accommodate their bizarre antics, “Guardians” requires an even greater suspension of disbelief, perhaps to the breaking point.  Any time you encounter an obnoxious raccoon that can speak in English and behave like the reckless felon, you’ve got to open your mind up to greater possibilities beyond the world of reality.  

“Guardians of the Galaxy” unfolds on a tragic note.  The setting is Earth in 1988, and young Peter Quill watches in horror as his mother Meredith (Laura Haddock of “Storage 24”) dies from cancer.  Fleeing the hospital, the grief-stricken lad scrambles outside, and an alien spacecraft promptly abducts him! Twenty-six years later, an adult Peter Quill (Chris Pratt of “Moneyball”) is plying his trade as a member of the Ravagers, pirates who “steal from everybody,” on the abandoned planet of Morag.  He tracks down a wholly sought-after Orb.  No sooner has he found this object than he finds himself surrounded by Korath (Djimon Hounsou of “Amistad”) and his subordinates.  Korath works for Ronan (Lee Pace of “Lincoln”), a tyrannical, ax-wielding super villain who wants the Orb.  Ronan plans to ingratiate himself to the ultimate villain Thanos and hand it over to him.  Quill manages to escape in his wing-shaped spaceship.  Later, the blue-skinned Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker of “Tombstone”), who abducted Quill as an adolescent on Earth, contacts Quill from Morag and inquires about the Orb.  When Quill refuses to cooperate, Yondu puts a bounty of 40-thousand units on Quill.  Yondu uses an arrow that he deploys like a dressmaker manipulates a needle for homicidal purposes.

Rocket (Bradley Cooper’s voice) and Groot (Vin Diesel’s voice) descend to Xandar and stumble onto Quill.  Meantime, Korath reports to Ronan about Quill and the Orb. Ronan dispatches Gamora to Xandar, the capital of the Nova Empire, to pick up the Orb.  When Quill arrives on Xandar, he approaches the Broker (Christopher Fairbank of “Alien 3”) about the Orb.  Quill inquires about the mysterious globe because he almost died acquiring it.  When Quill mentions Ronan’s name, the Broker sends Quill packing. Gamora snatches the Orb from Quill.  They fight. Rocket intervenes and bags Quill.  This back and forth shenanigans continue until the Nova Corps arrests them.  They ship Quill, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot to The Kyln, a corrupt, high security prison in space where they encounter loudmouthed Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista of “Riddick”) when Gamora’s life is threatened.  As it turns out, the literal-minded Drax abhors Ronan because the dastard killed his wife and daughter. During the hair-raising escape, Drax teams up with Raccoon and Groot. Eventually, this quintet sets aside their differences, and Rocket orchestrates an elaborate escape from The Kyln that involves shutting off the artificial gravity in the facility.  Our heroes recover Quill’s orange and blue spaceship the Milano and flee from the Kyln.  Before they can leave, Quill also retrieves his impregnable Walkman with a cassette of popular songs that his mother made for him.  Mind you, this constitutes only 45 minutes out of the two-hour running time! 

Eventually, our heroes land on a unique mining colony called Knowhere.  According to Gamora, Knowhere is “the severed head of an ancient celestial being.”  No regulations exist in Knowhere.  Our heroes are looking for Tivan because he knows what the Orb is.  During this interval, Gamora reveals that Thanos murdered her mother and father and tortured her until he remade her into a warrior assassin.  Gamora asks about his Walkman and its significance.  Later, Drax summons Ronan to fight him, and turmoil descends onto the colony. Initially, Ronan defeats Drax, and Yondu catches up with Peter.  Bit by bit, the Guardians begin to bond.  "Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. My wife and child are dead," grouses an angry Rocket.  Groot cannot believe Rocket's insensitivity.  "Oh, I don't care if it's mean!  Everybody's got dead people.  It's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way."  Groot sympathesizes with Drax and they become friends.  Now, Ronan has the Orb, and he wants Thanos to destroy Xandar.

Debuting in the January 1969 issue of “Marvel Super-Heroes,” the “Guardians” were nothing like their cinematic counterparts, only the pirate Yondu Udonta, appeared in this early incarnation.  These Guardians constituted the last of their kind on Earth, Jupiter, Pluto, and a fourth planet near the star Alpha Centauri B.  Ultimately, the cinematic “Guardians of the Galaxy” imitate in their own sphere of action “The Avengers.”  They quarrel constantly with each other, and they come close to killing each other such is the instability of their alliance.  Director James Gunn and freshman scenarist Nicole Perlman furnish the “Guardians” with distinctive, often hilarious dialogue.  The characters differ enough that no one is the same, and each has characteristics that differentiate them.  For example, the tree creature Groot repeats the same three words “I am Groot” ad nauseam without change throughout the action.  Drax emerges as straight-faced comic relief because he is so literal minded. Ronan makes an intimidating villain, but Thanos (Josh Brolin’s voice) is the most powerful being in the universe.  Gunn and Perlman never let the action slow down, and our heroes find themselves hopscotching from one cliffhanger predicament after another.