Guardians of the Galaxy

昨日(3/8/2014)因為無聊沒事幹，走到沙田觀看電影去。

觀看的就是這部Marvel最新作，”Guardians of the Galaxy” 。

者實說，在昨日以前，我對本片並不抱多大的期望。原因是本作的漫畫原著，即便在美國本土，也不是一部一線人氣作品。在香港，人人都愛看Iron Man、Captain America、Hulk等知名人物，又會否容得下一隊說不出成員名字的new comer？

然而，在我享受過兩小時的聲光歷程後，我改觀了。本作必火！

劇情方面，本作一如過往的Marvel電影，黑白分明，簡單直接，不外乎是主角們的相識到一起冒險，以及最後打敗大魔王，所以我也懶得詳細記下了，乾脆從維基搬來就是了：

In 1988, following his mother's death, a young Peter Quill is abducted from Earth by the Ravagers, a group of space pirates led by Yondu. Twenty-six years later on the planet Morag, Quill steals a sphere-like artifact only to be intercepted by Korath, a subordinate to the fanatical Kree, Ronan. Although Quill escapes with the artifact, Yondu discovers his theft and issues a bounty for his capture while Ronan sends the assassin Gamora after the orb.

When Quill attempts to sell the orb on the Nova Corps homeworld Xandar, Gamora ambushes him and steals it. A fight ensues, drawing in a pair of bounty hunters; the genetically engineered raccoon Rocket, and the tree-like humanoidGroot. The Nova Corps arrives and arrests the group, imprisoning them in the Kyln. A powerful inmate, Drax, attempts to kill Gamora due to her association with Ronan, who killed his family. Quill dissuades him by saying that Gamora can bring Ronan to him. Gamora reveals that she has betrayed Ronan, unwilling to let him use the orb's power to destroy entire planets such as Xandar. Learning that Gamora has a buyer for the orb, Rocket, Quill, Groot, and Gamora work together to escape the Kyln.

Elsewhere, Ronan meets with the titan Thanos to discuss his daughter Gamora's betrayal and the loss of the orb. Accompanied by Drax, Quill's group escapes the Kyln in his ship—the Milano—and flee to Knowhere, a remote criminal outpost in space built in the giant severed-head of a celestial. A drunken Drax summons Ronan, while the rest of the group meet Gamora's contact, Taneleer Tivan. Tivan opens the orb, revealing an Infinity Stone, an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it. Suddenly, Tivan's tormented assistant grabs the stone, triggering an explosion that engulfs his collection.

Ronan arrives and easily defeats Drax, while the others flee by ship, pursued by Ronan's followers and Gamora's sister Nebula. Nebula destroys Gamora's ship, leaving her floating in space, and Ronan's forces leave with the sphere. Quill contacts Yondu before following Gamora into space, giving her his helmet to survive; Yondu arrives and retrieves the pair. Rocket, Drax, and Groot threaten to attack Yondu's ship to rescue them, but Quill negotiates a truce by convincing Yondu that they can recover the orb. The group agrees that facing Ronan means certain death, but that they must stop him from using the Infinity Stone to destroy the galaxy. On Ronan's ship, the Dark Aster, Ronan embeds the stone in his warhammer, taking its power for himself. He contacts Thanos, threatening that after the destruction of Xandar, he will kill Thanos; hateful of her adopted father, Nebula allies with Ronan.

On Xandar, the Dark Aster is confronted by Yondu's fleet, the Nova Corps, and Quill's group, which breaches the Dark Aster. Ronan uses his upgraded warhammer to destroy the Nova Corps fleet. Drax kills Korath, and Gamora defeats Nebula (who escapes) and unlocks Ronan's chambers, but the group finds themselves outmatched by his power until Rocket crashes the Milano through the Dark Aster and into Ronan. The damaged Dark Aster crash lands on Xandar, with Groot sacrificing himself to shield the group. Ronan emerges from the wreck and prepares to destroy Xandar, but Quill distracts him, allowing Drax to destroy Ronan's warhammer. Quill grabs the freed stone, and with Gamora, Drax, and Rocket sharing its burden, they use it to destroy Ronan.

In the aftermath, Quill tricks Yondu into taking a container supposedly containing the stone, then gives the real stone to the Novas. As the Ravagers leave Xandar, they remark that it turned out well that they did not deliver Quill to his father. Quill's group, now known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, have their criminal records expunged, and Quill learns that he is only half-human, his father being part of an ancient, unknown species. Quill finally opens the last present he received from his mother; a cassette tape filled with her favorite songs. The Guardians leave in the rebuilt Milano accompanied by a twig recovered from Groot, which is already growing.

In a post-credits scene, Tivan sits in his destroyed archive with two of his living exhibits: a canine cosmonaut and an anthropomorphic duck

哇，好長的「簡介」。

簡單來說，本作是一部較跳脫的超級英雄笑片。如果我沒有記錯，一般Marvel電影都是先播放出招牌揭頁型Marvel Logo，今次一反常態，先交代主角Peter被擄的經過，至此我已覺得本作與其他Marvel電影有所不同。一路看下去，這個直覺大抵是不錯的。

有人說本作有點似Avengers，都是一班英雄聚在一起，對抗強大的邪惡勢力，當然過程中各人因為不同的個性、理念而衝突，但最終必然會同心協力，攜手迎接勝利。本作的走向也是同樣，不然還有甚麼好說？然而GOTG與Avengers最不同的地方，正是Avengers的主要成員都已有個人電影，累積了一定的知名度，然而本作中的五名主角，對大部份香港觀眾，包括我自己而言，都是沒多少認知的。那麼本作的五名成員，就沒有所謂「前作」的包袱，能夠盡情的出洋相、耍寶，比起Avengers人人都要相當的時間展示超強威能，本作則自然得多了。

要數本作最大的優點，不能不提成功的人物塑造。如同上文所述，本作的主角們都是初登大銀幕，要在兩小時內讓觀眾認輸他們、喜歡他們，殊非易事。然而，本作仍能使五名要角，以及部份配角的個性、形象都鮮明得教人一見難忘。五名主角各有戲份及表演機會，加上啜核對白及動作，看這群星際流氓嘻嘻哈哈也真的有趣。

本作使人看得開懷，原因是本作的笑點異常密集，老少咸宜。在此不得不讚賞一下導演的玩心，能夠把角色玩得如此徹底，五名角色都有其白癡一面，也許Gamora是最正常的一個，其他統統都是賣萌耍寶的大師。要說片中的笑點，也多得數不完，至少我很喜歡Groot的傻呆、Rocket的頑皮、Drax的不善辭令以及Peter的無賴。當然本作不是一味的引人發笑，還是有數場激戰吸引觀眾，不過幽默的劇情無疑使本作更具娛樂性。

作為第一部主力講述外星戰事的Marvel電影，本作可謂任重道遠。畢竟在Avengers中，英雄們便開始與外星人為敵，加上Thanos將會成為Avengers的最大敵人，不在本作中講述更多重要的外星資訊作可不行。故本作有頗多的彩蛋，至關重要的當然是Thanos的正式出現和Collector披露有關Infinite Stone的來歷。對於有看漫畫的達人來說，這大概很興奮吧，對我而言，這也不沉悶。

當然本作並非白璧無瑕。雖然本作在短短兩小時內，使五名主角塑造得相當立體，然而仍有些地方因為時間所限，交代不足。有關主角們的背境故事交代不多，這也無傷大雅，反正續集大多會作出補完，然而本作中某些情節則的確是太急了。這個例子就是男女主角的關係，在沒有多少經歷之下突飛猛進，Peter與其他伙伴的關係亦然，一開始眾人的關係都是建基在金錢或利益上，越獄後也馬上變成生死之交了。不過這也可以解釋到的，始終這五名混蛋都是大笨蛋，這便說得通了。

另一個較難讓人接受的就是角色的過度弱化了。本作的大反派Ronan，身為堂堂Kree族戰士，竟被一顆石消滅了？……我當然不會這樣想了，那顆可是Infinite Stone呀，而且是Power Stone，那不秒殺Ronan才奇怪，相反，能夠持著Infinite Stone好一段時間的四人才是強得不可思議，所以我不滿的並不是這一段。我認為Drax及Gamora實在太弱了，Drax怎樣看也是個頭腦不靈光的壯漢，雖然氣力大，然而還是沒有使人認同他是Destroyer的程度，這也罷了，希望續集的發揮會更大吧。而Gamora真是慘不忍睹，身為Thanos最鐘愛的繼女，有殺人武器稱號的怪物，竟然連一個普通人手上的源石都搶不到，身手不夠靈活外，沒有癱瘓對手的行動就背著跑路，這真是一個訓練有素的殺手？看來只是個菜鳥吧。相反Yondu一枝飛箭就能秒殺一隊敵人，這個對比可真夠巨大。

本作尾段的大戰實在有點似星戰，戰機的造型也有點面善，沒辦法，星戰始終是星際戰爭的經典，後世作品有點相似也是自然不過的。然而，本作登場的外星人造型實在太遜了，實在無法與上世紀的星戰比擬。在星戰世界中，各種外星人都有著奇形怪狀的外型，使人一眼就看得出他是外星人，而本作嘛，不知道是不是美感問題，絕大部份的外星人都是人模人樣，很多都只是皮膚顏色與人類有別而已，更多的甚至是完全的人類模樣，實在是代入感不足呀。而本作最怪模怪樣的外星人，就是Rocket和Groot了。

總括而言，本作是一部很成功的商業片，對於Marvel Cineverse的擴充有著重要的作用。更教人讚賞的是，導演能夠把二線的漫畫人物拍得如此精彩，觀賞價值直逼一線人物，真是個厲害人物。這下Marvel可有樂子了，大概會有更多知名度不太高的人物也能在大銀幕上活躍起來吧，對觀眾而言，這也是一件美事。

85分。