Marcel Winatschek

The Guardians Exception

I hate superhero movies. The formula locks in place before they start writing. Spider-Man wins. Batman wins. Iron Man wins. You know it’s coming before you sit down. If he loses this time, it’s just so he can win next time.

Guardians of the Galaxy hit all the same buttons. The story is scaffolding. The characters are transparent. It’s built to evaporate from your memory by Tuesday. Fair criticism. Except: for two hours the universe explodes around you. Everything collapses into pure spectacle. You stop thinking. You just watch.

When the second film came around, the trailer dropped with Baby Groot, this tiny tree character from the first film. He was ridiculous and that was the whole point. You knew the ending. You knew you’d forget it within a week. You knew it was formula. But you’d buy a ticket anyway because for two hours Baby Groot did ridiculous things and the world exploded and you could stop thinking.