Character, Plot, Story and the Guardians of the Galaxy

I didn't enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy all that much.

There, I said it. In fact, I know exactly why I didn't like it all that much. There were characters with problems. And how the characters overcome their problems, scene by scene, is the plot.

And when the characters themselves change dramatically, such that major values they held at the beginning of the film no longer apply to them at the end of the film, and the changing of these values comes about as they encounter and overcome the various obstacles that stand between them and their goal, then you have a story.

Guardians of the Galaxy didn't have a story.

I can't quite put my finger on why I feel that way. It just seems that Rocket's attachment to Groot way to readily heralded his change. Gamora's change was completely unexplained. Drax didn't change. Groot didn't change. Quill didn't change. Ronan didn't change. Yondu didn't change. During Drax's big fistfight with Ronan halfway through the film, I realized I didn't really care what happened next. The big showdown at the end was beautifully filmed and even well-acted, and it was clearly the inevitable conclusion to the plot.

On the other hand, star power matters. Nobody went to see the Transformers movie for Shia LeBeouf, but a lot of people went to see Rocket Raccoon.

A lot of the complaints have to do with the Marvel milieu, about how an audience not steeped in the Guardians and the Starjammers, Thanos and Galactus, the Shiar and the Skrull, and all the terminology of the various space-faring contemporary Marvel universe, would be terribly lost and would lose all concern. Maybe. But I found I didn't care that much even knowing all that stuff.