GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Someone pinch me because I must be dreaming. Let's go back to summer of 2012 and the midnight showing of MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS. The auditorium is full and everyone in attendance saw comic book movie history. The excitement of what we all saw was deafening to our ears. Then the post credit scene happened. For those that did not know, they just saw a giant purple guy. But, for the rest of us Marvel Studios just blew our freaking minds. Thanos! Thanos just made an appearance in the MCU! I was shocked that the powers that be were taking it this far. The flood gates have be opened.

With introducing Thanos in the MCU the possibilities of where Marvel Studios took us in the future are now endless. Every comic geek leaving the theater that night knew that a Infinity Gauntlet adaptation was on the horizon. My first thought was the next time we see Thanos will be in the second Thor movie. Nope. Phase II was going to grace us with a new addition to the MCU, and that new film would be GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY.

Wait. What? A talking raccoon and a giant tree alien? Um, no thanks Disney but some things should be left on paper. No kidding. It wasn't until last years Guardians panel at San Diego Comic Con that I was 100% on board for this new Marvel movie. Sure I was going to see it, but until that first glimpse of production I really felt this was going to be the dud that would send Disney into a panic. Then the first trailer hit, and at that moment I knew all was well (for me anyways).

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is awesome! Total 110% space opera. It's every thing I imagined it would be and a whole lot more. Star Wars, Flash Gordon, and most importantly the Marvel Cosmic Universe. My knowledge of this Marvel sub genre is limited. I read a few Silver Surfer issues here and there along with one or two of those Marvel Universe books. So I knew what a Kree, Ronan, and The Collector were. There is a good balance here to make the die hard geeks happy and to keep movie fans from getting bored from cosmic who's who.

The Marvel Cosmic Universe is something I never thought we would see on the silver screen. It took this long to get a Marvel team-up movie so why would we ever see one set in a galaxy far far away? It's kinda sad now really because I don't think the MCU can surprise us anymore? Really the only surprise Disney has left is paying Sony a dump truck size amount of money for the rights of Spider-Man. Sony you've really messed things up.

Outlaw Peter Quill,(or Star Lord as he likes to be called ) goes after a mysterious artifact with a rather large bounty on it. Several people want the artifact including Ronan the Accuser, a Kree Empire terrorist. The Kree Empire, long time enemies of the Nova Empire are about to make peace with one another. This does not bode well with Ronan so he makes a deal with Thanos. Thanos will destroy the home world of the Nova Empire in exchange for the mysterious artifact. This mysterious artifact is in fact a orb containing one of the most powerful items in the universe.

Ronan learns that Quill is in possession of the orb and sends assassin Gamora to retrieve it. The odds do not look so good for Quill who is being hunted by bounty hunters Rocket and Groot. And now added to the mix is Gamora. After an amazing action sequence the four are arrested and sent to prison.

In lock down they all get to know each other pretty well. During that time they meet Drax the Destroyer, who ends up being some much needed muscle. After their escape the five of them band together with a plan to sell the orb for the biggest payday they have ever seen. The group quickly learn of the contents of the orb, a infinity stone. One of the most powerful objects in the known universe.

Ronan acquires the infinity stone and sets out to destroy the Nova Empire himself without the aid of Thanos. Will our group of “heroes” high tail it to the far reaches of space to avoid destruction? Or will the Guardians of the Galaxy try and save the Nova Empire with what is destined to be a glorious suicide mission!

I cannot praise this movie enough! See this film as soon as you can. I'm going again as soon as I finish writing this review.

Everyone does a wonderful job in this thing. The biggest surprise for me was how great Dave Batista was as Drax the Destroyer. His character takes everything seriously and is not familiar with metaphors. It's wonderfully done. Zoe Saldana is great as always (big fan) as the assassin Gamora. But it's Rocket and Groot who steal the show. Meet the new Han Solo and Chewbacca. Like I mentioned earlier this film is total space opera. Complete Star Wars wheelhouse. The other standout is Chris Pratt as Peter Quill. This guy is on fire right now. With this, his sitcom, and JURASSIC WORLD coming up he's kinda like the new Bruce Willis.

The Guardians cast is perfect but my favorite character of the film was Yondu, played by Michael Rooker. I am a huge Michael Rooker fan. He always does an amazing job. Yondu, leader of the Ravagers is so bad ass in this. And he has the most coolest weapon in the MCU. We better see more of him come AVENGERS III time!

With the exception of Loki, villains have been one of the weak elements in these films. With Ronan the Accuser it gets a little better but not quite. He's like Darth Vader but a one note Darth Vader. I'm sure next year James Spader as Ultron will shut me up, in fact I'm counting on it. And speaking of villains GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY gives us are real first look at Thanos. Stellar job by Josh Brolin. Things are about to get real in the MCU.

Eventually the Guardians will cross paths with The Avengers and I'm sure it'll be cool, but hopefully they won't get to carried away with it. I love this film so much I want these films to go their separate way from The Avengers. Sadly we know Disney won't let that happen (ANT-MAN).

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is highly recommended!