Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro

Guardians of the Galaxy may be the least conventional Marvel film I've seen. The very strong ad campaign for this movie presents it as a satirical comedy that's going to be completely different from their last film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That movie was a serious political thriller first, and a comic book movie second. Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill or "Star-Lord" as he likes to call himself, a petty thief originating from Earth. He steals an orb-like artifact and gets in way over his head. He's chased down by Gamora (Saldana) the galaxy's most deadly assassin, and the servant of the film's antagonist Ronan (Pace), who means to steal the orb's power to destroy planets. They are hunted down by Rocket Raccoon (Cooper) and Groot (Diesel), two bounty hunters. All four are arrested by the Nova Corps. (John C. Reilly and Glenn Close star as members of Nova's galactic police) and in prison, gain Drax the Destroyer (Bautista)'s help to escape. Together, the five of them team up, albeit for different reasons, to make sure Ronan does not get orb and destroy the galaxy.

This movie may just be my favorite of the year so far. I'm a huge fan of Star Wars and the Marvel movies, and in many ways, this movie is a parody of them. But while 50% of the film is hilarious jokes and themes so over-the-top they're funny, the other 50% is your standard Marvel action movie. If you're not familiar with the other movies, some scenes may be confusing. Thanos, the villain teased in the post-credits scene of The Avengers makes an appearance here along with the alien that led the attack on NYC. While these are huge moments for fans of the series, they don't really mean anything to the casual moviegoer who hasn't become invested in Marvel's cinematic universe. The Collector (del Toro) was in the post-credits scene of Thor: The Dark World  and has a big role here. He's one of the people searching for the orb, and he fully realizes its potential. I'm not going to spoil anything, but Marvel fans know what this orb is, and know what the movies have been setting up with the Tesseract in The Avengers and the Aether in Thor: The Dark World. And while there are plenty of nods to 60s and 70s culture to keep the attention of casual moviegoers, I don't think many of them will appreciate the scenes that continue the Marvel universe as well as set up what's coming next.

The whole cast is incredible. Chris Pratt is the star of the show, and his comedic timing is spot-on. Zoe Saldana has shined in sci-fi movies like Star Trek and Avatar and she shines here. Bradley Cooper's voice is almost unrecognizable as Rocket Raccoon, and he and Vin Diesel's Groot have amazing chemistry. Just a heads up, Vin Diesel's character only says the words "I am Groot" over and over. This becomes a hilarious running gag, and Groot steals every scene he's in. Rocket and Groot were my main takeaways from the movie. Dave Bautista is actually not a professional actor, he's a wrestler, but I can see him getting some good action roles after this. He perfectly plays Drax the Destroyer. As Marvel villains go, Lee Pace is very good. Marvel villains are either hit or miss. Tom Hiddleston's Loki from Thor and The Avengers is the best so far, and Hugo Weaving and the Winter Soldier in the Captain America films are other great villains. But the guy in Thor: The Dark World and the Mandarin in Iron Man 3? Forgettable. Karen Gillan is also good as Ronan's #1 servant, and Josh Brolin's cameo as Thanos is excellent.

 The opening is very serious, and the comedy only begins about 20 minutes in. There is also one long fight scene where explosions are just happening all over the screen. That part's near the end, and I'll admit, the explosions got old really fast. There is a lot of action, but there's also a lot of humor. I think everyone should see this movie, but I think different people will appreciate different parts of it. But to everyone who sees this: stay for the entire credits. You won't regret it. The credits shocked the entire audience.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars