Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Since Joss Whedon has got involved with Marvel and Disney, there is a different sort of expectation to all of the movies.  The Avengers, which feature the likes of Iron Man, Captain America and other star-studded characters and actors is the franchise that mints money for Marvel and Disney.  The latter knows how to milk a profitable cow and so they’ve delved further into the comic giant’s archives and unearthed the lesser popular Guardians of the Galaxy.
The story is one I haven’t heard, a comic I’ve never read and characters I’m utterly unfamiliar with.  This is usually a good thing for comics, less so, it seems, for independent properties.  There is some hidden depth to comics that I can’t quite quantify, something that Hollywood has yet to replicate with their big-budget movies.

The Guardians of the Galaxy starts with our title character, Peter Quill, watches his mother pass away and is abducted from Earth in the span of a few short minutes.  The story then picks up with Quill all grown and a bit of a roguish character.  He steals something that is sought after from around the universe and the chase begins.

The trailers don’t do the movie, or characters, enough justice.  The mixing of characters, their introductions and weaving of the friendships of the characters is heartfelt and a few napkins might be helpful while watching.  There are some very predictable elements to the story and the execution of the scenes by the able cast makes the whole thing feel like a surprise throughout.  It is nice to feel surprised and see things that pull at you, either to laugh or cry.  Hollywood has lost that effect on me for the most part, but it was nice to enjoy it once again.  I saw this in 3D and it was good enough that I’d say you might enjoy it as such.

The movie was fun.  The actors were superb.  I didn’t know Chris Pratt at all and he made Quill a relatable character that you wanted to root for.  Bradly Cooper was utterly outstanding as the voice of Rocket, the raccoon, and his performance (once again for me, as he was the only redeeming quality to Silver Linings Playbook), is just sublime.  That man brought this pint-sized character to the forefront of the movie and the heart and soul of the story.  This is one you won’t want to miss on the big screen.