A walking tree, a talking raccoon, and a man who calls himself Star-lord – to most people not familiar with the Marvel comic-verse, it may seem like the start to an off the wall joke. But Guardians of the Galaxy is nothing short of a spectacular adventure, one that does a very good job of poking fun at itself and keeping the audience laughing along the way. It’s smart, when it needs to be, and poignant at times you wouldn’t expect.
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The story focuses on a ragtag band of interstellar thieves and thugs. Peter Quill, the self proclaimed Star-lord (played by Parks and Rec’s Chris Pratt) is abducted from his home world of Earth as a young boy and raised by a ship of smugglers. When he decides to fly solo on a job, and crosses his boss, Star-lord finds himself in the middle of an intergalactic war. Joined by Rocket, Groot, Drax and Gamora – this unlikely group of heroes sets out to save the galaxy from one very unhappy Kree warlord named Ronan the Accuser.
With Avengers, most of the team had several films to really give non comic-readers a chance to grow with and understand these characters. Guardians had only a couple of hours to achieve that. Each member of this ensemble cast gets enough of screen and back-story time to have you really rooting for them by the climax of the film.
They key to Guardians’ success is making a very unbelievable world, and it’s inhabitants, accessible to the every day movie goer. Director James Gunn draws the viewer in with his all to real and relatable characters. Humor goes a long way in bringing them to life, as does the blend of practical effects and CGI. Rocket and Groot blend seamlessly into the same space as the rest of the played-by-real-life-actors team. One thing fans of the comics will delight in is seeing a closer look at the next big bad brewing in the movie-verse.
Marvel took a chance on this little known property and created another action packed blockbuster. Guardians of the Galaxy is the perfect space rock-opera to introduce viewers to the infinite intergalactic worlds in Marvel’s expanding cinematic universe.
