TwitReview – “Guardians of the Galaxy” – Fantastic action, humor, story, and characters. Up there with “The Avengers” in scope, size, and enjoyment. Grade A+

Overview

Guardians of the Galaxy is the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of Star Wars and it works on so many levels. We get the unsung group of rogues that come together to stop the evil that is growing and vying to destroy the galaxy. A thief, a warrior, a fighter, and two bounty hunters – it may sound like a roll playing game, but it is a winning formula that just works.

The movie starts with the introduction of a young Peter Jason Quill in 1988  as he is with family at the local hospital. They are there to be with his mother who is dying of cancer, a hard thing for Quill to watch. Upon getting a gift from his mom and watching her die, Peter runs outside to cry and be alone when he is spotted by an alien spaceship. This ship grabs Quill and takes him away to a world of adventure.

Fast forward 26-years later and we see a grownup Quill (Chris Pratt) looking for a mysterious orb. Upon finding the orb, Quill is intercepted by the Kree worrier Korath (Djimon Hounsou) who is trying to retrieve this orb for Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). Managing to take the orb and escape from Korath, Quill goes to Xandur (an Earth-like planet) to sell the Orb to the buyer that was looking for it, but in turn runs into Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who is the estranged daughter of Thanos (voiced by Josh Brolin) and “sister” to Nebula (Karen Gillan). Gamora wants the orb so she can stop Ronan and in-turn Thanos. Meanwhile Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) are trying to capture Quill because of a bounty put on their heads by Yando (Michael Rooker) the leader of the Ravagers as Quill double-crossed him on the retrieval of the Orb.

These events lead to an amazing break-out from a Nova Corp prison, The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) and his vast collections with revelations about the Orba battle on a minor colony built inside the head of a former space-giant, and a final battle that will leave you holding your breath waiting to see how it all comes to an end.

What Worked

• EVERYTHING!!! This movie from start to finish had it all and it all worked! The character development is the best we’ve seen in a long time in a Marvel movie. We get who the character is and where they came from in the form of dialogue and it works in keeping the movie moving forward and not taking away from the character. Quill is our eyes of the movie and his is the only story we see with his abduction from Earth.
• Rocket and Groot – These two are the Han Solo and Chewbacca of the group. They work so well together and the CGI is so refined that you’d think a Raccoon with a big gun and talking, walking tree are real. Cooper and Diesel do amazing work with the voices (even if Groot really has one line) and show that delivery is how you make the character real. Rocket is just kick-ass amazing in his attitude and personality while Groot delivers a lot of emotion when he says “I am Groot”.
• Drax (Dave Bautista – yes, the former WWE wrestler) and Gamora are the brute and the warrior who work so well in their own ways. Their banter back and forth really drives their scenes.
• Thanos!! And he speaks!!!!
• Did I hear the words Infinity Stone??? Could this be the lead-in to what The Avengers third movie will be about? And did I just see the Tesseract and the Aether when learning about these Infinity Stones??
• The Nova Corp – I had doubts when I read that John C. Riley and Glenn Close were cast to be Corpsman Dey and Nova Prime. Riley did a great job as being part of the comic relief but not to over-the-top comically, just his being himself and natural. Close as Nova Prime delivered a strong performance and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing her again in the sequel.
• Having a villain that can carry his own weight is great. Don’t get me wrong, I like all the Marvel films, but Ronan is a character that really has an end-goal in mind of what type of destruction he wanted.
• The soundtrack – having songs from the 70’s and early 80’s be the backdrop used by Quill showed his connection to Earth. There is something fun seeing aliens get into the grooves of the music. Stay through the credits for the early mid-credit sequence and you’ll see how the music moves one of the characters.

What didn’t work

• There was no wrong step at all anywhere.

My final thoughts

Director James Gunn and his co-writer Nicole Perlman deliver a fresh breath in the Marvel cinematic universe with Guardians of the Galaxy by giving us a fun, fast, action-packed, kick-ass, humorous, good time.

Run time is 121 minutes with PG-13 rating.