Guardians of the Galaxy Review

We finally have a true summer blockbuster!

In a summer filled with many potential blockbuster films, 2014 is going to go down as a lackluster one for Hollywood.  The box office and attendance is down through July, leaving it up to three films to deliver a true blockbuster for 2014.  The last ditch effort comes from a film industry juggernaut Marvel Studios. Marvel launched a hail Mary pass with one of their strangest comic book series to date, Guardians of the Galaxy.  

Much like Marvel's tent pole series The Avengers, Guardians brings together five heroes.  However unlike Avengers these heroes are brought together not to work together for a greater good, at least to begin with, but for personal gains.  The unlikely band of heroes learn along the way that they work well together and they even begin to care for one another, which is a long way from how they felt to begin the film.  As the action intensifies and the Guardians learn they must work together, the audience is treated to a number of fun action scenes.  From strange new worlds across the galaxy and even into space itself, the action and events of Guardians take us to a place Marvel has never brought their audiences before.  Guardians plays less like a super hero film and much more like a sci-fi shoot'em up western.  Although much of this movie will feel strange and new; the action, comedy, and characters keep the audience enthralled from beginning to end.  

Guardians takes the same format that Marvel Studios has been so successful with in their past franchise films. Take larger than life characters, give them a nice back story, develop these characters on screen, and then bring those characters together to save the world.  The same equation pays off here in Guardians of the Galaxy.  It helps that Marvel always finds and casts great actors for their roles.  In Guardians we see good performances from a number of well known stars.  Chris Pratt plays the lead as Peter Quill a.k.a. Starlord, a human who was abducted from Earth (or Terra as they call it) when he was just a boy.  Gamora a genetically altered assassin played by Zoe Saldana adds some brains and muscle to the team, and former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista brings the pain and a number of hilarious scenes as Drax the Destroyer.  Perhaps the most notable performance of the film actually comes from a star we never even see.  Bradley Cooper voices the genetically altered raccoon Rocket.  Cooper, whose voice is hardly recognizable, is great at providing not only some nice comedic scenes, but also some character depth with his heartfelt performance.  Marvel packs in action and stars, but they are very adept at developing their characters.  With small tidbits unveiled throughout the film, the audience learns background about each of these characters and also begins to identify with them, something that many films this summer have had difficulty doing.  

Guardians of the Galaxy may not be the greatest Marvel film of all time, it may not even be the best of the year.  However this movie asks it's viewers to buckle up and come along on a crazy ride through the galaxy at hyper speed.  Guardians delivers an great action hero film combined with a hilarious comedy, that even finds time to make fun of hero films, all while including an amazing soundtrack.  I give Guardians of the Galaxy a 4 out of 5 stars and would definitely check this one out in theaters.  Go see this one, don't be left in the dark when Guardians 2 comes out in 2017.