Guardians of the Galaxy
Synopsis:
An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits — Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand — with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.
Review:
Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) is a wise-cracking thief and philanderer, with a penchant for Earth music from the 70s. Gamora is a conflicted assassin and the adopted daughter of the supervillain Thanos. Rocket is a talking raccoon and bounty hunter – a former medical experiment who now has genius level mechanical abilities. Groot is a tree-like creature who acts as Rocket’s bodyguard and who can only speak three words “I am Groot.” And Drax is a tortured man (who takes everything literally) driven by revenge for the death of his family. These five unique characters unite to form the unlikeliest of superhero teams.
The casting was spot on. Chris Pratt was born for his role as Peter Quill. And I’m convinced no one could do it better. And John C. Reilly and Glenn Close shine as their respective Nova Corps characters. As a fan of the comics, I couldn’t be happier. Director James Gunn and Marvel really pushed the envelope when introducing a film with a talking raccoon and sentient tree as central characters. And succeeded in creating a brilliant movie without equal.
Guardians of the Galaxy is an action-packed, intergalactic adventure with a lot of laugh-out-loud comedy. In fact, the audience was laughing so much that it was easy to miss dialog. I had high expectations after seeing the fantastic trailers set to great songs (“Hooked on a Feeling” and “Spirit in the Sky”) – a genius marketing strategy. I was just hoping the film could live up to all the hype. And amazingly enough, it did. Adding classic 70s pop songs as an integral part of the film was smart and took the whole experience to another level. It’s emotional, riveting, gritty, and hilarious. This will be yet another Marvel movie that I’ll be watching multiple times in the theatre.
I thought Captain America: The Winter Soldier would be hard to top, but Guardians of the Galaxy is now my favorite movie of 2014.