Guardians of the Galaxy Review

"You've become part of a bigger universe, you just don't know it yet"

Fury spoke those words to Tony Stark in the first post credits scene of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Those words have finally come to fruition with Guardians of the Galaxy.

*spoilers ahead. A shit load of spoilers*

This is without a doubt the riskiest of the Marvel movies so far. A movie featuring a  talking raccoon and a talking tree? That is what reviewers keep pointing out when talking about this movie. Like we can suspend disbelief for Thor and The Hulk,  but not for Rocket and Groot. An animated movie about talking cars made a ton of money, and yeah it may be a "kid" movie technically, but I know adults who like it. I think movie goers will enjoy Rocket and Groot. Why? Because they are awesome and Rocket is one of the most fleshed out characters I have seen lately. Yeah a cg raccoon. You actually feel bad for the little guy, and you kind of forget he and Groot are just cgi. And Groot. The entirety of his lines are "I am Groot", and yet Vin Diesel gives it a lot of emotion, but then again he has had practice. Anyone remember The Iron Giant? (And if not, why? Go watch it now. It is a great movie)

The other three heroes are just new spins on other character types we have seen before, but it works. (Yes Groot and Rocket are also new takes on classic archetypes, but pshaw). They work incredibly well together.  Star-Lord is the dashing rogue, who seems flighty and a bit stupid at first, but steps up to become the hero. Gamorra, her planet destroyed, then tortured and raised by Thanos to be an assassin.  Drax, a man who watched his family die in front of him, and is driven by revenge.  All things we have seen before, but is done so well it seems fresh.

Ronan and Nebula. The main villains. Nebula the adopted sister of Gamorra, and wants to be the favorite of Thanos. Ronan, a Kree zealot who wants the destruction of the planet Xandar, the home of the Nova Corps(kinda like Green Lanterns for Marvel) and is working for Thanos to achieve this goal.

I am not going to go into the plot. I want to delve into other things, like Thanos. Yup, the mad Titan Thanos, first glimpsed in the post credits for the Avengers, is in the movie. Briefly. He is a legit badass in the Marvel U. His is intimidating and voiced by Josh Brolin. I cannot wait to see him kick the hell out if the heroes in Avengers 3.

And speaking of Avengers 3, any doubt that Avengers 3 would not be about the Infinity Gauntlet is gone after this movie. No more cute names for the stones. They are called the Infinity Stones and Thanos wants them.

This movie opens so many possibilities for future Marvel movies. The Celestials are introduced. The Kree Empire is talked about. Howard the Duck is in it. Yeah, Howard the Duck, but not the version from the horrible Lucas movie. This looks closer to the classic Steve Gerber version. A Howard the Duck movie done right, would be an awesome thing. Who is Star-Lord's father? In the comics he is the King of the Spartax. In the movie the Nova Corp say he is something ancient that the do not recognize. His mother said he was an Angel. Could he be The Beyonder? Adam Warlock?

The most important thing? This movie was a whole lot of fun. There was some cheese, but for the most part it was a straight sci-fi adventure movie. Closer in tone to Ice Pirates, than Star Wars. J.J. and the other future Star Wars helmers should take note of this movie. Go big or go home.

James Gunn got his start with Troma Studios (Troma mastermind Lloyd Kaufman has a brief cameo as a prisoner), did the Scooby-Doo movies, and wrote the remake of Dawn of the Dead, and now this guy pulls off an epic sci-fi film. There is some really cool shit in this movie. A city in the floating, decapitated head of a Celestial is just one of them.

Go see this. You should love it. If you don't, go see the Wizard and get some fun put into you. Movies like this should be fun. This movie is a lot of fun. And it also has a fleshed out raccoon and his talking tree partner. And both of them are way better characters I have seen in some recent big blockbuster movies.

Two minor gripes: The Nova Corps. No centurians or Richard Rider.  Not seeing Centurians taking on ships barehanded made me sad. I guess there are always future movies. And two I don't get why Yondu was in the movie. He was a character in the original Guardians line up that was set way into the future. And he was not the same character really.  Well, I doubt people will care too much about that change, and he was pretty cool in the movie.

See it.