The film begins in 1988, with young Peter Quill at his mother's bedside as she dies. Traumatized by this, Peter flees the hospital...and is immediately kidnapped by aliens. Fast forward to the present, and he is now a roguish devil may care fella (Chris Pratt) who listens to the greatest pop hits of the 70s and 80s whilst wandering through some old ruins on an otherwise abandoned planet to obtain a mysterious Orb, in reality one of the six Infinity "Stones" (not gems, but "stones") that are to set up some later plotline involving Thanos (Josh Brolin), who is now more prominently featured than his post-credits cameo in The Avengers.
But now is a good time to talk about the character Peter Quill. Raised by reavers, basically mercenaries who are more than happy to do any job for any price and with only a code of "steal from everyone" to guide them, he is more than happy to live up to his legendary reputation (be it real or, as the film suggests, imagined) as the "Star Lord". He is cocky, hilarious, and absolutely brilliant. Beneath his hilarious 80s references (I mean, the guy uses the plot to Footloose as a pick up line, c'mon), somewhat devious nature (at one point suggests finding a nice person to sell a planet-destroying superweapon to) and his roguish ladies man qualities, there is a true hero here - a man with a heart of gold who will, when the chips are down, do the right thing.
Quill's theft of the Orb catches the attention of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), in this version of things a Kree fanatic rather than having any affiliation with the Kree Empire itself (during the film, the Kree actually wash their hands of the guy), and he dispatches one of the daughters of Thanos, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve the Orb, much to the chagrin of her adopted sister Nebula (Karen Gillan). At the same time, Quill's former employer (Michael Rooker) decides to put a bounty on him, resulting in Quill being pursued by Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel).
Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. It's a wise-cracking raccoon that deals in heavy artillery. Do you need any further convincing to see this movie?!
Wacky hijinks follow that land the four in prison, where they meet the acquaintance of the muscle-bound, vengeance seeking, walking Thesaurus who takes everything literally, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), who joins their merry band. At first motivated by profit, the group eventually begins to strengthen the bonds between one another and become...well...the Guardians of the Galaxy. And y'know what? They're pretty damn awesome, every one of them. For a film like this, one would think that having so many characters thrown into one film without proper introduction through previous films (a la The Avengers) would fill too thinly spread and schizophrenic in jumping around between them all, but it all balances very well. While Peter Quill is, of course, the main character and gets the most establishment and development in that regard, everyone on the team has their moment to shine.
And that's not even getting into the many, many moments of awesome...of which there are so many.
So...many...awesome...
James Gunn (who you might remember for such memorable things as the live-action Scooby Doo films and the always infamous Lollipop Chainsaw) really brings his talking dog and cheerleader killing zombies expertise into the fore here, getting an astounding performance for everyone involved, and in crafting and bringing to life not a single world but many worlds of interesting variety. From the desolate wasteland world in the beginning to the Knowhere station to the planet Xandar, each world in the galaxy has its own energy and flavor to it. Honestly, it's a universe I'd love to explore and live within. From the gritty yet colorful spaceports to the dark and foreboding halls of Ronan's ship, the Dark Aster, everything has a tone set perfectly for its intended use.
It also feels like watching the older Star Wars movies. While Guardians certainly doesn't lack the sweeping visual scale of the prequel trilogy (while looking far, far better, by the way), the film knows who its supposed to have a tighter focus on, and it focuses. Honestly, unlike some of the films that Marvel has produced, I could argue that every single scene belongs in this movie, and that anything that got cut from it will only add flavor to a meal that is already delicious.
I really can't stress enough, this film is amazing. It is wonderful, great, well done and - while being connected to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe - doesn't have the major problem I've been having with most post-The Avengers films, namely the "where is everyone else?" After all, they can't get into space...yet. But that'll be later down the road, surely. This film itself, as its own entity, is utterly amazing. Like with Thor before it, Marvel took a big gamble and it paid right off. And a sequel announced already? I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and I know someone is going to want me to mention a particular cameo (voiced by Seth Green). I don't really understand it. I find it rather fowl at best...
Guardians of the Galaxy is now in theaters from Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
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