SYNOPSIS: From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. 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 Quill 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:  With Guardians of the Galaxy, I'm “hooked on a feeling,” and that feeling is that this movie is one of the best films of the summer, and one of Marvel’s most ambitious films to date. But wait. Hold up a second. How can a movie starring a somewhat little known actor Chris Pratt and a talking raccoon possibly live up to the bombastic atmosphere of Marvel’s Ironman, Thor and Avengers? Well a mix of phenomenal soundtrack, knife sharp comedy and stellar visuals all balanced by a good dose of action, and you've got the perfect formula for a great summer movie to set up towards the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Let me begin by talking about the myriad of fantastic characters in Guardians of the Galaxy, and trust me, there are a lot of them. This movie does not only provide you with a small cast of main characters and fill up the background with cardboard cutouts of people. Each character is unique and has a distinct personality, making you love them or hate them as needed. Chris Pratt does an amazing job as the protagonist Peter Quill (or as he prefers to be called, Starlord). Pratt’s particular brand of charismatic sarcasm and humor is reminiscent of Tony Stark’s snarkiness, but he brings his own dorky and loveable demeanor to the table in order to stand out. Don't get me wrong, Starlord is not just a comedic protagonist, as he does his fair share of butt kicking using ingenuity and a variety of high-tech gadgets and weapons, but his real talent is his quick tongue and ability to talk himself and his team out of any situation. The rest of the team is comprised of Zoe Saldana as the interstellar assassin Gamora, a badass chick with serious combat ability thanks to her training and physical augmentation at the hands of Thanos, her adoptive father. Gamora has a soft side, which must be coaxed out throughout the movie, and while Saldana’s acting may have been slightly under par, it can be excused by the fact that her character should seem like the naïve alien, and her fighting skills more than make up for it. Next up is Drax the destroyer played by Dave Bautista, a musclebound revenge-machine who seeks to enact his wrath upon the movie’s main villain Ronan, though his inability to understand sarcasm or metaphors leads to a bottle of laughs in itself. The next teammate is Rocket Raccoon, voiced masterfully by Bradley Cooper. In my humble opinion, Rocket stole the show with his nonstop quips that had the audience cracking up at just the right moments, mixed with his tough guy attitude and ingenuity. Rounding out the Guardians is the reticent Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, a creature with lines mainly composed of “I am Groot” but bursting with character, making him easily the most loveable of the bunch. 

The film follows this ragtag bunch of outlaws as they are forced to work together in order to escape the law and make a big score with an artifact found by Starlord, but the artifact gets them into a much larger plot, being followed by several factions including Gamoras creepy cybernetic sister Nebula and the menacing warlord Ronan, a character reminiscent of King Xerxes from “300”, except he can actually fight for himself, and fight well. As these unlikely heroes journey through space, they cultivate a friendship that they never expected, and truly become Guardians of the Galaxy. Throughout the adventure the group is accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack of 80s hits that actually play an important and personal role to our protagonist, and will have the audience swaying in their seats from time to time. This is also putting aside the stunning visuals of space that have never been showcased in a Marvel movie beforehand, a gorgeous blend of blues, greens, oranges, and all other colors in the spectrum, creating easily one of the most beautiful Sci-fi movies I have ever seen.

I went into the theatre not expecting much from Guardians of the Galaxy. Even as a self-professed superhero geek, I didn't know much about this fairly recent comic book group, and I was not confident that this could live up to the bravado of Marvel’s previous movies. I was proven wrong within the first 20 minutes of the film. This movie did not need Norse gods or the monotonously familiar skyline of America’s biggest cities in order to be a great movie, it used its own unique blend of comedy, action and atmosphere to make a cinematic experience that you won’t forget for some time. I'm definitely going to see Guardians of the Galaxy a few more times when it arrives in theatres August 1, and I recommend you bring your whole family to watch it. 

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