Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Marvel's latest installment, Guardians of the Galaxy, gives us an expanded look into their superhero universe. With Guardians of the Galaxy, we get to see the stories of these lesser known heroes come to life.

 

Peter Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, and Drax are the Guardians of the Galaxy, a team formed to protect to world (and galaxy) from all forms of evil. As a powerful orb gets in the wrong hands, they try to do just that, protect the galaxy.

Guardians of the Galaxy was a big risk by Marvel. It features lesser known heroes and it's much more Sci-Fi based than it's previous films (Rocket is a talking raccoon while Groot is a talking tree than can only say 3 words).

The fact that it was able to cash in on a 90+ million dollar opening weekend -on par with Captain American 2- is a testament to the Marvel Brand (and marketing). It's a strong statement that we'll be seeing a lot more superheros in the future.
I admit, the superhero genre has become a bit over saturated lately, but Guardians feels different.

Sure, at times it can fall into some of the typical superheroe cliches, but that's more of a fault with the genre than the film. Unlike most superhero films, it avoids the familiar origin stories of all these characters and gets the point much more quickly.

It also takes on a lighter tone with a more comedic approach and a killer soundtrack.

With tremendous charisma and screen presence, Chris Pratt (Quill) steals the show. Without him, I don't think the movie would have worked as well as it does. As more of a supporting player throughout his career, I hope this movie can finally put him on the map.

Guardians of the Galaxy works as a sci-fi adventure, a superhero film, and an underdog film. It's just a film about a band of misfits who come together for a greater good.

With  fresh characters and dazzling visuals, Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the better starts to a franchise in recent memory. It's a blast.

 

(8/10)