Guardians of Awesome - Guardians of the Galaxy Review "Oh. Yeah." When it comes to Marvel these days , they always seem impenetrable commercially and critically. To follow suite I predict that “Guardians..” will be the next big on their list. Iconic for sure. It seems that even for a lesser known property of Marvel, they still know what they are doing. We will be seeing more from them in the future for sure. Mix in a little bit of Star Wars,Star Trek, and Firefly/Serenity and great gags, then you have this film. Chris Pratt - famous for his role on “Parks and Rec” and earlier this year he voiced the lovable Emmet in “The Lego Movie” - plays Peter Quill, a human who is “abducted” off earth by a group of aliens when he was a kid. Raised in space, among dangerous creatures, and alien species alike, Peter learned to survive as sort of a rogue and scavenger, self-titled as “Star Lord”. Early in the movie he attempts to recover a artifact that is some sort of orb thing. It is the film’s way of setting off events that will come up later in the Marvel movie ‘verse, but here it serves the purpose to bring all the main characters of “Guardians” together. Other than Peter, Aka “Star Lord”, you have the feisty Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the vengeful Drax (Dave Bautista), the wise cracking Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and his muscle, the lovable tree creature, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). Basically it’s a riot. Fun fun fun. And then more fun. The humor is what makes the film excel. Pratt as Star Lord is great. His character takes elements from Han Solo to Indiana Jones, to well…Chris Pratt. He is likable - you learn some about his childhood before his “abduction” - funny and has heart. Zoe works fine as an alien fem-fatale of the group. She’s smart and kicks plenty of but in the film. The real gem - or gems - here are Rocket and his partner in crime, Groot. Rocket is a supposedly experimented creature “- raccoon like” - and Groot is a tall tree creature who can only speak the words “I am Groot”. Seriously. But it’s awesome. Rocket steals the show most of the time he is on screen. Cute but smack talking. Lovable and hilarious to boot. Groot’s ability to only say “I am Groot” makes him just as funny and as lovable. He also kicks but when the film kicks into high gear action. Rocket may be the only one who can understand him, but with the CGI and through the different ways the single line of dialogue is uttered, he’s easy enough to understand on an emotional level. Some of the funniest moments come from those two characters alone. Also some of the best emotional ones. The film has heart too. The soundtrack is awesome as well. Due to Peter being a child of the 80’s - he has a Walkman tape player in the movie - the soundtrack is infused some of the best songs of the 70’s and 80’s Including Blue Swede’s, “Hooked On A Feeling” and Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Can’t get enough of Vol. 1 of that mix tape Peter has in his Walkman. Pure awesome. The weak parts of the film for me thought were the film’s antagonist Ronan the Accuser. Ronan (Lee Pace) is an okay villain in terms of villains, the problem is that he has no character other than “I want power and to kill things.” You understand why the focus isn’t on his backstory - to have more development for the main characters - but he isn’t a very interesting character because of this. It’s really about who he’s working for….don’t worry no spoilers here. Dave Bautista does have some funny moments and is cool in action as Drax, but for me his character was the least interesting out of the group of “Guardians”. His “vengeance” backstory isn’t very compelling or original but he still has some funny scenes to make up for this. Those are only small grips though. Overall it’s fun, action packed and incredibly funny. It’s packed full of Easter eggs from the Marvel Universe that will tie into later movies. Remember the mid credit tease at the end of the “Avengers”? What about the one at the end of “Thor: The Dark World”? Keep an eye out for those. So yeah Guardians was awesome. Check it out of you like Sci-fi, space opera, Marvel, and just a good time at the movies. You won’t regret it. Seriously, check it out. If you enjoyed the “Avengers” this ain’t much too different. It’s just more Sci-fi. Think Star Wars and Firefly (minus a Joss Whedon writing credit). 4 and 5/3 talking Raccoons out of 4 You’re Welcome. *Note: I was not familiar with the comic series that this film is based on before I saw the film. Most of my knowledge comes from the internets and and some knowledge I had of the film before it’s release.