Eastern Carolina Style

The wait is over, Guardians of the Galaxy  is here! The summer of 2014 finally has a big budget winner!

Okay, so there have already been a couple of good movies this summer. Godzilla was good, Rise of the Planets of the Apes was good, Lucy was good.

How about this instead?

Hooray! Marvel has finally given us a big budget winner this summer!

Oh Wait, I almost forgot about Captain America: The Winter Soldier which was sort of awesome too.

All kidding aside, the much anticipated Marvel Comics movie The Guardians of the Galaxy is finally in theatres. Since the movie was first mentioned back in 2010, fans have been buzzing about this new entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Groot and Drax have all taken their place on the big screen for our enjoyment, peace and order may now return to the world.

Before I jump into my opinions about the movie, I have to confess one minor sin that the fan-boys might rip me over. I have never read one single issue of any comic that the Guardians appear in. I knew absolutely nothing about the characters before sitting down in the theatre. I think I did myself a favor in that.

The Guardians of the Galaxy consists of a group of heroes and villains that are all highly entertaining with a perfect cast to portray them.

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/ Star-Lord is great; his portrayal of the 80s music obsessed space pirate is almost equal parts, Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and Harrison Ford as Han Solo.

Gamora is an assassin as well as the adopted daughter of galactic nut-job Thanos and is played by Zoe Saldana. She was solid, not spectacular or anything, but definitely solid.

Dave Bautista is a pleasant surprise as Drax; the super-literal revenge driven alien warrior. Bautista is able to overcome his WWE attached stigma to offer a performance that is enjoyable and often very funny.

Rocket Raccoon is a 3 foot tall genetically engineered, wise-cracking, slightly emotionally unstable, galactic bounty hunter. Bradley Cooper was brought in to supply the voice work for the raccoon, and he is perfect in the role.

Groot is an 8 foot tall lovable, yet easily enraged to the point of homicide, tree creature that is the partner in crime to Rocket. Vin Diesel was cast as the voice to the character. Honestly, Diesel has to have the easiest gig ever in playing Groot, his total on-screen dialogue consisted of a grand total of FOUR words!

As for the villains, Ronan the Accuser is the main baddy. Lee Pace had the job of playing the genocidal alien maniac. Ronan is a very dark and brooding character; he is far darker than any of the other villains Marvel has presented so far. Ronan was aided by the expert hunter Korath, played by Djimon Hounsou, and Gamora’s adoptive sister and fellow assassin Nebula, played by almost unrecognizable Karen Gillan.

There are also several other notable actors that play substantial roles in the story like; John C Reilly as Nova Corpsman Dey, Glenn Close as Nova Prime, Benicio Del Toro as The Collector, and Michael Rooker as Yondu. All of them contributed to the movie and story is a very positive way, especially Rooker.

The story itself takes place in the same universe as the rest of the Marvel movies that have come out to date. It is also clearly related to the rest of the movies and will, obviously, contribute to the story arc that is currently in progress. Despite that commonality with the other movies, this film is able to stand completely on its own. By the end of the movie, the story is complete and at the same time open-ended for the upcoming sequels and related movies.

This cast of characters and actors kept my attention and kept me happy from beginning to end. The story moved along at a great pace and was a good mix of action, humor, and seriousness. The high points of the movie easily outweigh any negatives, the final battle with Ronan being a low for me. There are also a few surprises in the movie if you are paying close attention and can stick around long enough. Overall, I absolutely LOVED this movie. Get off your butt, go to the theatre and see this movie!