Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past and now Guardians of the Galaxy are the 4 superhero movies adapted to the big screen from 3 different studios from the pages of Marvel comic books. Guardians is by far the best one of them and one of the best movies of the year.
Everything in the movie works perfectly from the amazing cast to the fantastic soundtrack to the great action sequences and the story is interesting and filled with great comedy moments that made me laugh more than many so called comedy movies.
I never heard of the comics on wich the movie is based on before the movie was announced but once the cast started to show and they announced Chris Pratt from Parks and Recreations was leading and it featured Zoe Saldana (Star Trek, Avatar), Dave Bautista (WWE), Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) and both Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious, Riddick) and Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle) as the voice of Groot and Rocket Racoon respectively that was enough for me to get interested and then I saw many great names like Glenn Close, Djimon Houson, Benicio del Toro, Michael Rooker, Alexis Denisof and Josh Brolin.
Both Rocket and Groot are incredibly detailed and it’s easy to see why so many people seem to have falled in love with Groot. Groot is the most pure and innocent of all and balances the others even though he is exceptionally strong.
Here’s the plot from Wikipedia:
In 1988, following his mother’s death, a young Peter Quill is abducted from Earth by the Ravagers, a group of space pirates led by Yondu Udonta. Twenty-six years later on the planet Morag, Quill steals an orb only to be intercepted by Korath, a subordinate to the fanatical Kree, Ronan. Although Quill escapes with the orb, Yondu discovers his theft and issues a bounty for his capture while Ronan sends the assassin Gamora after the orb.
When Quill attempts to sell the orb on the Nova Corps home world Xandar, Gamora ambushes him and steals it. A fight ensues, drawing in a pair of bounty hunters: the genetically engineered raccoon Rocket, and the tree-like humanoid Groot. The Nova Corps arrives and arrests the group, imprisoning them in the Kyln. A powerful inmate, Drax, attempts to kill Gamora due to her association with Ronan, who killed his family. Quill dissuades him by saying that Gamora can bring Ronan to him. Gamora reveals that she has betrayed Ronan, unwilling to let him use the orb’s power to destroy entire planets such as Xandar. Learning that Gamora has a buyer for the orb, Rocket, Quill, Groot, and Gamora work together to escape the Kyln.
Elsewhere, Ronan meets with the titan Thanos to discuss his daughter Gamora’s betrayal and the loss of the orb. Accompanied by Drax, Quill’s group escapes the Kyln in his ship—the Milano—and flee to Knowhere, a remote criminal outpost in space built in the giant severed-head of a celestial. A drunken Drax summons Ronan, while the rest of the group meet Gamora’s contact, Taneleer Tivan. Tivan opens the orb, revealing an Infinity Stone, an item of immeasurable power that destroys all but the most powerful beings who wield it. Suddenly, Tivan’s tormented assistant grabs the Stone, triggering an explosion that engulfs his collection.
Ronan arrives and easily defeats Drax, while the others flee by ship, pursued by Ronan’s followers and Gamora’s sister Nebula. Nebula destroys Gamora’s ship, leaving her floating in space, and Ronan’s forces leave with the sphere. Quill contacts Yondu before following Gamora into space, giving her his helmet to survive; Yondu arrives and retrieves the pair. Rocket, Drax, and Groot threaten to attack Yondu’s ship to rescue them, but Quill negotiates a truce by convincing Yondu that they can recover the orb. The group agrees that facing Ronan means certain death, but that they must stop him from using the Infinity Stone to destroy the galaxy. On Ronan’s ship, the Dark Aster, Ronan embeds the Stone in his warhammer, taking its power for himself. He contacts Thanos, threatening to kill him after the destruction of Xandar; hateful of her adopted father, Nebula allies with Ronan.
On Xandar, the Dark Aster is confronted by Yondu’s fleet, the Nova Corps, and Quill’s group, which breaches the Dark Aster. Ronan uses his empowered warhammer to destroy the Nova Corps fleet. Drax kills Korath, and Gamora defeats Nebula (who escapes) and unlocks Ronan’s chambers, but the group finds themselves outmatched by his power until Rocket crashes the Milano through the Dark Aster and into Ronan. The damaged Dark Aster crash lands on Xandar, with Groot sacrificing himself to shield the group. Ronan emerges from the wreck and prepares to destroy Xandar, but Quill distracts him, allowing Drax and Rocket to destroy Ronan’s warhammer. Quill grabs the freed Stone, and with Gamora, Drax, and Rocket sharing its burden, they use it to destroy Ronan.
In the aftermath, Quill tricks Yondu into taking a container supposedly containing the Stone, then gives the real Stone to the Nova Corps. As the Ravagers leave Xandar, Yondu remarks that it turned out well that they did not deliver Quill to his father. Quill’s group, now known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, have their criminal records expunged, and Quill learns that he is only half-human, his father being part of an ancient, unknown species. Quill finally opens the last present he received from his mother; a cassette tape filled with her favorite songs. The Guardians leave in the rebuilt Milano along with a sapling cut from Groot.
In a post-credits scene, Tivan sits in his destroyed archive with two of his living exhibits: a canine cosmonaut and an anthropomorphic duck.
The story is interesting and moves quickly. One of the things I liked is how many of these characters outside of the Guardians have survived wich may lead to Nebula, Prime, Youndu and Tivan showing up in the sequel that is schedule to be released in July 28, 2017.
One of the things I heard even before watching the movie was how good the soundtrack was and how important it was to the movie itself and so I downloaded it before leaving to see it.
My favorite soundtrack is from the 8 Mile movie but this one is fantastic with so many great songs. My favourite ones are in bold.
Awesome Mix vol.1:
1. Blue Swede – Hooked on a Feeling
2. Raspberries – Go All the Way
3. Norman Greenbaum – Spirit in the Sky
4. David Bowie – Moonage Daydream
5. Elvin Bishop – Fooled Around and Fell in Love
6. 10Cc – I’m Not in Love
7. Jackson 5 – I Want You Back
8. Redbone – Come and Get Your Love
9. The Runaways – Cherry Bomb
10. Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Pina Colada Song)
11. The Five Stairsteps – O-O-H Child
12. Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
For more on the movie check this article on io9.
Thinking About Nothing At All 