Title: Guardians of the Galaxy
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
Runtime: 2 hr 1 min

What It Is: What do a renegade smuggler, an assassin, a man with nothing to lose, and a pair of off-beat bounty hunters have in common? Not a damn thing! At least that’s what you’d think superficially., and you me and anyone thinking this is wrong. Our heroes, though they dont start as heroes are very much the same. And they’re going to have to be in order to save the galaxy from Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) and his army. We start off on a distance planet where Ravanger Peter “Star Lord Quill (Pratt) is retrieving some sort of important artifact ala Indian Jones. He betrays the leader of the Ravangers, Yondu (Michael Rooker) and heads towards the Nova Corps home world Xandar to collect. While on his way there Yondu has placed a bounty that bounty hunter Rocket (Bradley Cooper) intends to collect alongside his tree-like partner Groot. Trouble ensues when a turncoat of Ronan’s army Gamora finds the orb, while Quill is also having to deal with Rocket and Groot.

What We Think: This truly is the best Marvel film since Avengers. The space opera vibe juxtaposed with the awesome late sixties, early seventies soundtrack gives us a nice little area to explore, fall with, and understand the films varied protagonists. Having two CG characters, one of which only says one word of dialogue could have harmed the film…COULD HAVE! It didn’t Rocket is every bit the scene stealer and Bradley Cooper was perfect for the role, Groot says a lot with those three words, and surprisingly Dave Bautista absolutely murders it as Drak the Destroyer. He’s got this deadpan that just hits perfectly.

Our Grade: A+, It’s almost as great a film as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. ALMOST! It will be this generations Star Wars and I have absolutely no doubt about that! It has it’s true baddie in Thanos, and the quest for the Infinity Stones will continue. Let’s get back to that soundtrack which had The Runaways classic “Cherry Bomb” among the other great tracks. I mention that one specifically because I love a good old fashion punk song. Go see this damn movie! It’s the most fun, and slightly emotional ride of summer, and one you’ll not soon forget!