Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

First off, any film where you have a talking Raccoon flying a space ship and blasting people away with a big gun is a must-see for me. Top that with a space opera setting that’s tied into the Marvel Universe and it’s shocking that people thought this was a “gamble”. I knew this film was going to be fantastic and I didn’t need psychic powers to know it. Chris Pratt plays Starlord, Zoe Saldana plays the sexy green bounty hunter Gamora, David Bautista is the muscle Drax and Bradley Cooper voices Rocket the talking raccoon and Vin Diesel voices the walking tree Groot. Together they’re criminals (a team of Han Solos) who must save the Universe from a tyrant named Ronan the Accuser played by Lee Pace, a vengeful villain set on wiping out an entire planet. Add in a great ‘60s/’70s soundtrack to the mix and this is an extremely entertain film. The only issue I had with it in general was that the villain, Ronan, is menacing enough, sure, but he’s pretty one-dimensional. I’m not saying every villain needs to be multi-layered but they should stand out somewhat. While Mr. Pace does what he can, and he looks great, I felt he was a pretty forgettable character. In many ways it doesn’t matter because it’s the team-up aspect of the plot that drives the story. I just hope for the next film, and let’s green-light the sequel now folks, Marvel gives us a much more interesting bad guy. The villainous character that steals the show in this one is Yondu played by Michael Rooker. I doubt he could ever be the main villain but he’s the kind of bad guy they need in the second one. The villain needs to be a real threat while at the same time engaging. Ronan was a stiff God-like character with no personality. Ultimately I want to applaud director and writer James Gunn. He did a wonderful job bring this comic to life. This is a terrific example of how to make a fun Summer movie that doesn’t feel stupid. Every film maker of these kind of films should be taking notes. Grade: A