Movie Review - Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy  $$$$

 

PG-13

121 Minutes

Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, and Lee Pace.

Director: James Gunn.

            Based on a Marvel comic, Guardians of the Galaxy deals with a group of misfits that come together a team of heroes in the end. This is the movie I have been waiting for all year and I was not disappointed. 

            Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), a.k.a Starlord, was abducted from Earth as a child by a band of galactic rogues. Jump ahead 26 years and we find Quill pulling a galactic Indiana Jones as he recovers a mysterious orb. His buyer backs out of their deal when he discovers that Ronan (Lee Pace) is also interested in the artifact. As if that isn’t bad enough, the bounty hunter team of Racoon (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) attack him and an assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) attempts to steal the orb from him at the same time. All parties involved end up in jail and decide to work together in order to escape.

            The movie is fast-paced, action-packed, and funny. Here is how I ranked each of the aspects of the film: 

            1. Fun – Yes. Of the four areas I rate each movie, Guardians of the Galaxy fared the best in the fun department. Great fights. Great humor. Great characters interacting with one another in an extremely entertaining manner.

            If I could give more than a Full MB for this category I would.  

            2. Story – The main storyline is fairly typical. A bunch of misfits learn to work together to become something truly great. And for that I would normally only give a half MB for story. However, the writers did an excellent job of weaving a heart-warming element into the film. That’s right, I said heart-warming. The subplot between Peter and his mother really gave it the additional emotional boost to make this film special.

            I give Guardians of the Galaxy a Full MB for story.

            3. Technical – There are plenty of explosions, cool alien ships, and of everything that goes with them. The Director did an excellent job putting the film together. My only complaint with the film is I didn’t care for the makeup job they did on the red aliens. That part of it looked a little cheesy to me. But it wasn’t enough for me to reduce the rating of the movie because of it.

            I give Guardians of the Galaxy a Full MB for technical.

            4. Acting – I thoroughly enjoyed most of the characters in the film, but if I had to pick out a weak point in the movie it would be acting. Chris Pratt is amazing as Peter Quill. After seeing him in this film I want to find out what else he’s done and watch those movies. Dave Bautista as Drax and Michael Rooker as Yondu were also great. I felt that the rest of the cast were good, but not nearly as impressive.

            I give Guardians of the Galaxy a Full MB for acting.            

            Put all of that together and Guardians of the Galaxy gets a rating of 4 Movie Bucks. It isn’t a perfect movie, but its strengths really made up for its weaknesses. I caught it as a matinee, but only because I wanted to beat the crowds.

 

                        Randy’s Rating System 

$$$$   = Full Price    See this movie right away and pay full price, it’s worth it.

$$$     = Matinee      Catch this as a matinee or other discounted showing.

$$        = Discount     Wait until this movie reaches a discount theater near you.

$          = Rental         Wait until this movie reaches your local video rental outlet.

0          = No Sale       Don’t see this movie at any price.