Guardians of the Galaxy

     I wouldn't say I am an avid comic book reader, although I do have a few in my collection.  I am however, an avid super hero fan and I knew of the Guardians characters from watching cartoons.  I always enjoyed the characters but the screen time in the shows were always limited to a few episodes and cameos.  I have heard that Marvel took a chance on making the Guardians movie, but right now I think Marvel is on top of its game.  It is the age of the super hero right now.  Although I believe that age started with the advent of Superman, Batman, and Spiderman and has continued on, but for movie sake, it doesn't get any better than the present.  Guardians of the Galaxy is a shot of adrenaline in an already speed induced super hero market.  The lesser known characters of Starlord, Groot, Gamora, Drax and of course the gunwielding racoon, Rocket, are a very interesting introduction to this market.  You may not know much of these characters.  The comics weren't well known and fairly short lived, but after watching this movie, you will want to know more.  I am pretty sure that Marvel will be releasing some new comics and possibly cartoons that help us delve more into the characters, and of course I don't think this will be the last we see of the Guardians on the silver screen.

    Chris Pratt plays Peter Quill a.k.a. Starlord and he does a good job of being the pretentious, self involved ladies man, who even though he seems to be looking out for number one, becomes the leader of a rag-tag group of misfits.  Zoe Saldean does a good job as a brooding assasin and even Dave Bautista of WWE fame does a great acting job.  Bradley Cooper as Rocket was pure genius and even Vin Diesel playing a part truly meant for him as the voice of Groot.  Groot only says three words the whole movie but in a way that oddly makes sense.  Overall the acting was great for this type of film.  There are a lot of points in this movie that the avid comic person will actually like and really take notice of.  Thanos for one is going to be a big character in upcoming films and it was interesting to finally get to see how
    The overall pace of the movie is fast.  The plot is actually well done and keeps you involved.  Amazingly (and here Michael Bay needs to take notes) the comedy in the movie actually flows with the action and the dialogue.  The action itself is non-stop.  There is always something going on.  You even truly hate the bad guy, who does a great job of being the bad guy.  I think the biggest downfall of the movie is the obscurity of the characters, but that can also be the greatest part of this.  Most people don't know them and will be able to enjoy the movie without nitpicking all the small things that can ruin a movie for the more avid or even part-time fans.
    Overall I would say that everyone should go see this movie.  I don't and won't say that very often but there is so much to offer for all movie types.  If you love action, great, if you love comedy, great, if you love sci-fi, great, if you want romance, well maybe a little, talking animals, great, even talking plants, that was covered.  There are explosions, violence and some language throughout.  The humor is more for the adults but thankfully the younger crowd won't understand the crudeness.  I would say keep this to a more mature child range.  The talking racoon may be cute but he is the crudest of them all.  If you are looking for the summer smash hit, then here it is.  It is a Hollywood big bangs, big action film but well done.  If you want nothing but drama then stay away from this movie but if you love comics and everything super hero then this is the movie for you.