"Guardians of the Galaxy"

     What do you get when you combine an 80's loving mercenary, a green alien who is the perfect killing machine, a genetically enhanced raccoon and his friend who is a talking alien tree, and a no-nonsense tattooed alien out for revenge? You get the Guardians of the Galaxy. The most unlikely superheroes you'll ever meet in space. They come together through necessity, and who would have ever guessed they would be able to save a planet, never mind save themselves. When Ronan the Accuser, a Kree radical decides to destroy the planet Xandar, a stronghold in the defense of the Galaxy,  he hopes to break the tenuous treaty between the Nova Corp. and the Kree. In doing so he enlists the help of Thanos and his two "daughters" to help him find one of the Infinity Stones that would allow him to destroy the world just by touching it to the planet. Now the rag-tag team of the Guardians must put aside their differences and help save the world before they lose everything.

     Directed by James Gunn this film stars Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket, Lee Pace as Ronan, Benicio Del Toro as Tanaleer Tivan/The Collector, Michael Rooker as Yondu Udonta, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Glenn Close as Nova Prime, and Josh Brolin as Thanos.

     This was an amazing movie! One of my favorite Marvel movies! I thought the Avengers cast melded together nice, but this movie takes it to the next level. The actors did an amazing job, and the different personalities they all brought to the characters were out of this world good.(pun intended) One of my favorite scenes has to be where they were trying to figure out a plan and then an argument ensues because the one plan they have wasn't good enough! It reminded me of the many
"conversations" me and my siblings would have during one of our many band practices. James Gunn did a marvelous job bringing this movie to fruition. There is somewhat of a fine line you have to walk in order to bring these movies across without them looking cheesy. I mean a genetically altered raccoon, or a talking alien tree could look very silly if you don't put them in the right light. I think he was more than able to walk that line, and make them some of the coolest heroes to come out of the Cinematic Universe to date!

     Alright lets talk about end credits scene that got everybody who was not born before the 80's wondering what the heck is a duck doing there and why is he drinking a cocktail.... That was Howard the Duck. The star of his own movie back in 1986, this was actually Marvel's first big budget film. Costing over $35,000,000 to make and with little to show for it this film bombed at the box office and practically ended the career of Willard Huyck. Surprisingly George Lucas was the executive producer on it. Having him at the end credits was merely a nod to what came before and got me and the other nerds like me excited to see another character from the classic era of Marvel brought to justice on the big screen. This does not mean that Howard is going to get another stand-alone film, but it could mean we might see other cameo appearances from him in future Marvel films.

I would rate this movie a 10 out 10!! From the box office numbers I'm guessing most of you have already seen it, but for all those who haven't what are you waiting for! You are missing the best movie of the summer. Make sure you like my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter!

Peace,
Jake

P.S. If you want to read my other Marvel movie reviews here are a few links to them.
"X-Men: Days of Future Past"
"X-Men: First Class"
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier
"Captain America: The First Avenger"
"The Wolverine"
"Thor: The Dark World" part 2
"Thor" part 1
"Daredevil"
"The Avengers"