GUARDIANS of the GALAXY      4.0***

 

      “Guardians of the Galaxy” plays out like Star Wars at warp speed !!! It’s a fast, ferocious and  bad-ass entertaining thrill ride throughout. Following a rag tag group of intergalactic criminals, Guardians has the plot line of a Star Wars film, the characters of a Dirty Harry film and the action of every Marvel movie combined. What makes this film stand out from the rest of the Marvel films is that it engages you knowing that you probably have absolutely no idea who or what the hell this is. Unlike the fans of the comic, I had no knowledge of “Guardians of the Galaxy” but the movie educates you on everything you need to know  while giving proper character development without too heavily relying on the comic books as "common knowledge".

 

Chris Pratt as Peter, the leader of the “band of bad-asses” is awesome in this film. He reminds me a lot of Indiana Jones in space. He's a wise cracking, ass kicking rebel who can beat-up with his words or his fists (more times than not, it’s his fists) . The film comes at you like a bullet train that’s about to derail. You're always engaged with these characters despite the fact the main crew of misfits  consists of a talking high octane raccoon named Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a tall talking tree named Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a massively muscled angry guy named Drax (pro wrestler Dave Bautista), a green- skinned female assassin named Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and the only true human, Peter (Chris Pratt ) .The film is really amazing in that you look at these characters and the ridiculousness of the situation and still don't even question it .

 

The movie looks spectacular throughout, probably thanks to the huge number of "Digital & CGl Artists" who take up a large part of the end credits.  Sound wise, it may seem odd that a 2014 state of the art sci- fi movie would have a 1970's super music  soundtrack including   “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”, “Ooh Child”, “A’int No Mountain High Enough”,” Escape”( Pina Colada Song) and, of course, Blue Swede's "Hooked On A Feeling", all of which is completely explained and rather poignant.( It would be nice,  if kids started downloading some of this awesome old stuff (including the early 60’s “beach music”) and  listened to some real music (so spoken by an old fart). As for whether to see the 3D version. YES. And furthermore, it’s even more spectacular if seen at a true Imax theater. Movies like Guardians is why IMAX and 3D were created.

 

“Guardians of the Galaxy” is the ultimate summer flick. Something that's just plain  fun for you and the whole family. Geeks will bow, audiences will cheer, and the film will secure itself as a new and enlightened franchise for years to come. It's a blend of every clever nuances and many of the thing you love about the movies all rolled into one spectacular experience. It's delicious in nearly every way. And,  even if you are not a comic book superhero movie fan,  you'll have a great time seeing this movie  so long as you like action movies ). It is that good.

One thing people want to know about Marvel films is whether to stay for the end credits ? YES, and without being a spoiler, I'll say two things: one, it's NOT a big reveal or anything like that, but two, it's really funny.

Rated PG-13 forsome intense sequences of violence and action, and for some language