Unsolicited Movie Review – Guardians of the Galaxy

The best movie I ever “heard” about was, without a doubt,  “Legends of the Fall”.

The most disappointing movie I ever “saw” was, without a doubt, “Legends of the Fall”.

Some of my favorite films are ones where I had no expectations walking into the theater. I suppose it is human nature to build up your hopes so high that it’s practically impossible for anything to live up to the hype. Conversely, I have loved films others completely panned.  Now that I think about it maybe I’m just a contrarian.

Did I mention just how much “Legends of the Fall” sucked?  Oh, I didn’t. Well maybe because there is no way to describe the level of SUCK that movie achieved.

Anyway, after hearing how awesome the new Marvel Comics film “Guardians of the Galaxy” was going to be (mostly from the studio itself), I was a little nervous. I intentionally read the articles, reviews and observations of last night’s Sneak Previews with a grain of salt. I don’t know if I had unrealistically overblown expectations or if I was an Opinion Virgin whose predilections were as pure as the driven snow. Maybe I'll never know.

What I do know is that “Guardians of the Galaxy” is as fun and entertaining of a movie as you’ll see this summer. Marvel continues an amazing streak of successful adaptations of its cache of comic book series. Where Guardians strays from the formula is that all the other movies were from well established brands. Spiderman, The Hulk, Captain America, X-Men etc were all well known in popular culture outside of the comic book community. Guardians is significantly lesser known. So would the story work? Would audiences embrace unfamiliar characters? Would the adaptation be entertaining or just cheesy? All the questions were answered and answered correctly. Top to bottom the film delivers.

The story is compelling. The script is tight and efficiently tells enough backstory to set up the series without cutting into the meat of the action. The characters are amazingly likable and have sharp chemistry.  The jokes work and the action was exciting.  Oh and Green women are pretty hot. Who knew?

For fear of over-recommending the film and turning Guardians into an overblown wall of suck for you like "Legends of the Fall" is for me I will leave my review with this. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was well worth the price of admission.