Guardians of the Galaxy

Greetings, Guardians of the Galaxy was released in 2014 and is the latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It provides a few subtle references to previous films including the Avengers but it is mostly a self-contained story that revolves around new settings and characters. Some of the most prominent cast members include Chris Pratt as the main protagonist, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan. Guardians is quite different from the rest of Marvel’s work as it set in space rather than being confined to Earth, providing quite a lot of new lore, extra-terrestrial species and civilizations to experience that hadn’t been mentioned in the pre-existing plots.

The story begins on Earth during 1988 with a young Peter Quill at his dying mother’s bedside. An emotionally distraught Quill runs outside of the hospital when his mother passes, having lost her fight against cancer. When Peter is alone, he is abducted by an alien pirate ship that is captained by an extra-terrestrial called Yondu. The film skips 26 years into the future with an adult Peter Quill who had been raised by Yondu and the pirates that captured him since his mother’s death. Peter followed in their footsteps and became a thief, going by the name of Star-Lord. Quill is sent on a mission to the deserted planet of Morag to steal a mysterious orb but he is intercepted by Korath, a subordinate to the villain Ronan, but Star-Lord manages to escape with the orb in his possession.

The antagonist, called Ronan, is a fanatical alien known as a Kree that wishes to destroy the civilization known as Xandar. While his hatred for Xander isn’t expanded upon it is revealed that he plans to annihilate planet by acquiring the orb that was stolen by Quill, by handing it over to opne of the strongest beings in the universe, Thanos. In return Thanos would destroy Xandar. Seeing that Korath had failed in his task to get the orb, Ronan sends the assassin Gamora to retrieve the object from Star-Lord. Gamora hunts down Quill on the planet of Xander but Peter has also caught the attention of two bounty hunters after his bounty, an intelligent racoon called Rocket that is the result of an experiment, as well as the humanoid tree creature known as Groot. The four end up in a fight on Xandar before being caught and sent to prison by the Nova Corps, in which they meet the fifth protagonist, a prison inmate called Drax. The five decide to work together to escape the high security prison, gradually forming the team that would become to be called the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The film is very impressive overall with an interesting soundtrack that runs throughout the movie, giving it a unique feel and keeping a connection to Quill’s past on Earth while adding to his character. The actors and actresses gave good performances, delivering their lines well, especially in the many humours scenes. It is my personal favourite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far and it seems to be building up the character of Thanos, who was barely in the film, for future works. I look forward to what the sequel will add onto the success of the original and what impact Guardians of the Glaxy will have on other Marvel films.

Plot=10/10

Characters=10/10

Special Effects=10/10

Overall=10/10

Quote of the Day

A famous man once said, "We create our own demons." Who said that? What does that even mean? Didn't matter. I said it 'cause he said it. So now, he was famous and it was basically said by two well-known guys. I don't... uhh... I'm gonna start again. Let's track this from the beginning

Tony Stark/ Iron Man

Iron Man 3