With the 10th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy, being released in less than a month (August 1, 2014) it’s no surprise to see that the marketing push for the movie is in full force. There have been several trailers and featurettes released that give you a glimpse of characters that probably leave many who are not too familiar with the Marvel Universe wondering how this clearly science fiction film has any connection to superheroes in general. For that I’m sure many will have to wait until the movie is released, but what about these characters themselves? How does a team of a “thief”, two “thugs”, and two assassins come to be a team that is capable of doing anything together, let alone saving the universe?
That’s where the movie scene shown during the Guardians of the Galaxy IMAX Sneak Peek comes in. Not all friendships and bonds are simply found. Often, at times of dire circumstance, they are thrust upon you in unexpected ways. Without specifics, what we saw on screen was a demonstration of that. Five individuals placed into an unfamiliar location and circumstance working together to achieve a common and mutually beneficial goal… saving their own keisters.
As a comic book fan, and someone who is familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy, here’s what I felt I saw. Four out of five characters amazingly on point for how they are in comic books, and one I’m not too sure of yet as I’m trying to figure out how much of his past has been changed for the movie. It’s a scene central to the formation of this team and to do that it harkened back to an event and location in comic books that pre-dates their formation during Annihilation: Conquest. There are quite a few “name drops”, and references to things that will also make fans quite happy. All this plus lots of gunfire and some awesome mayhem in the span of 17 minutes. Sadly though, no new songs from the Star-Lord’s Mix Tape were in this preview.
What does this mean for moviegoers? Simply put, only good things. From what I saw this movie could quite possibly exceed the high bar set by The Avengers 2 years ago. These characters are removed enough (though integral to) the whole of the Marvel Universe that this movie will be an excellent jumping in point for someone who has not yet seen any or all of the other MCU movies. And it will be well received by existing fans. The only downside may be that this movie may be a lot for some viewers to absorb and understand clocking in at only 122 minutes (according to IMDb). Or to quote Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, “Something good. Something bad. A little bit of both.”
In addition to doing the web design and programming for the On the Go in MCO website, Todd Perlmutter is a host for the Disney Film Project Podcast.
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