Going into the 17 minute 3D IMAX preview of
Guardians of the Galaxy, I definitely had my fair share of doubts. I loved
Super and
Slither but how do those films prepare James Gunn for the $100 million dollar Guardians of the Galaxy? Sure, Chris Pratt made a phenomenal physical transformation for the role of Star-Lord but that doesn't guarantee a strong on-screen presence. How would Rocket Raccoon and Groot look on-screen? Would Drax have any depth beyond being the strongman of the group? I had all these questions and more but if what was shown in today's previewis merely the tip of the iceberg, consider me 175% sold on Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn, Pratt, Zoe Saldana and co. have produced a Marvel film that looks, sounds or feels nothing like any Marvel film that's come before. Our other 2014 Marvel movie,
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, definitely raised the bar and Guardians of the Galaxy, albeit a very different film, appears to be that same class of high-level execution and craftsmanship. It's going to blow the doors off the Marvel Cinematic Universe and definitely clue the general audience into the fact that there's much more going on in the MCU than what occurs on Asgard or on Earth.
The footage we were presented started with the
Usual Suspects -esque line-up scene that I'm sure everyone is familiar with by now. However, the IMAX 3D enhancements made this scene much more interesting and fresh as the 3D nicely supplements the actions of each character as they get their introduction from
John C. Reilly's
Rhomann Dey. We are then transported to the intergalactic prison called
The Kyln where the Guardians are given a scrubdown and jump suits. We never learn why they were arrested by the Nova Corps, but we do learn that Rocket and Groot are bounty hunters and that they were after the bounty on Star-Lord. It looks as if prison is where Drax joins the group (not 100% sure on this) as he recognizes Gamora and her connection to Ronan the Accusser. Drax apparently makes a deal with Star-Lord to be kept close to Gamora until he leads her to Ronan. The Guardians don't remain in prison for long, thanks to the technological savy of Rocket. He's able to quickly survey surrounding materials and equipment and engineer an escape plan for the Guardians. Drax, Groot and Gamora display their physcial prowess as they subdue inmates and guards alike, buying time for Rocket to execute his plan. There are a lot of jokes and humor I'm leaving out of the escape simply because you'll need to see it to make sense of the plan Rocket concocts. We then segue into an extended montage that provides glimpses of
Michael Rooker's
Yondu,
Josh Brolin's
Thanos,
Lee Pace's
Ronan the Accuser,
Knowhere,
Benicio Del Toro's
The Collector and more.
Cast First Impressions
Peter Quill aka Star-Lord: Wise-ass who appears to always be out of his depth yet somehow, always manages to escape from harm.
Rocket Raccoon: Technincal savant, quick with sarcastic one-liners. The relationship between he and Star-Lord appears to be a central component of the film.
Groot: Slow, size-changing enforcer that watches over Rocket and Quill. Expect to hear lots and lots of "I AM GROOT" throughout the film.
Drax: We don't learn a whole lot about him in the preview, but he displays strength somewhere between the range of Captain America and Thor. He's definitely not in Hulk's weight class. We also learn that his race is quite literal and is one that does not understand the concept of metaphors, humor, etc. In short, he takes everything people say at face value and is incapable of understanding if there's a hidden or double meaning. Obviously, with sarcastic pranksters like Quill and Rocket around, you can expect him to be the butt of many jokes.
Gamora: Apparently, she (and Nebula) are on loan to Ronan from Thanos. She implies that her mission is to retrieve an Infinity Gem, however, we learn that she planned to betray Ronan and deliver the Infinity Gem to a third-party. Is that third-party Thanos or someone else? - we don't learn who in the preview. Ability wise, she's very agile and appears to be on par with Captain America in terms of strength and speed.