"The Avengers" of space

Rating: 7/10 (25 December 2014)

The Guardians of the Galaxy first appeared in 1969 and in various Marvel comics of the mid-70s, like The Defenders, before appearing as the main attraction in Marvel Premiere in 1976-77. The Guardians are like the Avengers (or Justice League) of space, a superhero team with a revolving door line-up.
This popular 2014 film was based on the 2008 version of the team, which includes Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (voice of Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voice of Vin Diesel). The movie details how these characters meet and become the Guardians of the Galaxy as they square off against Ronan (Lee Pace), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and the intimidating Thanos (Josh Brolin). Michael Rooker is also on hand as Yondu, the space redneck who kidnapped Peter Quill (Star-Lord) from earth when he was a boy.
I'm only familiar with the 70's team, which included Star-Lord, Gamora and Drax, as well as the villains Thanatos and Ronan. It was fun seeing these characters come to life on the big screen. The movie combines elements of The Avengers, Star Trek and Star Wars and is a thrilling blockbuster that's fun, but probably too goofy at times for people who prefer the dead seriousness of Nolan's Batman trilogy. As far as galaxy-traveling superheroes go, I prefer the more-serious-albeit-still-amusing tone of "Thor" and "Thor 2."
Despite that cavil, I liked the way these independent, misfit anti-heroes slowly learn to gel as a team and even care for each other as the story progresses. Their initial selfish goals morph into a noble universal cause. Gamora is my favorite character, followed by Drax, Rocket and Groot. The sinister Thanos -- Jim Starlin's knock-off of Jack Kirby's Darkseid -- is excellently depicted in his brief appearance.
The film runs 121 minutes.
GRADE: B