Like someone else already said - "A New Hope"

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2014)

I have a strange history with the Guardians of the Galaxy, that rag-tag team of intergalactic mercenaries (and more or less, superheroes) most famous for their appearances in comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The first I heard of Guardians of the Galaxy, was in 2008, when Marvel Comics debuted a new line-up, which was a reboot of the first Guardians of the Galaxy team that first appeared in 1969. For one reason or another, I skipped over it. Then last year, a friend of mine who owns a comic book store sold me a copy of "Guardians of the Galaxy #1" for $45, at a discount from its original price of $50. I read through the book quickly to get an idea of what it was about, but I didn't absorb the details then like I should have.
Fast-forward to tonight: I just got done watching James Gunn's big-budget 2014 adaptation of the comics, "Guardians of the Galaxy." I have to say that "Guardians of the Galaxy" has a chance to be A New Hope (hint, hint) for superhero movies.
You see, since 2004, I've grown increasingly disappointed in the state of superhero movies. Readers familiar with my posts on here, know that "Spider-Man 2" (2004), is, in my opinion, the greatest superhero movie ever made. I say this because, not just because Spider-Man is my all-time favorite superhero, but because "Spider-Man 2" captured on film EXACTLY what made the comics so revolutionary when they first appeared on the scene in 1962: it was the perfect cinematic update for Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man because it made us all realize that being a superhero is not an easy task, and was not something that Peter Parker (played there excellently by Tobey Maguire) was not entirely willing to bear - exactly as it happened in the original comics. Ever since "Spider-Man 2," I've waited for another superhero film to capture that same pathos, genuine emotion, and being able to make a genuine connection to our version of the ancient Greek gods, but alas, I've been continually disappointed.
That's not to say that superhero films made since then have been bad - quite the opposite - but I've just been looking for something with more feeling, and meaning, attached to it.
Or something just different altogether. "Chronicle" in 2012 represented a breath of fresh air to what at that time, I felt, was an ailing genre. Now, with "Guardians of the Galaxy," I see a novel, off-beat property get a lively, big-budget adaptation for the 2014 superhero craze.
"Guardians of the Galaxy" is all of "Star Wars," Indiana Jones, and superheroes all rolled into one. (A New Hope for superheroes movies that combines so many different elements from so many different properties into one.) Though I know very little off-hand about the series, I came out of this film definitely more informed than going in. The film begins in 1988, with young Peter Quill losing his dying mother to cancer (thus representing the film's most - and only real - sincere and heartfelt moment, which coincidentally brings up painful memories for me, being that I lost my mother earlier this year to cancer in much the same fashion young Peter does). Immediately afterward, he's abducted by aliens and then we're catapulted 26 years into the future and into another galaxy, Far, Far, Away from our own.
Peter Quill/Star-Lord (now played by Chris Pratt), is a mercenary, wannabe Indiana Jones going around the galaxy trying to retrieve priceless artifacts for his handler (emphasis on the wannabe, because he tries, and fails, to live up to his "Star-Lord" moniker, often with hilarious results), infamous blue-skinned space pirate Yondu Udonta (Gunn regular Michael Rooker). A wanted man by intergalactic authorities, Quill's travels bring him together with several other hard-luck losers, freaks, and outcasts (and all-around bad-asses): the green-skinned assassin Gamora ("Avatar" Zoe Saldana); hulking, vengeance-seeking Drax (professional wrestler Dave Bautista); the wise-cracking gun-slinger - and my personal favorite and break-out character to hopefully rival the popularity of the X-Men's Wolverine - Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper); and Rocket Raccoon's mindless muscle, a walking tree stump known only as Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). Together, these five unlikely anti-heroes must come together to save the universe from Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), who wishes to lay waste to a nearby planet full of billions of innocent people using a newly discovered orb of mysterious and deadly power.
It must be said that Troma graduate James Gunn (who also wrote Zack Snyder's 2004 breakthrough hit "Dawn of the Dead") has fashioned himself a different - not necessarily new - superhero film. Screen-time is evenly divided up amongst the five leads, who all turn in wry, slightly self-knowing performances. "Guardians of the Galaxy" plays well throughout its 121-minute running time. Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon oozes slyness, coolness, and general bad-a**ery. Quite frankly, in the theater his character seemed to get the best response from everyone. And in true Marvel Comics fashion, beneath his hard-edged exterior lies an unwanted mutant freak of nature with no mission or purpose in life and no real connections to anyone else in the universe (except for Groot, that is).
"Guardians of the Galaxy" looks to be A New Hope for the superhero movie genre - a superhero movie that combines "Star Wars," Indiana Jones, and superheroes all into one. Let's wait and see what they can do with this one.
10/10