Trailer Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Posted by: Andrew Burns  •  May 20, 2014 @ 7:41pm

Filed under: Reviews

Yesterday the second trailer for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy dropped after days of mini teasers and screenshots had been hitting the web. If the fans of the comic series weren't sold after that first trailer they are now. But the real test will be for all those non-fanboys out there, will this be a film that the average movie-goer would want to see? Before I make my case that the answer should be an emphatic "Hell YES!", first take a look at the new Guardians of the Galaxy below to judge for yourself:

Looks pretty damn fun eh? Has that modern day Star Wars feel to it with a superhero twist. Who wouldn't want to see The Avengers in space? Because that's pretty much what the Guardians are.

Ok so before I geek out too much (if I haven't already) and point out all the new images, characters, and moments that were in that new trailer let me give you a brief Guardians of the Galaxy history lesson because most audience members don't know these characters yet. Like I said before the Guardians are pretty much space Avengers; a group of unlikely people/creatures that form a team. Instead of being a bunch of heroes working together they are a bunch of criminals working together.

This film adaption of the Guardians looks to be very similar to that of the 2012's Avengers film, in that both team's rosters are always changing in the books but have stayed with the core characters when comes to putting them on the big screen. Since none of these characters are as recognizable as say Iron Man or Captain America (...not yet at least) this second trailer, like the first one, does a great job at introducing the main 5 Guardians. Without giving too much away I'll fill in a few of the gaps for them.

Remember at the end of The Avengers when we see that figure sitting on a throne turn his head and give that menacing grin? Well that was one of Marvel's biggest villains, Thanos. It remains to be seen if he will be in the film, however Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is Thanos's daughter and Drax (Dave Bautista) has been bred with the sole purpose of killing Thanos. Both Gamora and Drax are on the same page when it comes to the mad titan. Then there is the duo of Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) who are the Han & Chewy equivalent of the team. Groot is a giant walking tree who literally has a three word vocabulary and Rocket is a walking, talking raccoon who always has the biggest gun and biggest mouth. Finally there is Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) the team leader and only human of the group. Quill was last on Earth in the 80's so except some pretty funny references instead of superpowers.

Now time to geek out and highlight the new moments in this second trailer:

• More of John C. Reilly's character, which is always funny to see, but our first look at Glen Close as his commanding officer of the Nova Corp
• Benicio Del Toro's character 'The Collector' makes a brief appearance but the big deal villain-wise is the first images of Ronan the Accusser (played by Lee Pace). Ronan is one of Marvel's big cosmic villains and introducing him and his people is a big deal if you follow ABC's Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Remember, it's all connected.
• Rocket and Groot speaking. That might sound like a big deal but with the first trailer holding off on letting either character say anything I can tell you fans of the books got really excited when they both started talking.
• More nods to the 80's. Quill's Sony Walkman from the first trailer makes another appearance but if you watched closely there was subtle nods to the 80's culture like those toy Trolls and even pictures of Alf. The song choices in these trailers are also a giveaway that the soundtrack will be very 80's influenced.
• Rocket doing a crotch adjustment. Granted that might not sound like a big deal but the fact that Marvel is a Disney owned company now and they let this stay in the movie shows that aren't messing with the source material the character is best known for in the comics. A small talking raccoon could easily be Disney-fied to better market to kids but readers know Rocket has a mouth of a sailor and that nut adjustment is a good sign he is staying that way.

Guardians of the Galaxy doesn't come out for another couple of months and if you couldn't already tell its my most anticipated film of 2014. There is bound to be at least one more trailer before then that should give a little more insight on what kind of direction it's going to go but if you are like me you are already sold. Audiences today love their superhero films but I believe they appreciate originality in movies even more. In a summer movie landscape of sequels, remakes, and franchise reboots, Guardians looks to be the best of both world, able to have its cake and eat it too. Guardians of the Galaxy hits theatres August 1 and I can't wait.

Oh, and in case you missed the first trailer, here you go.

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Tags: Guardians of the Galaxy, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Benicio Del Toro, Lee Pace, James Gunn, Marvel

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Andrew Burns loves film and comics, and can be found writing about when those worlds converge. You can follow him on Twitter at @myAndrewBurns.