Guest #Movie #Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

First off, let me tell you something about myself. I don’t LOVE going to the movie theater. I have this phobia that I might not enjoy the movie, and then I’d feel too guilty just leaving when I’ve paid to see the show. Hence, I enjoy watching something on DVD at home where I can pause when I need to take a break, or just end it when it’s utterly boring.

But this past year I’ve been to the movie theater quite a few times (yay me), and I have enjoyed the movies, perhaps because I do a bit of research on them before I go.

This weekend though I had an impulsive feeling to do something relaxing on late Saturday afternoon. I grabbed the paper and had a look at what was showing. (Now guys, I live in Paarl in the Western Cape, we have NO SterKinekor or Nu-metro, our movie theater is called Mini Max, which only has two movies showing at a time.) I had seen the preview for Guardians of the Galaxy before and it seemed pretty cool to me then, so when I saw that it was playing, it became my first choice. Got to the theater, bought my tickets for the movie I wanted to see, got some popcorn and a slushy and headed to my seat… so here we go…

The movie starts of pretty sad, Peter Quill is a young boy sitting on a stool with some old school Walkman earphones on his head, playing some 80’s music. The scene expands and you realize he’s sitting in the corridor of the hospital where his mother is dying of cancer. There’s a very sweet moment where she calls to him to come to her, she hands him a gift and then as she’s about the breath her last breath, she asks him to take her hand, but he is overwhelmed with emotions and doesn’t. Once his mother dies he runs out of the hospital, onto the grass field, still wearing the Walkman. It is here that he gets abducted by aliens.

The movie then skips to 29 years later on the planet Morag where Peter is on a seemingly deserted planet where he steals an orb which seems to be wanted by a lot of people, including a guy named Ronan, who is pretty much despised by the rest of the Galaxy, and obviously, as bad guys go, Ronan wants to use it to destroy everything in order to get revenge. Not to give away too much of the movie, let me leave it there. With the orb stolen by Peter and wanted by many, it’s up to him and his cronies to protect the Galaxy, thus the title, Guardians of the Galaxy.

I will just add that this movie really is kind of packed with some very cool well known actors including Chris Pratt as Peter, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer (an unlikely friend they meet in jail who is seeking his own revenge), Bradley Cooper as Rocket (a weird little raccoon man who knows how to build bombs and all sorts of crazy things, he is totally funny, speaks his mind and thinks he’s the shiz), Vin Diesel as Groot (A tree-man, yes a man in the form of a tree who speaks only three words “I. Am. Groot.” He’s the more caring, kind of loving soul in their group), then there are some more stars that include: Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies), Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead), Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator), John C. Reilly (Oh come on, we all know him right?), Glen Close and Benicio de Toro.

The movie had some raw emotions, it touched on love and also the faith we have in others, it was jam packed with action and super funny!!!! I really did enjoy the movie, the acting wasn’t too shabby and I enjoy some wit and sarcasm now and then. I wouldn’t take the youngsters to watch this one, generally because I don’t think they need to see violence or fighting in any way or form. But if you want to go watch something that is relaxing, cause there’s no hidden plot you need to work out, then this is really a fun one to go see.