Marvel picks us up and blasts us off into space for Guardians of the Galaxy, a good time off of Earth no matter how you cut it. Guardians launches the Cosmic line of Marvel stories with a rag tag team of misfits who band together to save us all from the evil Ronan the Accuser.

I think the best way to describe the movie is Star Wars meets Firefly. Spaceships, aliens of all shapes, sizes and colors, blaster fights, outlaws and bounty hunters, fist fights, spaceship dog fights. It’s like the Wild Wild West out there. The lovable cast is held together by Star Lord, played by the rising star, Chris Pratt. He’s flanked by Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper). Star Lord is the only human, Gamora and Drax boast some great alien prosthetics and Groot and Rocket are both complete CG characters (both exceptionally well done, they look and move great). They gel really well together and by the end I was left wanting to see what kind of trouble they get into next.

The movie doesn’t take itself seriously and it has a lot of heart. There’s a lot of jokes and playing around despite the looming threat of galactic annihilation from Ronan, who is hell bent on ultimate power when he turns on his master, Thanos. It’s a really fun and “bouncy” summer blockbuster that moves pretty fast, which I think is its greatest fault. Everyone is thrown together (and trusts each other) really fast and there’s a lot left unexplained. Star Lord is kidnapped from Earth in 1988 and we never know why. We’re told very little about everyone. Ronan is pretty generic, he’s just a bad guy with bad guy plans. It’s also very predictable, all the cliched pieces fall in place right on time (love interest side plot, team work saves the day, switcheroo move by the hero). With so much set up out of the way, I hope they feel like the pressure of launching a new franchise is off them to really get wild and weird with the next one. The movie looks and sounds great with a lush pallet, interesting back drops, quality character work and a soundtrack that matches.

More hooks for the next wave of Marvel movies have been laid and fans have a new team of heroes to cheer for. Marvel continues to ride the wave of success.

Two quick hits since I don’t have much to say about these gems:

300: Rise of an Empire– Eight years between sequels and not much has changed. The story takes place at the same time as 300 and gives insight into Xerxes ascension to power. The visual and audio presentation is the same, very stylized computer animation with copious amounts of slow motion and blood. If you liked the first movie and are down for some more, check it out. Otherwise you aren’t missing anything (except for a really awkward sex scene).

Under the Skin– I’ve heard a lot of good things about Under the Skin and…ugh. This should have been a short film. It runs a good hour too long and if the dead weight was cut out, I think it would leave a really great and interesting 45 minute short.. Scarlett Johansson plays an alien being that seduces men for…some purpose. There’s a lot of mystery about everything. It’s a good concept, it’s made really well (some striking visuals) and Johansson does some great work. The editing is what killed me. There has to be 30 minutes worth of footage of characters driving around. Pointless driving around. I’m leaving out the parts where Johansson talks to men on her quest, so she’s actually doing something. You spend a lot of time in a van in this movie. The rest is a waste of time. There are large chunks of this that I fast forwarded through to get to something interesting. I watched people drive and stand around quickly without missing anything important. There is a lot of “observation” in this movie. The pacing is just brutal, it’s an exercise in patience more than anything. Do not recommend.