by Roy Runnels

Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.

When Marvel announced Guardians of the Galaxy, not many people were convinced it would be any good, including me. Talking raccoons didn’t really seem like something even Marvel could pull off. As time went on, and Marvel released more movies, more trust was built with the audience. So when a trailer finally released, I found myself excited. Turns out it was for good reason too.

At this point, the Marvel brand that they’ve built with their movies has become synonymous with just being great quality movies. Guardians definitely isn’t a typical Marvel movie. It’s essentially a comedy set in space. That’s not meant to be a negative in any way. For a movie that could have easily been the cheesiest thing ever released, Marvel proved that with enough patience, any of their comics could be an incredible movie.

What really brings the whole thing together, fittingly enough, are the Guardians themselves. The wonderful director, James Gunn, has assembled a wonderful cast. I walked in expecting one of them to be the standout in the group. Something happened however, they all stood out. Every single one of them brought it, and each of them were incredibly funny. Chris Pratt, playing Peter Quill, has some of the best one-liners, but Bradley Cooper and Dave Bautista (Rocket and Drax respectively) had easily some of the best dialogue. Bautista, who is a professional wrestler mind you, is incredible in this movie, and may have just been my favorite character. That said, he’s given a run for his money thanks to Vin Diesel, who plays Groot. Groot may not say much (he literally doesn’t say much) but Diesel is incredible in the little bit of dialogue that he does have. And lastly, we have Zoe Saldana playing Gamora. Being a straight laced character, she’s mostly used for the others to play off of, but she also has some great lines.

The big thing that everyone will be talking about though, is the huge connections it has to the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s not something that’s going to pay off right away, but in a few years, we’ll be looking back on this movie as not only an incredible super hero comedy, but also the first stepping stone to endgame of the MCU.

Guardians of the Galaxy is currently playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes can be found on their website. Platinum Theaters Dinuba 6 now proudly presents digital quality films in 2-D and 3-D with 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound to maximize your movie experience.

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Roy Runnels is a 23 year old who is interested in a career in marketing. He has a great deal of interest in television as well as video games, when he is not busy writing. Roy was born in Lake Jackson, Texas and moved to Reedley, California in late 2012.