When Marvel announced that their big Summer blockbuster for 2014 was going to Guardians of the Galaxy, excitement was not the feeling I felt. It was more like meh. I thought to myself that the studio was finally going to be making a stinker. I didn’t know a lot about Guardians, just enough to know that there wasn’t a lot that interested me. A large talking tree, a smallish talking raccoon, and some washed up wannabe named Star Lord. That’s what I knew, and it just sounded cheesy and lame. Then they started announcing the cast. Chris Pratt as the lead. Because when I thought lead for a super hero movie, I thought Andy from Parks and Rec. Said no one ever. Then they announced Dave Bautista as Drax. My excitement plummeted at that point. No pro wrestler ever made the jump to acting successfully. EVER. No pro wrestler not named Dwayne Johnson, that is. This was just going to not be good.
Then the first trailer came out, and I was blown away. I immediately took back every negative thought or concern I had about the movie, and this became THE movie I am looking forward to this Summer. Chris Pratt is Star Lord. He is perfect for the role. Rocket looks and sounds awesome. Groot looks cool, and even Bautista can’t ruin this movie. I was hooked on a feeling, and that feeling was anticipation and excitement for this movie.
Why? Because I don’t know these characters. This isn’t Superman, Batman, Spider-man, characters we have seen 100 times on the screen. Characters whose origin story everybody knows. Nope, these guys are brand new and unfamiliar. Similar to the first Iron Man movie, except this also has a space ship. Someone, somewhere said this was going to this generation’s Star Wars. That’s wrong because every generation’s Star Wars is Star Wars. However, this is going to be a great ride and as close as anything can come to being Star Wars without being Star Wars.
Those were my thoughts when the first trailer came out. Then, just this week, the UK trailer was released. And it is AWESOME:
This trailer was incredible. A couple of things that stood out for me:
1. We get to see a little bit of Star Lord’s back story here. You know, the age old tale of Earth Boy gets abducted by Aliens and never really goes back to Earth, so he grows up in outer space and becomes an interstellar thief. I mean really, how often have we seen that super hero origin story. Happens all the time, right?
2. Rocket is going to make this movie. Bradley Cooper doing the voice work here, and it superb. He is witty, smart, and Rocket is going to be a star.
3. These guys really are heroes at the core. When the first trailer came out and when the promotions started, they were being touted as trouble makers, anti-heroes at best. But when they start saying things like they won’t stand by while evil wipes out 12 billion people and Groot is handing a little girl a dandelion, it becomes clear, these guys are heroes, good guys. They might have a rough past, each of them, but they are good guys.
This trailer got me pumped and I cannot wait now for August to come. I might just get my tent and sleeping bag ready and start camping out at my local theater for my tickets now. I’m sure my boss won’t mind…
