August 4, 2014 -- Marvel Studios have produced some of the best big budget action films in the past few years, including the monster hit “Marvel's The Avengers.” While “Guardians of the Galaxy” isn't as good as “The Avengers,” it is certainly up to Marvel's standards for such mainstream action hits as “Thor” and some of the “Iron Man,” “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” sequels. The Marvel entries that fall short of that standard are those disappointing “Fantastic Four” movies.

Much of Marvel's success in recent years has hinged on the performances of one actor, Robert Downey Jr., who plays Tony Stark/Iron Man. “Guardians of the Galaxy” breaks away with a new main character, Peter Quill (who has a personality similar to Tony Stark). Quill (played by Chris Pratt of “Her”) is a loveable rogue type of character, living on the fringes of galactic society and law.

The story opens with Quill being abducted by aliens right after his mother dies on earth in 1988. We then shift to the present day on another planet where Quill salvages a mysterious orb left over from a dead civilization. He no sooner gets his hands on this orb when others want to take it away from him. It turns out the orb has vast amounts of destructive power hidden inside. Everyone wants it, including his boss and mentor, Yondu Udonta (played to the hilt by Michael Rooker of “Jumper”). The orb, and what is inside the orb, is much like a MacGuffin, it exists mainly to advance the plot.

The ever-resourceful Quill manages to hang on to the orb until he is taken prisoner by government forces. He teams up with a diverse team of aliens, including Udonta, Gamora (Zoe Saldana of “Avatar”) the tree-like Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel of the “Fast and Furious” movies) the Hulk-like Drax (Dave Bautista of “Riddick”) and the raccoon-like Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) to get the orb back. Each of these beings, except Udonta, have talents which come in handy. The handiest is Groot, who has many tricks up his bark-covered branches.

If you are looking for some connection between this and the rest of the so-called “Marvel Cinematic Universe,” the main one appears to be the mysterious Taneleer Tivan, “The Collector” character, who looks like David Bowie, but is played by Benicio Del Toro of “Savages.” The Collector also appeared in “Thor: The Dark World.” There are indications that the mysterious stuff inside the orb is part of a set of powerful objects, including the Tesseract from “Captain America” and “The Avengers” that the Collector, and some other mysterious person working with him, want. They probably have plans to do something very destructive with the set of magical objects. There is also another recurring character, Thanos, a super villain, who appears briefly in this film. Thanos also turned up in the credits of “The Avengers.”

The actors do a good job with the material, but the characters lack the depth and dimension of characters in some of the other Marvel movies. One exception is Udonta. Michael Rooker steals every scene he is in as the appealing bad guy Udonta, who is ruthless, tough and determined, but not really evil. This movie has plenty of action and plenty of humor too. It is an enjoyable popcorn movie. It rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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