Holy Mother of God, August 1 can’t get here soon enough. Sunday night on USA Network, a five-minute extended clip of the Marvel Studios Guardians of the Galaxy premiered and it is all kinds of awesome. All kinds. Remember the feeling you got the first time you watched Star Wars: A New Hope?* The high action married with humor that barreled into you and you never saw it coming? The other-worldliness that comes with meeting a brand new universe of characters and aliens and locales for the first time? That’s what this new trailer for Guardians is promising. And, damn, if I don’t think director James Gunn isn’t going to pull this off.
The clip highlights how the Guardian—Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Drax (Dave Bautista), and Groot (Vin Diesel)—met each other after being taken into custody by the Nova Corps. The bickering between the motley crue sets up the group dynamic that harkens back to the team’s comic book roots. The performances and dialogue make you believe that these characters might not necessarily gel at first, but will eventually have a respect, if not affection, for one another.
There is also mention of Gamora’s connection to Thanos, who you may remember from the end-credits scene at the end of The Avengers, which could act as a bridge between the two movies.
Particularly chucklelicious is Rocket’s obliviousness to the fact that he’s a genetically and cybernetically altered raccoon. I think I’m going to have to buy a Funko Toys Rocket figure before the week is over. I kinda think I want to be Rocket when I grow up.
Guardians of the Galaxy will be in theaters on August 1. (Only nine sleeps away!)
*And if you haven’t watched that movie, what are you doing reading this? Go watch it and come back. I’ll wait.