Trailer Analysis and Breakdown: "Guardians of the Galaxy" |Spoilers|

Gavin Gronenthal ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Well folks, Marvel is at it again. The new trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy was released on Jimmy Kimmel Live the other night, and with it came questions, answers, and a whole lot of crazy. Let’s breakdown our crew of intergalactic misfits.

Right at the beginning of the trailer, no time is wasted in introducing our main hero Peter Quill, aka Star Lord. Portrayed by Parks and Recreation star Chris Pratt, director James Gunn has stated that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Lord was abducted from Earth at the age of nine, and hasn’t returned since. In the comics, Peter Quill actually lived most of his life on Earth, and only later ventured into the stars. Either way, it’s pretty clear as soon as we meet him that he’s not the nicest of guys, and is definitely a thief.

And what is Star Lord stealing, you may ask? Well the details have yet to be revealed in great detail yet, but the orb seen in the screenshot above is of great importance to the film’s main villain, Ronan the Accuser (The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’s Lee Pace). What the orb is (more on that later) and why Star Lord is stealing it in the first place may not be known, but you can be sure this is probably a huge catalyst for the upcoming movie.

Here, we have our first look at Korath the Pursuer, played by Djimon Hounsou. In the comics, Korath is actually a member of the race known as the Kree, who have always played a huge part in the Marvel Universe. And, not only that, but another very important member of the Kree race is Ronan the Accuser. Whether or not they share this in the MCU remains to be seen, as we haven’t gotten  good enough look at Ronan yet, but you can bet Korath will be doing what he does best: pursuing. Namely, pursuing Star Lord and the Guardians.

After the intro, we’re taken to Xandar, the headquarters of the Nova Corps, a intergalactic police force who have the ability to become human rockets, essentially. The two Nova Corps officers we’re specifically introduced to here are played by John C. Reily and Peter Serafinowicz, with Reiley singled out as Rhomann Dey when the cast was announced. Dey, in the comics, was once the head of the Nova Corp before the whole thing kind of blew up. Luckily, he’s not in charge, as Glenn Close (not seen in the trailer) plays Commander Rael, the current leader.

Now, we get to the rest of the Guardians. The trailer is smart enough to introduce you to these relatively unfamiliar characters before launching you into an unknown galactic world, and first up is Drax the Destroyer, portrayed by WWE fighter Dave Bautista. Described by Dey as having been “on a rampage across the galaxy” ever since his wife and family were murdered. This is true in the comics as well, but more importantly, his family was killed by Thanos, the universe-ending dictator from the end of The Avengers. So, you can expect Drax to be pretty much destroying every chance he gets this movie.

Gamora is up next, wanted for over a dozen counts of murder. Played by Zoe Saldana of Avatar and Star Trek fame, Gamora was described by James Gunn as one of the two most “hard-a**” characters in the movie (the second one will show up soon). But another good tidbit to know? In the comics, Gamora is the last of her race, and also the adopted daughter of, again, Thanos. Looks like some sort of pattern here…

Our next Guardian is the one and only Rocket Raccoon, who is wanted for “50 counts of vehicular theft” and is also a mutated raccoon, in case you didn’t notice. Though we don’t hear him in the trailer, Rocket will be voiced by two time Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper, who Gunn cast to bring both the humor and drama to the character. Rocket has a fondness for large guns, fast ships, and has quite a mouth on him, so expect a lot of fun from this little guy.

On the other end of the spectrum from Rocket is his big pal Groot, who can only say the phrase “I am Groot!” With a motion capture performance from Vin Diesel, Groot is apparently the only member of the Guardians who is an innocent, at least according to Gunn. He’s just along for the ride with his furry friend, so expect the nearly mute tree to become an audience favorite as well.

And finally, here’s Star Lord’s formal introduction. I included this picture for two reasons, however: next to Star Lords name, it lists his only known associate, Yondu. Though not in the trailer, Yondu will be played by The Walking Dead’s Michael Rooker, and was one of the original Guardians of the Galaxy before the complete overhaul of the team in the comics. The second reason I put this in was to highlight the fact that this movie is clearly aiming to be funny. Unlike the other Marvel movies, which are comedic in different ways, Gunn and his cast are taking this movie in a completely different direction: it’s weird, and it embraces it.

As the Guardians trailer increases to its final montage, we get our first glimpse of Star Lord’s ship, the Milano. It is apparently a sentient being as well, and will probably serve as the mode of transportation for our motley crew. Get ready for some dogfights!

This actually doesn’t have much significance, but it is a reminder that this is a movie that stars a talking Raccoon with a machine gun on the back of an intergalactic space tree in the middle of a prison riot. Welcome to the Marvel Cosmic.

In the middle of the montage, you can clearly see two shots of a bald blue woman who looks like she’s about to bring the pain. This would be Nebula, portrayed by Karen Gillan of Doctor Who fame, who famously shaved her head for the role. In the comics, Nebula is a brutal and vicious space pirate who was killed and resurrected by Thanos to do his bidding, but that may be changing if James Gunn has anything to say about it. She still working for the big guy, however, and everyone is eagerly anticipating more from her.

For a fraction of a second, there is a single shot of the hugely muscular Drax being lifted up by a lone figure wielding a dangerous warhammer. That, Marvel fans, is our first tiny glimpse of Ronan the Accuser, who is (here he comes again) Thanos’s right hand man. While we never see his face, it’s safe to say the man is a force to reckoned with, and that the Guardians are getting dangerously close to dealing with Thanos.

And for the first time, a character we’ve seen before! That is, if you watched the end credits sequence of Thor: The Dark World. Benicio Del Toro returns as The Collector, who Gunn described as “Liberace in space.” He is already in possession of The Ether from Thor: The Dark World, and said, after receiving it: “One down, five to go,” referencing the six infinity gems, which Thanos is desperately searching for. Could this mean that the Orb we saw Star Lord steal earlier also be one of the gems? We may not know until the film comes out, but it’s certainly something to think about.

And here they are, the Guardians assembled. In prison. One of the most enticing parts of this already crazy looking movie is that none of these guys start off as good people (well, except good ol’ Groot). This is a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and they’re gonna hve to prove themselves as worthy Guardians of our Galaxy. Good luck with that.
And that’s all she wrote, so far. For more info on Guardians of the Galaxy and all your entertainment needs, keep on reading Emertainment Monthly.
Guardians of the Galaxy comes out August 1^st, 2014, directed by James Gunn, and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Batista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Rooker, Benicio Del Toro, John C. Reiley, and Glenn Close.
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