Let me start with this before getting into the review. With the exception of Interstellar and The Hobbit, every single preview sucked. Every one. They were just awful. At first I thought I was in the wrong theater. They were juvenile and just ugh.

Now . . .

Marvel movies tend to have lots of humor in them, but can also take themselves rather seriously. Guardians of the Galaxy has lots of humor in it, but definitely doesn’t take itself seriously. I really enjoyed it.

The movie starts out on Earth in the eighties as the lead character, Peter Quill, is kidnapped moments after his mother dies. Fast forward a quarter century and we see him as the “Star Lord”, which is just his name for himself now as a thief.

Save for the open scene in the movie, which might bring a tear to your eye, the movie cuts lots of serious tension with laughs all the way through. It is a true comic book movie. The tense scenes can never get too tense. The last ten minutes of the movie interjected world annihilating action and an unexpected dance off.

True, building the various backstories of the characters happens rather quickly save for Peter Quill, but it works as they come together. And as the world is coming to an end, I noticed one thing that this got better than The Avengers. There are actually crowds. Did you ever notice that in the Battle of New York there were barely enough people to fill the outside tables of a restaurant? They get that right here.

My only real disappointment with the movie is the end. No, not the end of how the movie ends, but the end clip that Marvel has taken to showing at the end of all its movies after all the credits. It was not in any way, shape, or form worth staying for. It does nothing to set up a sequel or set up a different Marvel movie unless Marvel intends to resurrect one of the worst movies ever made. I and everyone else in the theater around me was truly disappointed with that clip.

The rest of the movie was worth it though, including the pop culture references to Ranger Rick, Kevin Bacon, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now, go see it then get the sound track.