With a huge line up this summer, movies were looking great: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and many others. While they did make a lot of money, movies like TMNT and Spider-man didn’t really catch the public’s eye. Everyone was waiting for the biggest movie of the summer: Guardians of the Galaxy, which made over $500 million at the end of Labor Day weekend, and, according to the critics, holds the title as the best movie of the summer and best soundtrack.

Before I go on, I must tell you that this review contains spoilers, but everything I will say is either very minor or it’s already in the trailer. I will try not to spoil it that much and I hope I don’t ruin the movie for you. First and foremost, let’s dive into that plot.

The movie stars Peter Jason Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord (played by Chris Pratt) whose mom died when he was very young. He was then taken away by scavengers. Later we see Star–Lord take an orb from an abandoned temple. He runs into soldiers working for a guy named Ronan and he learns that a lot of people want the orb. One of Tough’s people happen to be Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana), an assassin trained by Ronan and another person who I won’t mention. Let’s just say he was at the end of the avengers and he will be one of the biggest roles in the entire Marvel universe. Gamora doesn’t want to work for Ronan anymore, so her plan is to take the orb and sell it herself and get as far away from Ronan as possible. She fights Star- Lord to try to get the orb but two new characters jump in to try to capture him: Rocket Raccoon and Groot (voiced by Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel). The two bounty hunters want the price on Quill’s head because, like Gamora, someone else wants the orb to sell.  Rocket is a genetically modified being used on experiments to create an animal. He escaped and became a bounty hunter. He’s cocky, rude, likes to crack one liners, and he doesn’t even know that he’s a raccoon. Groot is a talking tree that literally only says “I am Groot.” The two met a while back before the story began, and Groot had been Rockets body guard. The four fight but are shortly arrested for disturbing the peace.

They get sent to a prison were they come up with a plan to break out of prison and they’ll share the price money in four ways, but before they can break out, Gamora runs into Drax the Destroyer (played by Dave Bautista).  He knows Gamora because a while back Ronan killed his wife and his daughter. He became a maniac only seeking revenge. His plan is to kill Gamora, but Peter is able to calm him down and make a deal that he can tag along and get his revenge if he helps them break out of prison. The five manage to get away and they go to the seller’s world. Later they realize that the orb is a powerful weapon that can destroy an entire planet if used correctly. The five decide to stop Ronan from using it and they become the Guardians of the galaxy.

Now of course there’s still a lot more to the movie, but I retained to what’s only in the trailers to keep this a sort of spoiler free review. All the actors play their characters fantastically. Chris Pratt is a lot of fun and he is hilarious. He can also be quite emotional at times, too. Zoe Saldana is still funny, pretty, exciting, and she’s just really a perfect casting pick for this movie. Bradley Cooper steals the show when he voices Rocket. He puts so much energy into the role that when I hear his voice, I don’t think of Cooper, I think of Rocket Raccoon.

For a guy who only says three words, Vin Diesel is able to convey so much love and emotion that he is the most liked one of the bunch. Dave Bausista plays a guy who, first of all, is a maniac, and two, doesn’t understand metaphors. That leads to so much funny dialogue between the guardians. Bottom line is that all actors play their roles perfectly and you can tell that they’re all having a lot of fun.

Director James Gunn knew that this could not be taken too seriously. He knew that he needed to add the right amount of everything at the right time. He did a fantastic job bringing these guys to the public’s eye. You could have gone to anyone one year ago and no one would tell you that they have heard of the Guardians of the galaxy. Now the Guardians are slowly becoming a house-hold name.

Critics everywhere are loving this movie, and I’m one of them. It’s the best movie of the summer and probably all year. Now of course, like every movie, there are some problems. You’ll be sitting down and see a scene and you’ll think to yourself “there’s no way that could happen.” But these scenes are very little and it makes up for it. The villain in this movie is also kind of boring. He’s scary, strong, and smart, but doesn’t have a lot of backstory and is kind of dull. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a lot better than other villains, like the guy from Thor 2, but he gets over shot by the heroes.

Remember in the beginning of the review I said that the movie took the best soundtrack? Well, one of the biggest plot points of the movie is Peter Quill’s mix tape. It contains a lot of 1980s classics songs like “Hooked on a Feeling,” “Come and Get Your Love,” “I Want You Back,” and many others. The entire movie plays tough songs and it has sold enough to be the #1 soundtrack of this year.  The movie is still being shown in movie theaters all around Texas. One is the Cedar Park Cinemark at 1890 Ranch shopping center. Tickets are around $10 but bring more some popcorn and a drink because this movie is long.

The final verdict for Guardians of the Galaxy is a very high 9 out of 10. A fantastic movie and a great time. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see it. It’s worth every penny and you’ll have a great time.

If you have an idea of a movie or a video game I should review you can leave me a message on Facebook. Twitter: @(your twitter handle)