If Marvel keeps showing off clips from "Guardians of the Galaxy," there's not going to be much left for us to see at the theater. It's understandable that Marvel wants to educate its fans as much as possible about the Guardians and their universe, since this is the studio's first big release with no built-in brand recognition. But stories depend on surprises, and "Guardians" is going to run out of them soon.
Marvel's been running the "Guardians" hype machine at a frenetic pace for the last month or two, so the danger of over-saturation is very real. Fortunately, thanks to a healthy dose of sci-fi action and plenty of witty humor, the movie looks like it has the goods to keep fans from being disappointed.
A five-minute preview of Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" premiered on the USA Network over the weekend, and a helpful viewer recorded, encoded and posted the whole thing on YouTube. You can watch it below.
The preview consists mostly of footage we've seen before, though there are some new scenes. There's an expanded look at "the Kyln," a maximum security prison floating in space, where the Guardians appear to first meet. The trailer makes it look like the five of them team up while inside the prison and escape as a group. Presumably this is how they wind up functioning as a team. Rocket Raccoon gets the most face time in the preview, though Drax the Destroyer is largely absent. Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, shows off his devil-may-care approach to life, while we learn why Groot is unable to say anything other than "I am Groot."
"Guardians of the Galaxy" expands Marvel's cinematic universe into space for the first time, with a story that finds five misfits forced to work together to stop a villain capable of destroying the galaxy. Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as mysterious assassin Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, and Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser. They're supported by an all-star cast that includes Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro, Djimon Hounsou, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly, Michael Rooker and more.
Directed by James Gunn ("Slither," "Super") and written by Gunn and first-time feature writer Nicole Perlman, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" will be in theaters starting August 1, 2014.
