Guardians of the Galaxy 17 minute IMAX sneak peek breakdown!

Last night Marvel teamed up with AMC Theaters to treat fans to an exclusive 17 minute sneak peek of their new film Guardians of the Galaxy on an IMAX 3D screen. I was lucky enough to be able to attend this screening and was very excited to see what the Guardians had in store for Marvel fans. I have to admit, if there was any doubt about how good this film was going to be, it has completely vanished. I walked out of the theater in complete awe. This film is going to be amazing.

There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered about the film in this screening. Would Chris Pratt give a strong performance in his role as Star-Lord? What would Rocket Raccoon and Groot look like on the big screen? How would the chemistry of the Guardians look on screen? Would Dave Bautista deliver a good performance as Drax? All this and more was answered and the results will make everyone happy.

One thing that is abundantly clear is that this is going to be like no other Marvel film we have seen and I think that is great. Guardians of the Galaxy is going to show fans that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a lot bigger than just Earth and Asgard and that while we have been watching events in the other films that the MCU has been busy growing and doing its own thing. An extended trailer was released with the sneak peek that can be seen here.

Myself standing with the free post given at the screening.

*No spoilers*

The screening opened with a brief intro from director James Gunn thanking the fans for attending the event and that the footage had been optimized for the IMAX experience.  

The footage shown was of the Guardians getting booked by the Nova Corps, the prison riot, and the escape from the prison. The on screen chemistry between the full Guardian team is perfect. [Chris Pratt as Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, and Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer.] The comedic give and take between Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon will have undoubtedly have audiences laughing. Star-Lord seems like he'll constantly find himself over his head and still manage to work out a successful plan. Rocket Raccoon and Groot definitely have the old time friends kind of relationship that you would expect but I hope this is explored further in the full film as this preview has it seem like Rocket's friendship is more of a boss relationship. Rocket is a technical savant and quick with a sarcastic come back. Watching Groot in battle is going to be a real pleasure with his ability to grow, shrink, and create his own weapons and shields.  Drax delivers some heavy hits and funny lines (that to the character are quite serious and not funny at all) and Gamora has a very powerful screen presence coupled with some insanely incredible fight moves. She's extremely well known within the universe and for her that is not a good thing. She's very intelligent and watching how she is going to handle this team and their antics is going to be fun.   

For those curious as to what was actually shown during the sneak peek, here is a description of the footage.

*Spoilers!*

The footage opens on the Guardians of the Galaxy as they are being presented in their lineup by the Nova Corps and are having their backgrounds discussed. The footage gives an extended explanation of Gamora and her background which gives fans a look at the film’s plot. It appears that Ronan has begun to stir things up in the universe and Thanos has lent his adopted daughters Gamora and Nebula (who are assassins) to help him.

Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Gamora are then shipped off to an intergalactic prison named The Kyln. While walking through the prison, Rocket fills us in that he is an expert at escaping prisons and has done so 28 times already. We then find out that he and Groot were trying to collect a bounty on Star-Lord head until Gamora showed up and spoiled things. (Star-Lord was most likely about to steal an Infinity Gem, something we find out that Gamora was trying to get herself.) Rocket reveals that he knows who Gamora is and who she is working for and Gamora states that she was going to betray Ronan and sell the gem to a third party. (Maybe the Collector?) 

While still being escorted through the prison Star-Lord has noticed that a prison guard has put on his Walkman and began listening to “Hooked on a Feeling”. Star-Lord jumps towards him and demands that he put the Walkman down and that it belongs to him. Not amused by the boldness of Star-Lord the guard tazes him until he is off of his feet. Then scene then switch to both Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon being hosed down by an orange watery substance and then being ushered into their cell with their prison uniform waiting for them. 

The Guardians are then walking through a common area where prisoners are allowed to gather and an inmate approaches Star-Lord and informs him that he will not be his property. Groot steps up and puts two of his tree fingers up the inmates nose and lifts him off the ground. Rocket makes a loud declaration that Star-Lord is their (his and Groot’s) booty and in order to get to him the inmates would have to go through them. The team then continues to walk on as Rocket formulates a plan and shows off his technological intelligence. Rocket gives the team instructions to retrieve several items that will be key to their escape. A access wrist pad on a guard’s arm, an inmate’s prosthetic leg, and a power battery. While all this is going on, and while Rocket explains that the battery should be the last thing they get because once unplugged the prison will go into lockdown and will be alerted to their plans, Groot can be seen in the background ripping the power battery off the guard tower and the alarm is set off causing the team to have to hurry and improvise on their plan. 

Gamora runs off to get the access wrist pad while Star-Lord goes to track down the inmate with the prosthetic leg. Groot begins to be attacked by flying security drones and begins to fight them off and throw them into the walls. Rocket joins him on his shoulder yelling instructions at him. This is when we see Drax enter the fight. He starts to beat down the prison guards and tosses Rocket a big gun which excites Rocket and he starts laying down an impressive amount of cover fire. The team meets back up in front of the security tower door (Star-Lord and Drax climb Groots extended leg to get up to where they need to be) and all the various items stolen are given to Rocket. (It is at this point a guard is thrown back and you hear the classic wilhelm scream.) 

Nova Corps reinforcements finally make their way to the prison and start bombarding the guard tower with rocket launchers. Rocket reveals that he didn’t actually need the prosthetic leg but that it must have been funny to take it from the inmate. We find out that Star-Lord made an agreement with Drax to get Drax close to Ronan so that he can have in revenge for the murder of his family. Rocket is busy at the computer typing away and hot wiring the circuit boards while the Nova Corps still attack to get into the tower. Just then Rocket’s plan kicks in and the artificial gravity in the prison is shut off. The Nova Corps begin to float around not sure what to do. Rocket then commands the security drones to attach to the guard tower and uses their thrusters to fly the guard tower like a ship. He then flies the team out of the prison. At this point the Marvel logo flashes across the screen and the new 2 1/2 minute extended trailer for the film plays that is filled with all new footage. If you would like to see that extended trailer you can see it here.

This movie is going to be incredible! If you'd read this far, what do you think about the footage that was shown?