17-Minute "First Look" at Guardians of the Galaxy!

We attended Monday night's special 17-minute "First Look" at Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," and the footage was spectacular! First off, this was not the complete film, but consisted mostly of a single scene of about 15 minutes, followed by a trailer. There is a lot of new footage housed between moments from the trailer, and we'll have a full description below after the picture of Rocket. Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD Still here? Okay. The clip opens on the lineup, as the Nova Corps have captured Peter Quil (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voice of Vin Diesel). We get the same beats, including Star Lord doing his middle finger "machine" (but without the "Obscene Gesture alert" we get in the trailer), and they identify Gamora as the daughter of Thanos, the Mad Titan. From there the Guardians are hustled into an intergalactic prison space station, and see the sequence where Star Lord takes offense at a guard listening to his music (he specifically identifies the song, "Hooked on a Feeling"). The inmates taunt the Guardians, who from the clip seem to only be a group in that they were all captured at the same time. Star Lord at one point calls Rocket a racoon, and Rocket replies "What's a raccoon?" Star Lord replies, "That's what you are, stupid." They also gloss over Groot's speaking only 3 words ("I," "Am," and "Groot"...in that order, as Rocket notes). As they enter the prison, they are taunted by the inmates, and several of them target Gamora, because, as Rocket notes, her boss has killed many of their families and friends. They are left in the prison's common area, and Star Lord is interrupted by a large prisoner, who begins taunting him, until Groot grabs the man by his nostrils, and, in a show of force, lifts him off the ground. Rocket then proclaims Star Lord "is OUR booty." Rocket, who has been boasting about how he will escape from this prison as he has many others, and outlines his plan. All he needs is a few miscellaneous items, including a guard's communication implant, another inmate's prosthetic leg, and the battery in an observation device about 15 feet off the ground. While everyone talks it over, we see Groot in the background, growing to a height where he can reach the battery, removing it just as Rocket notes they need to get that piece last, since it will trigger an alarm. The alarm sounds, and Rocket says "Or we can get that first and improvise" as the guards surround them, along with a group of flying sentry robots armed with machine guns. A free-for-all ensues. Groot takes on the sentries, Gamora pursues the guard's communication implant, and Star Lord goes after the prosthetic leg. Finally, Drax enters the fray as Rocket complains he doesn't have a gun, and disarms a guard and tosses his gun to Rocket, who proceeds to go nuts, blasting away as he stands on Groot's shoulder. They take down the robot sentries. Cut to Gamora, who takes down rioting prisoners and tracks down the guard, who tells her "good luck...it's implanted in my arm." Gamora only smiles and breaks his arm...off. Meanwhile, Star Lord is negotiating with the prisoner, asking him nicely if he can have his leg. Finally, they get their pieces and meet in the "guard tower," where he begins removing panels and using his pieces to assemble a device. Star Lord offers Rocket the leg, to which Rocket replies "No, I was just messing with you...that was funny, wasn't it? What did he look like hopping around with one leg?" More guards enter, all of them holding bazooka-like guns, and begin firing on the tower while Rocket works. Finally, he finishes, and everyone outside of the tower begins to float. He has disabled the prison's gravity, except in the tower, which begins floating off of its base. Rocket takes control of some of the robot sentries, and they attach to thetower and fly it out of the prison like a ship, and the clip ends We then got another trailer, which mostly consisted of footage we've seen already, but with a few stray new bits here and there. Overall, the footage was SPECTACULAR, with tremendous action and humor. The characters all have distinct personalities, and the effects sequences were outstanding. The leads all have tremendous chemistry, and the tone is consistent with the other Marvel Studios films, albeit a touch more comedic in nature. One caveat: I found the IMAX 3D to be a bit overwhelming, moving so quickly that at times it gets blurry and dizzying. We were sitting about midway up (typically we sit at the very top at IMAX), but an introduction by director James Gunn reveals that the film was converted to IMAX 3D, which may explain the disorienting feel. Overall, this footage continues to build my excitement that this will be the movie of the summer. It's different in scope and tone than the "Avengers" heroes films, has some big laughs and a lot of great action and memorable characters packed in.

UPDATE: Here is the extended trailer that played after the clip, which contains some new footage!