17-minute preview of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, My Report

Marvel comic book geeks all across America are united in crying out just one word today – More! Please give us more of the fantastic film that is “Guardians of the Galaxy.” A 17-minute preview was shown on IMAX (and the smaller IMAX-lite) screens across the country today.

I’ve watched the previews and read the movie screening materials, but other than that I am not that familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy story or characters, so I went into today’s 17-minute IMAX special preview with a near blank slate.

The special extended scene we saw focused on a jail break scene. It’s not right from the beginning of the film, but apparently it’s not too far into it either. But it’s the perfect scene as it introduces the audience to all of guardians, their capabilities and personalities, as well shows how they work together as a team. Which is, in short, amazing.

The 3D IMAX version we saw was very immersive. The director took advantage of how deep the space was to really move objects through it, so when you’re watching in 3D, you get that added perspective of depth, and it makes the film that much more realistic (even as you watch the somewhat cartoony violence).

I was worried that audiences who aren’t familiar with Peter Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Groot or Drax won’t warm to the film, but trust me, if you don’t like the characters by this point in the film, the prison escape sequence will seal the deal. The rapport and interplay is witty, well written, superbly acted (especially considering the digital animation that went into two of the characters) and just enough outside the stereotype you expect for the characters to be interesting.

I definitely recommend catching “Guardians of the Galaxy” this August 1st when it opens at a theatre near you. Watch it in 3D on the largest clearest screen you can find withing reasonable driving distance.

If you missed the 7/7 at 7pm IMAX screening you can still catch a separate sequence at Disneyland or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

A new featurette and the latest previews are below the jump too:

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime Rael and Benicio Del Toro as The Collector.

James Gunn is the director of the film with Kevin Feige, p.g.a., producing. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Alan Fine and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” is written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman and releases in U.S. theaters on August 1, 2014.