Rocket didn’t jump him until he was fighting Gamora, right? Maybe he didn’t intend to grab him then, but thought Gamora was going claim jump him.
And as we see later in the prision, Rocket will definitely go all in if the situation starts escalating.
It’s also worth noting that Rocket has been arrested numerous times. He’s clearly clever but not great at impulse control.
what astounds me is no-one on the SDMB is bothered by the fact that Rocket stands digitigrade on his hind legs, when actual raccoons are plantigrade. 
Ain’t nothing like him but him.
I know I’m late to the party, but Mrs. SMV and I just saw this last night, and I loved it.
I’m not a Marvel fan - or DC, for that matter; just never got in to comic books as a kid, and don’t really like superheros - so the tie-ins or continuity with the Marvel universe don’t really matter to me (I have yet to see any of the other Marvel movies save Ironman). It doesn’t seem like James Gunn is either, and I think that’s what made the movie so engaging.
It seems weird to describe an intergalactic space opera as a “little” film, but that’s exactly what GotG was; Gunn realized that the heart of any ensemble heist film - which is what this really was - is the relationship between the protagonists. And that is the strongest part of Guardians, the snark and the bonding and the banter; the chemistry. Which was palpable amongst these five. Throw in some cool-looking spaceship battles, and you’ve got something that will put butts in the seats and, more importantly, something enjoyable to watch. If you can give your characters some actual depth, as he amazingly managed to do with the talking raccoon and the walking tree, so much the better. As for the rest, it’s all filler, so why waste time with complicated world-building when you can just make your aliens red, green or blue-painted humans, and give them ridiculous, sci-fi cliché titles like “Ronan the Accuser” and “Nova Prime”? Pratt even hung a lampshade on that by referring to the orb-thingy as the Maltese Falcon. He didn’t actually use the word “MacGuffin”, but it was unquestionably part of the subtext.
It seemed to me that Gunn made a virtue of necessity. He realized that he had a cardboard plot with more holes than a colander, and he just didn’t care. He understood what directors like Christopher Nolan have forgotten: adventure movies are supposed to be fun.
Just saw Guardians this weekend.
My first thought was to feel a bit let down. I wanted it to be more fun than it actually was, and at the end, it devolved into just another space zoomie shoot-em-down CGI-fest just like a dozen I’ve seen before. Sigh.
But Groot and Rocket were fun.
They should’ve given Gamora eyebrows. I always felt a little distanced from her, and I frankly think it’s because of the no-eyebrows look. Plus, it’s a lot easier for an actress to put herself across if she has eyebrows to emote with.
I agree with the others about the mix tape: Twenty-some years of steady playing? Not a chance. I couldn’t get my Springsteen tapes to last even two years. 
It wasn’t really necessity - Gunn wrote the film, after all.
The Collector scene(s) is crammed full of comics references. I’ve seen that Gunn was positively gleeful about how much fanservice he stuffed in there. I’m not buying that he’s not a Marvel fan; lots of those blink-and-you-miss references (e.g., the specific Celestial destroying a planet) aren’t something casually served up.
However, he did a very good job of making a movie where the comics fanservice isn’t offputting or alienating to the non-comics fans in the crowd.
Just wanted to mention that as of this weekend, Guardians is the number one movie of the year in the USA, blowing past Captain America and the Lego Movie. At worst it will end the year at number 2, after the next Hunger Games.
So much for the “unknown/obscure characters…no one will relate to them…it will surely tank” doomsayers. This will definitely boost the chances of Black Panther/solo Black Widow/other character movie getting made, if they can figure out where to schedule it.
I have to say that I was in the group that thought it would do just fine, but not this well at all.
Well, to be honest, so was I. Isn’t it nice that we were both wrong?
It’s great to see a studio taking a risk, and it paying off.
I was convinced it would do well all along, but I have my doubts about Ant-man. Hopefully, it will coast on Avengers 2’s coat-tails, but we’ll see
I dunno if this was posted yet, but apparently the “Awesome mix” tape is a chart-topper.
I rarely have the pleasure of seeing a movie that’s so flawless. It’s not totally perfect - the love subplot is awkward and feels kinda meh, and I’m not 100% sure I buy Starlord’s “sacrifice” - but virtually everything else worked. Also, Rocket Raccoon is a dick to disabled people.
I heard the Cinema Sins “ding” in my mind when I read this.
I heard it in my mind both when he said “I was just joking about the leg” and “we need that guy’s eye”. So perfect.
Not to hijack, but that seems like something they’d do. And it’s stuff like that that made me give up on Cinema Sins. Everything gets a ding now.
It used to cover cliches and ridiculous things in movies but now it’s stuff like “This character smiles.” DING. “They just said “the” again.” DING.
…and now it’s officially at my local $2 Discount Theater. There’s no telling how many times I’ll see this movie now. 
I was just thinking about this. They could almost do a comic about Quinn’s adventures growing up with the Ravagers. I’d love to know more about the whole universe they opened up for us. It’s more fun than the Star Trek universe, just as fun as Star Wars (and a better movie) and reminds me a bit of the Fifth Element universe. Anyway, it seems he must have some contact with Earth. Aliens come and go pretty frequently. Maybe there are shops where you can buy things from out of the way planets like Earth. Or, maybe Earth is normally monitored and if you’re bored you can call up Earth entertainment and news on the galactic internet or something. The Xandarians know what a Terran is and they didn’t seem shocked or anything. Rocket seems to be an earth raccoon even though he doesn’t know what a raccoon is. Didn’t Drax say his people used to eat them? Someone must have taken some earth fauna and spread it around. If anything could adapt to and infest a bunch of alien planets, it’s probably raccoons.
Speaking of Drax, I thought he was going to be a pro-wrestler with bad makeup and grunt a lot, but I really liked him and his makeup was fine. I might have sniffled a little when he was comforting Rocket.
Drax, Quinn, Rocket and Groot were all great, and well developed considering how much they had to fit in the movie. Gamora and Nebula weren’t developed as well I thought. Neither of them seemed to know exactly what their characters were supposed to be.
Of course Yondu is a good guy deep down. He’s a good guy in the comics! I don’t think he’s related to Quinn, but Quinn’s father is apparently a big enough asshole Yondu was willing to keep him instead of finishing the job of delivering him. I also think Yondu knew the Infinity gem was too dangerous and let Quinn get away with the switcheroo. As long as Yondu saves face in front of his men, he’s willing to be a good guy.
I read there will be an additional Guardians character from the comics in the next movie. I wonder who? Will it be Quinn’s dad? I can’t think of who would fit, except Starhawk is kind of a dick and would fit the glowing angel description Quinn’s mom mentioned.
Pretty disappointed with The Collector. He’s a cosmic being. He shouldn’t be thwarted so easily.