Random fact; the main reason I saw this film in the first place was to get a better look at Chris Pratt's spaceship. That is one awesome looking spaceship- if a sci-fi features a good spaceship, it's already off to a good start in my book. If only so you can quote that Will Smith line from Independence Day.
The rest of the film, as it turns out, is equally as solid in it's design and performance. I had expected a few laughs, but Guardians of The Galaxy genuinely had me giggling from start to finish. If anything, it needed to be longer, for the sheer hell of it.
It's one of those films in which every character has their turn as the stand-up, including the villain. There was only one character I felt should have been done differently. Warning: anyone who hasn't seen The Avengers should skip the next paragraph, for the sake of avoiding spoilers.
Still here? Good. Now then- Thanos, the guy we saw briefly around the end of the Avengers, was a disappointment. I don't know much about him, or Marvel for that matter, but I do know that he's supposed to be a Titan. That should make him gigantic, unless it refers to him being a member of some organization like the Teen Titans; instead, he's a pasty blue geezer in Asgardian armor, roughly the size of a Space Marine and as threatening as an Action Man.
One moment in particular made me cringe. This is supposed to be the arch villain, judging by the way all the other villains refer to him, and yet he's the most boring inclusion in the entire film.
Right, now I've got that over with- to summarize, this film is not perfect -I'll get onto the good news. First of all, a talking raccoon is entirely normal compared to a lot of what else goes on here. Rocket could so easily have been irritating, like Sonic the Hedgehog whenever he's given a script, but you will come to love him pretty quickly in the same way a lot of people loved Puss in Boots during Shrek 2.
Secondly, tree people are awesome. All they needed was something like Groot, played by Vin Diesel in surely his best ever role, to highlight this for anyone who didn't already know.
Thirdly, Guardians of The Galaxy suggests that super-hero films are finally coming of age. At the expense of potentially aggravating fans of the comics, there hasn't been one this interesting since The Dark Knight, and that was mostly thanks to the performance by Heath Ledger. Dark & brooding has been done to death already, in all manner of films.
Guardians of the Galaxy was, for the most part, unpredictable. You don't see much coming, and anything you expect is delivered with aplomb. It's surprisingly deep, too, which makes it far more engaging than something like The Avengers.
Warning: the expected extra after-credits scene is...well, rubbish.
Right now, I'd even go so far as to say that Guardians of the Galaxy is the best superhero movie yet. It's not as epic as the Nolan trilogy, and it doesn't feature Michael Fassbender.
The heroes aren't anywhere near as extreme as The Avengers- they don't even have super powers, unless you count an immunity to metaphor and a body made of tree as such.
That's sort of the point. It doesn't try to be anything but a funny superhero movie, and it does that pretty darn well.
Thankyou (as always) for reading,
Tim Manton