Guardians of the Galaxy review: I-I-I-I-I'm hooked on a franchise!

The unusual suspects 

The master moviemakers at Marvel must have been so determined not to let DC show them up with their upcoming Batman V Superman, that before the rival production company even had a chance to release their first superhero ensemble movie, Marvel released it's second. And what a corker of a second it is! 

Having been randomly abducted by galactic thieves and outlaws when he was just a boy, and forced to live a new life in space, now grown-man Peter Quill spends his days stealing and doing odd-jobs for people who want stuff done that isn't quite, let's say, legal within the galaxy.

After taking a job for a niche collector, Quill goes after an orb he knows absolutely nothing about, when he unwittingly runs into a few others who are also desperate to claim the object themselves. He soon realises he'll have to shrug off his lone wolf demeanour and work with his rival criminals in order to save the power of the orb from falling into the (even more wrong than his) hands.

Because of its over-the-top hilarity for most of the film, audiences are saying that it could be seen as "the kiddie version of Avengers Assemble" but with it's sarcastic wit and humour that often revolves around more adult-like jokes, (look out for the UV light gag in particular), surely it would be more understandable to suggest the exact opposite. 

It's not as well-rounded, polished or as glaringly patriotic as Avengers, who heroes are just that... heroes. The leads in Guardians Of The Galaxy are flawed, fighting for their own causes and constantly turmoiled by whether they should actually bother to save the world or not. What's so great about it is that the champions of the story aren't necessarily the good guys, they're just not the bad guys and happen to be in the right place at the right time, and that's what makes for such a refreshing, and genuinely funny take on "a superhero movie". Throughout it's entirety, it never takes itself seriously and constantly ridicules the fantasy genre without being as corny as a spoof. 

Lee Pace as villain, Ronan. 

Visually, the film excels as every scene looks spectacular, even more so in a 3D format. Each scene is so glittered with detail and layered imagery that the 3D benefit doesn't really come from things looking like they're coming out of the screen, rather the depth and clarity that it provides each viewer.    

In addition to the look of the movie, it also boasts an amazing score, which features tracks that you wouldn't necessarily expect to be in a modern fantasy flick, but it works fantastically. Having the music determined by the plot was a clever way of enabling the film to use songs from a different era and ones that actually have lyrics and are known in popular culture rather than just a cinematic music score behind all the action. It give Guardians Of The Galaxy a much more human feel than that of other films in the same vain. (Regardless of it being set in space and has a walking tree, a talking racoon and only one true human in it). 

Despite being a film focused mainly around a group of unlikely superheroes, it's obvious throughout that there's only one real star and that's, well, Star-Lord. In almost every scene, Pratt's Quill steals the show with his flawless comedic timing and genius execution, skills he's clearly honed from years of doing comedic movies and playing the funny man Andy Dwyer on sitcom, Parks and Recreation. 

With Robert Downey Jr's contract up for Iron Man after Avengers: Age Of Ultron is complete, is Marvel strategically trying to push the next unconventional, quippy hero of the comic book world? With the way that they purposefully tried to create hype around the actor, it seems pretty evident. The characters do have some similarities so he's  certainly not a farfetched successor to the title of "Fan Favourite"! 

Whilst Pratt may be the glorified hero behind the scenes, on camera many of the actors shone in their roles. The most notable of these was probably Karen Gillan (Doctor Who), who was nothing less than perfect as sulky, troubled and downright nasty, Nebula. Maybe shaving off those ginger locks was a great move towards propelling into inevitable Hollywood stardom!

Bradley Cooper as Rocket, the laser-gun wielding racoon with a serious attitude problem also makes for some of the films best moments. However, it's hard to understand why they got such a high-profile actor as Vin Diesel to play his sidekick, Groot, who barely speaks throughout the whole movie.

Why so blue, Karen? We think you did great!

Lee Pace also does a sterling job of bringing gruff-voiced, power hungry Ronan; the main antagonist within the film. But with nods to villains such as Thanos and The Collector, there's strong indications that Guardians will not only link into other upcoming Marvel films like we've been told but most likely have it's own follow-up as well.  

Even though comparing Guardians Of The Galaxy to Avengers Assemble seems a bit redundant, it's almost impossible not to do it. It may seem a little unfair to put such a new set of fresh characters up against ones that have been in movies for over a decade, but it's precisely in that comparison that Guardians impresses the most. 

These characters didn't have any build-up movies and the anticipation was nowhere near the level it was when Avengers was being promoted. Heck, even all the actors featured in it are slightly lesser known, meaning that this film would always have been seen to have more difficulty appealing to such a mass audience as the other movie mentioned, but it never faltered. For a comic-book film based around characters that only die hard Marvel fans would have heard of, it's managed to completely engross audiences with it's highly stylised world, unique attitude towards superheroes and it's likeable, relatable and new characters that are nothing like we've ever seen before from the Marvel Studios.

'The Guardians Of The Galaxy will return' so they say? All we say is hurry up, we're already eagerly awaiting the sequel.