Guardians of the Galaxy

4.5/5 stars. Who knew a talking racoon (Bradley Cooper) could be hilarious, a tree-man (Vin Diesel) could be endearing and cute, and that a kickass soundtrack could work with both awesome dance moves, random bursts of singing, and references to Kevin Bacon.


This film really is wonderful. With it joining all the easter-eggs of other Marvel films, such as The Collector (Benicio Del Toro), and Thanos (Josh Brolin). The Collector must be the easiest halloween costume out there, but still awesome. And to see Thanos (Brolin) again is really quite exciting, hopefully foreshadowing future Marvel films.

The film opens with the heartbreaking introduction to Peter Quill, who as a child is shown to be abducted from Earth in the late eighties (cue awesome soundtrack) after his mother’s death (cue the tears). It then cuts to twenty-six years in the future where we see a masked figure wandering around a deserted planet (cue awesome dancing). Having the ability to change from tears to heartfelt joy even in the opening twenty minutes set the vibe for the film, proving early on that it wasn’t just bunged together, but really well written and thought through.

Chris Pratt is awesome. This role really shows him off for those who haven’t seen Park and Recreation, or any other work of his. He really bloody encapsulates a cheeky guy with a great taste in music - just an über funny chappy amongst people of the Galaxy.

Saldana pulls of green extremely well, with her ninja/assassin moves. What’s fun is that her character Gamora is the love interest of the film without cheapening her character - she’s too ninja to be boring. Whoever knew they could pull this off along with the caring tree-man Groot (Diesel) and swearing, bomb-making techno-racoon (Cooper) should give himself a pat on the back. Bravo sir.

Seeing Lee Pace all robed up, as Ronan, in an awesome costume and supercool makeup, blue-marble skin is in folks, was quite something, especially after just seeing The Hobbit trailer before the film started. His villainous vibes were pretty strong whilst strutting about the place with Karen Gillan as Nebula was awesome. Lets just use that word again. Awesome.

This film managed to pull in so many characters and jokes without overdoing the superhero, super-gifted, “ooh look shiny” effects, and without feeling über gaudy. (cue “Hooked on a Feeling” - Blue Swede).

Drax’s (Dave Bautista) bright red tattoos on his blue skin look so cool, along with his hilarious unfamiliarity with metaphors. Though not a protagonist, he steals all screen time in fight scenes.

Though the easter-egg wasn’t much of a clue, and was more like a bit of fun for waiting fans, the whole film feels like a foreshadowing for the next instalment. According to the wonders of the internet, another Guardians of the Galaxy film is scheduled for release in 2017. (Even later than the next series of Sherlock).