'Guardians' go big, not home

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2017)

2014 was a crowded year for superhero films, and James Gunn's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' emerged as the highest-grossing of them all. The unconventional film follows a bunch of intergalactic misfits who are forced to band together in order to survive a villainous pursuit of a weapon of mass destruction in the form of an orb.
While 'Guardians' is a member of the Marvel family, it definitely is not your uncle's superhero movie. It might just be your grandfather's, though, based on the soundtrack of psychedelic 60's and 70's tunes that permeate the scenes of spacecraft, aliens and lasers - which makes for a creative juxtaposition. But perhaps the best part of the film is the camaraderie that develops between everyone - from Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) to Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and the rag- tag bunch of Drax, Rocket and Groot (Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, respectively). It's great to see everyone's relationships change over the course of the film, as circumstances more or less bring them together.
'Guardians' is not a groundbreaking film, per se, but it is different enough from our standard fare that it has a sense of originality, which works to its advantage. The dialogue is smart, funny and not totally idiotic, as it easily could have been. Even the special effects are what you would expect from a big budget blockbuster, so there are no real weak spots in what is an otherwise run-of-the- mill action-packed extravaganza.
True - there are plenty of seemingly similar films out there to watch, 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is an example of how to offer up something that can satisfy a diverse audience and appeal to all age groups while still being pretty entertaining.