Avengers in space, but more fun

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2015)

The tenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes us into the far reaches of space and introduces us to a lesser known lineup from the comics, the Guardians of the Galaxy. Comprising of Peter Quill aka Star Lord (Chris Pratt), Gomorra (Zoe Saldana), Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Drax the Destoryer (Dave Bautista), this ragtag bunch of misfits must join forces to stop Ronan (Lee Pace) and protect the galaxy from complete destruction.
What works well for the movie is its humor and performances. Every time an insulting or witty joke is spoken, it stems from the character's motivations, feeling genuine and not forced. The best performances would be from the CG characters Rocket and Groot. The dialogues, on screen persona and buddy love between the two were just splendid. Another unique touch to the film was the use of music. It was well written into the story where Quill's mother gives him a mix tape of rock, pop and soul songs from the 1970's. The songs that play continually throughout the movie establish a quirky yet human tone to this space adventure.
For a movie that is completely immersed with CGI it looks visually fantastic. The colors and textures, cool spaceships, the various worlds revealed, as well as an appearance from the mad titan Thanos, were a delight to watch. The make-up has to be applauded as well, making a completely green Gomorra look stunning and a totally blue Ronan feel menacing. My only quip with the movie would be that Ronan should have got more screen time to show off his strength. Instead he's just reduced to the role of a dictator, although a really terrifying dictator with a great performance from Lee Pace.
A lot of credit has to go to director James Gunn for execution of Marvel's in-house style of epic scale and implementing his own method of humor and character development for the film. He handles the humorous tone with ease and balances them well with a tragic back story to maintain a steady momentum of the plot. The script, casting, costumes, make-up, set design, editing and sound were all effective in making Guardians of the Galaxy a genuinely fun sci-fi film.