Wonderous breath of fresh air

Rating: 9/10 (3 August 2014)

After watching the 'hooked on a feeling' trailer with the "what a bunch of a-holes" line, I had a feeling that I'd really like this film and abstained from watching any more trailers so that the experience could be as fresh as possible.
As the launch date got closer I would read the top line headlines of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes but not venture further into the body of the review. By the time I was sitting in the chair, waiting for the film to start, my anticipation was definitely peaking and I hoped that it would reward my efforts.
Oh how it did.
Right off the bat, I was transported into a rich world of characters and a film that wasn't afraid to mix touching scenes with laugh out loud moments. The wonder of the characters and their bickering exchanges, sometimes in the midst of action scenes, was fabulously entertaining and involving.
Initially I was concerned that I was being hit with too many characters and would lose track but I understood that the film needed to move along at a pace and was relieved that all the characters were fleshed out enough to make them recognisable and engaging.
So many elements made it fun - Star lord's wisecracks, Gamora's fiestiness, Drax's hilarious literalism, Groot's big emotive eyes and Rocket's sense of humour.
I thought Lee Pace under a ton of makeup was great as a properly evil bad guy and Michael Rooker, along with many of the other supporting actors, hit his marks to create memorable individuals.
The special effects were wonderful but, and this is important, always served the film to visualise the director's vision rather than them be a fall back for a poor story (a la Dawn of the apes).
I enjoy the Marvel films but was disappointed with Thor 2 and Cap 2. I felt they become a little formulaic with Thor's over reliance on Loki and the interesting character of Cap being submerged under a tidal wave of empty action scenes.
GOTG was a wonderous breath of fresh air. A film that didn't need three films worth of back story to have me engaged but hit me with a plethora of fabulously different characters that I could like and root for from the virtual get go.
As an experience, as a jolt of entertainment, I felt this exceeded The Avengers as the final battle had just a bit more weight to it. The film was prepared to kill characters off rather than the rather clone like bad guys of the final Avengers battle. This in turn meant there was more of a threat to the characters and hence you felt more 'on the edge of your seat'.
Guardians was a great film and I'm so pleased that Marvel were prepared/brave enough to release James Gunn from the corporate shackles and let him and his script writing partner let themselves go. They've created characters and a universe that I'm desperate to revisit and turned this 42 year old man into a cinema awestruck 9 year old.