A rollicking great space adventure

Rating: 8/10 (19 August 2014)

Someone has suggested that this film seemed to be a truncated version of Star Wars, but I must admit that I did not find it to be like that, but what this film does do is that it takes the Marvel Universe into space. Okay, while I would consider that pretty much all of the superhero orientated movies these days fall into the category of science-fiction, this film is also what one would consider to be a Space Opera, and a pretty good one at that.
Don't expect this film to be deep in meaning, or have much in the way of any take away value because it doesn't, and it does not pretend to be. It is simply a really enjoyable ride with everything that you would expect from a science-fiction movie – it has a plethora or strange aliens (though in many cases the aliens simply have different coloured skin, similar to the Star Trek aliens who all have funny protrusions on their face); massive space battles; journeys to strange and unusual planets; and of course the ubiquitous quest to save the galaxy.
This film is the next in line for the Marvel universe series, and as I have suggested elsewhere, I like how they are creating this series in a sense that they are not really sequels per se but stand-alone films that can be watched without having watched the previous ones (though I must admit that Iron Man III fell down in that regard because there were numerous references to the Avengers so that if you had not seen that movie you would have been a little confused, and Thor: The Dark World was also like that as well). Guardians of the Galaxy takes a step back and while there are still a couple of elements that connect it with the previous movies (namely The Collector who was given an 'Infinity Stone' at the end of Thor: The Dark World) it is pretty much a stand alone film.
What was also cool about this film is that it was a lot more light hearted that some of the other films in the series, especially with the introduction of Groot, who happens to be a not to bright sentient plant creature (played by Vin Diesel and only ever speaking the line 'I am Groot' – though it comes out later that he is only ever able to communicate by saying 'I am Groot' and only his companion Rocket is able to understand him). Apparently in the comics there are a number of other members of the group known as 'The Guardians of the Galaxy' which appears to be headed up by the self styled 'Star Lord', aka Peter Quinn. So, when you have a bunch of not to bright nitwits thrown together who call themselves 'The Guardians of the Galaxy' you are likely to shake your head and grown with everybody else wondering how these people are going to finish up as heroes – well, all I can say is that this is Hollywood, and as we can expect from Hollywood that all of these rag tag, not to great individuals will generally always end up saving the day.