A little too chaotic for its own good, but thoroughly charming.

Rating: 7/10 (18 August 2014)

If you weren't sure by now, Marvel pretty much rule the roost of Hollywood and will most likely continue to do so for a little while longer. Their popularity is on a Spielbergian level of absurd. They're developing movies for kids that haven't even been born yet. Talk about a captive audience. I'm pretty mild on Marvel. While The Avengers was a jolly good (if throwaway) time, their movies aren't always as satisfying. Outside of the first Iron Man film, there's little else that sufficiently ticks enough boxes. Even at their most acclaimed with this year's Captain America followup The Winter Soldier it didn't break their mould of bad habits with misjudged melodrama, clunky humour, contrivances and dull villains. Now comes the seed of a new franchise, one admittedly more risky than the others that had brand awareness even for those who never read comic books. Maybe it works better because Guardians of the Galaxy is closest to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek than Thor, and not just because of Zoe Saldana.
It is quite nice to see a film go old school with its effects. Yes, there are CGI backgrounds and CGI characters littered everywhere, but the majority of Guardians' production are real sets and real people under heavy makeup. I can see that being the charm for many people regarding this film, one that's only on Earth for a 5 minute prologue. Personally, and this goes for Star Wars and so on, I struggle to get lost in suspension of belief that everything resembles Earth and humans, it just seems overly limited to me. It's a minor distraction that just holds me back from sci-fi, even if it's as silly and camp as this. It's a real shame that Guardians is by the tales of MacGuffin city with a meaningless dry plot that propels characters into who cares and why not. If only it could've been sprinkled with a touch more its charm so this plot could've been secondary because, and everyone knows, the film is at its best when it showcases its sense of humour and camaraderie. You can tell the actors and director James Gunn, whose roots are in oddball comedies, just love riffing off each other, subverting odd clichés they're bored of conforming to.
Outside of the irresistibly charming Starlord, played by rising star Chris Pratt who's found the uncanny ability to ground any movie no matter where it's set, be it the galaxy, the not-too- distance future or Legoland, I was pleasantly surprised as to which characters stuck out for me. Drax and Gamora, with their brute but sensitive personalities are much more interesting than the destined to be fan favourites CGI stars Rocket and Groot, who pander to the audience more than anything, leaving gaps for laughter like it's a sitcom. However, their losses and backstories are quite touching at times, but it's difficult to not feel like their forged friendships are forced by the obligation to have them antagonise each other then bond over common goals. It's not very convincing but they just want to slink into it regardless. Guardians can be an entertaining film and it's more or less as good as a Marvel movie can be with all its inevitable fill-in-the- blanks tedium and tonal imbalance to try to please all, but it's simply too chaotic and overzealous for its own good. I'm going to say I'm bowing out of Marvel now but I said that for the last two movies. At least its soundtrack will introduce a lot of young fans to great music.
6/10