Five Word Review: Incredibly Entertaining; Effective Comedy Adventure.

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2015)

The 10th film in Marvel's Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy takes an unheard-of team of ragtag cosmic comic heroes and casts lovable Parks and Recreation idiot Chris Pratt as cocky human adventurer Peter Quill, who ends up leading an unlikely team of eclectic space rogues featuring Avatar's Zoë Saldana as green assassin Gamora, ex-WWE superstar Batista (now Dave Bautista) as the violent yet naïve Drax, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel respectively as the sardonic experiment-gone-wrong Rocket, for all intents and purposes a murderous talking raccoon, and Groot, Rocket's personal houseplant/muscle, a dumb, peaceful yet very strong tree creature who has a vocabulary of 3 words. The Hobbit's Lee Pace plays villain Ronan the Accuser, whilst Karen Gillan (Doctor Who), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) and Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) round out a huge cast.
Using an ingenious advertising scheme which played on their new team's anonymity to a wide audience, Marvel's marketing for GotG paid off perfectly, as the end product comes out not just as a fun, forgettable superhero flick but as a hilariously scripted comedy which happens to be full of superhero action and is set as a space adventure. Basically the whole thing is a tongue-in-cheek retro adventure with an amazing soundtrack featuring ridiculously catchy and wonderfully cheesy 70s and 80s tunes which will be immediately downloaded, including the likes of Blue Swede, David Bowie and the Jackson 5. Chris Pratt effortlessly slides into the Indiana Jones- style lead protagonist role, whilst still imbuing his cocky character with the charm of Andy Dwyer, his Parks and Rec character. Saldana and Bautista's characters are both so serious that they allow for much comedy to ensue through their ignorance of earth customs ("The great hero Kevin Bacon") whilst Cooper's voice turn as the irreverent, acid-tongued raccoon would be the perfect match for Tony Stark.
Not that this film is just light-hearted. An unexpected vein of true heart runs through Guardians of the Galaxy, especially towards the end where, without giving anything away, Quill opens a package. And the action is great too. It unfortunately falls to the Marvel curse of having a city-threatening climax, but the action sequences are well done and exciting throughout. It may be just a superhero flick, but Guardians of the Galaxy is easily the best of the MCU and I look forward to the sequels if they're even half as irreverent, witty and just plain fun as this. 86/100