Favourite movie of the year

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2014)

Honestly, I thought this was going to be some tired 'America saves the universe' pastiche, full of same old same old characters and heroic dialogue, beautiful and invincible agents and so on. So when it me laugh out loud within 5 minutes, more from surprise thanactual comedy I'll admit, I started to think that maybe this would be something a little different.
What I realised early on is that this is the film Serenity thinks is was and so desperately wanted to be. Nothing wrong with Serenity (apart from poor casting), but GOTG was fun, funny, thrilling and looked fantastic from the start. It took the old superhero clichés and made then look ridiculous with lines like 'Ok, Im standing. Here we are, all standing in a circle. Like jackasses'. Sure, the pirate with a heart of gold has been done to death, but never with so much tongue in cheek irreverence, panache and plain old fun.
Visually it's stunning, the characters are believable and well constructed, even Groot, a walking and talking tree. There is absolutely zero in the way of hero talk and that's what really sets this apart from the likes of Capt America and The Avengers. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but is happy to poke a bit of fun at the genre. Maybe some of the language and humour isn't suitable for children, but its not too strong and kids under 9-10 probably wont notice anyway.
Also, it has a brilliant soundtrack. I can't wait for part 2.