A Fun Caper

Rating: 8/10 (1 April 2018)

Having finally gotten round to watching Guardians of the Galaxy four years after it was released, it was an overall enjoyable experience. James Gunn embraced the zany nature of the comics fully which made for a very gratifying watch. The film's breakneck pace certainly helped the narrative flow effectively whilst never giving us a dull moment.
The overall aesthetic was bright, colourful and visually-pleasing, whilst the incorporation of pop songs from the 70s and 80s in certain scenes was inventive. One of the best aspects however, was the dynamic between the Guardians and how that developed over the course of the narrative. The action scenes were also quite inventive and engaging, whilst the humour was surprisingly irreverent and witty.
However, some minor gripes I have include the rather thin characterisation from nearly all the characters aside from Star Lord, who gave the film a much needed emotional core, as well as the actual plot being rather uninspired (all the characters are trying to obtain an all-powerful MacGuffin in one of the Infinity Stones). The villain of Ronan also seemed uninspired with predictable motivations, although he was more interesting given he was a understudy to Thanos although that was only briefly explored in a few scenes.
In the end this was a very fun watch and I'll look forward to viewing the sequel.