This Marvel gamble pays off more often than not.

Rating: 6/10 (8 October 2014)

Guardians Of The Galaxy is, without a doubt, the weakest Marvel Studios film yet. But it's also the most charming. It suffers because of its very simple origin story. The reasons why many people overlooked this are its likable characters, sweet retro soundtrack (the songs Come And Get Your Love by Redbone and Go All The Way by Raspberries are featured at the beginning), comedy, and impressive visuals. It's really like a colorful lollipop. Once you're done with it though there's not much to return to. Sure, people liked it when Footloose (1984) was mentioned. The whole audience laughed in the theater where I watched the film. The performances by the cast are all good. Even the supporting characters are played well, reminiscent of Maximiliano Hernandez's excellent part as Jasper Sitwell in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Among the heroes it's Dave Bautista who steals the show as the angry yet honorable Drax the Destroyer. The interesting minor touches that he brought to his performance reminded me of the way Dwayne Johnson acts in some of his roles. And Bautista's bits of comedy are some of the most effective and intelligent in the film. I think that Chris Pratt was chosen to play Star-Lord because of his looks. His performance is still good though and it's clear that he's trying, sometimes seeming forced but effective. Screenwriters James Gunn and Nicole Perlman attempted to give every character time to develop, so even Groot (Vin Diesel) gets to show that he's not just houseplant/muscle by the end of the film. The raccoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is another well-realized CGI creation. Rocket's uneasy life and his origin made him heartless and hard to get along with, though he is the technical wizard of the team. As Gamora, Zoe Saldana isn't really the tough female character that she says she is. But she did participate in most of the action, and her performance is one of the best in the film. Lee Pace plays the main villain, Ronan the Accuser, a character that I think was tragically underused. Along with Bautista and Saldana, Pace provides the best performance in the film. This doesn't mean much, however, because Ronan has little to do and little to say. He hardly participates in the action, something that's really unforgivable for a villain in a superhero summer blockbuster. And this brings me to another problem that I have with this film. There's a lack of thrilling action. Guardians Of The Galaxy delivers the comedy and the characterization but the action is a disappointment, comprising mostly of chases. Even the predictably big final battle offers few thrills. After the action-packed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians Of The Galaxy seems tamed in comparison. Because of this I don't have an urge to see Guardians Of The Galaxy again. Despite the convoluted plot I commend director James Gunn for what he's done. It's definitely a film worth seeing because it brings something fresh to the scene.