Funny, frenetic MCU CGI-fest

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2019)

Peter Quill, or "Star Lord" as he anoints himself, ends up 'meeting cute' with a team of unlikely heroes including Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a slinky green fighting machine, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a highly mercenary, surgically-enhanced meta-coon, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a laconic but very effective super-shrub, and Drax (Dave Bautista), a very literal, embossed strongman. Together, they take on a planet-destroying renegade searching for one of the Infinity Stones, the glowing MacGuffins that everyone in the current MCU is dying to own. The characters are quite original (in a usually very derivative genre) and very entertaining. The script is full of clever lines and gags, and manages to be funny without being forced (the running joke about Rocket's species is hilarious) and the special effects are excellent, with the completely CGI characters Groot and Rocket being surprisingly appealing and engaging. Comic-relief is often the weakest part of action blockbusters and sticking the tongue in the cheek of a 230 million dollar movie is risky but in this case it paid off. Great work by all concerned and one of the best films in the billion dollar "Infinity Stones" story arc.