A Marvel Space Opera That's Hilarious, Action-Packed and Goes There!

Rating: 10/10 (3 August 2014)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is perhaps the best superhero franchise to watch on both the big screen and on any home entertainment format, with its epic story lines, heroic characters, big-scaled action and even funny humour in its core. Guardians of the Galaxy take this further than any other comic, and prove it to be driven on what the audience wants; laughs, action, emotion and sci-fi excitement.
Performances here are truly taken to be serious, with the entire cast looking to have a blast to play their role in the film. Chris Pratt at first is an actor that we don't think is action hero material, but seeing him in the leading role as Star Lord was something to remember. He gives not only a personality that we can understand but the humour he delivers is great and his connection with the cast is truly strong in presence. Zoe Saldana as Gamora is a role that not only she plays an green-skinned alien assassin, but seems to be enjoying it further than Avatar. A definite highlight for the film was Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, having played in only a few small roles with little acting experience he has improved heaps here and gives us one of the comic's best characters to life with humour, emotion and muscle. Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon) and Vin Diesel (Groot) act like the ultimate best friends as CGI created creatures, Cooper is perfect as the voice of the temperamental, funny and weapon welding raccoon, it's a role that he fits perfectly in terms of voice, emotion and character while Diesel's Groot is both awesome and fun, and is possibly his 2nd best role in film. The supporting cast includes the talented Lee Pace (Ronan the Accuser), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Benicio del Toro (The Collector), Josh Brolin (Thanos), John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and a few more all play their roles with pitch perfect condition and the overall casting itself is amazing!
Direction by James Gunn (director of Slither and Super, and screen writing credits) is great, he delivers not only an eye for detail for what we see and hear on screen but he does manage to drive the humour all the way to the end credits, which is something totally different for a Marvel film. Humour used particularly here is the quotes the characters say, an example can be the Earth lifestyle and culture of Star Lord (coming from an 80's generation) it confronts with the characters in hilarious ways as they have no idea or clue what it means or sounds like. Emotion too is played along the storyline, especially in the opening scene and the revelation of how the heroes are meant to be together. In terms of production, visual effects and sound, it is given a great amount to detail to make the page of the original comics come to life.
Gunn looks like he's had a lot of research and inspiration from not only the original comic source, but elements of science-fiction in films, particularly with Star Wars for its characters, spaceship battles and story. For example, Peter Quill/Star Lord is a resemblance in personality of Han Solo, Gamora resembles Princess Leia and Groot resembles Chewbacca. The storyline itself is interesting and entertaining for its 2 ½ hour running time, packing in a big dose in humour that will leave the audiences in stitches and quoting the lines that make the film most popular for. The villain is well delivered and there's no shortage of chaos from his army, but it's the heroes that give all the best moments to laugh, cheer and care for.
Guardians of the Galaxy is not only the best film in Phase 2 (alongside Captain America: The Winter Soldier, for its superhero take on the 'Political-Thriller' genre) but one of this year's unexpectedly entertaining films that takes audiences worldwide by surprise, and it has guaranteed a spot on my Top 10 films for 2014. Bring on the sequel in 2017, I hope the universe is taken further.