REVIEW: Guardians Of The Galaxy, This Is The Must-See Film Of The Summer

Despite the fact that the Fifty Shades of Grey trailer was the most watched trailer of the year, we reckon the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer will feature in many movie fans top trailers list for 2014. The trailer burst on to the scene at the start of the year leaving many scratching their heads. Were these guys the new Avengers? Why haven't I heard of Guardians of the Galaxy? Who exactly is Star-Lord? However, as usual, it turns out that Marvels' gambles have completely paid off once again. Cast your mind back to 2008 when one of the lesser superheroes from the Marvel universe made an appearance on the big screen. No one was expecting the success of Iron Man. More than that, they certainly weren't expecting it to really kick the Marvel universe into the big leagues. Stark Enterprises gave way to Captain America and suddenly we had the inimitable Joss Whedon working on the Avengers. Not only that, the Avengers has really been heralded as one of the best comic book movies of all time. No one really thought that Marvel could drag more comic book characters out of obscurity and make them big screen stars but you should never write off Marvel. Ever. Guardians of the Galaxy mainly revolves around its leader in the form of a former resident of Earth, Peter Quill. As a child following the death of his mother, Quill is abducted by aliens. Fast forward 26 years later and he's basically terrorizing the galaxy, running around and getting himself into trouble. However, Quill's latest mission gets him into more trouble than he could ever imagine. After he steals an orb which is hot property for many due to its ability to destroy pretty much everything in its path, Quill draws the wrong attention from Gamora, a very angry raccoon called Rocket and a tree called Groot. When the group are thrown together, they find themselves in an unlikely alliance considering they all share a common enemy or are incredibly willing to walk over just about anyone to get a hold of some cash. Due to their alliance, they also become unlikely heroes for a planet who are under attack from their common enemy. What results is a massive cat and mouse game played out across the galaxy. What is most important to note here is that Guardians of the Galaxy, although notably directed by James Gunn, will certainly appeal to those Avengers fans; there is most certainly a Joss Whedon streak in that script. However, Gunn brings an extra element of mischief which just completely works with Chris Pratt as the leading man. On top of that, the film will not just appeal to those comic book fans, the script is hilarious enough for everyone find something they like. In fact, we would dare you not to. It's a difficult film to dislike considering its charm. In terms of performance, Chris Pratt has most certainly graduated to one of cinema's best leading men; his comic timing is absolutely impeccable, he has buckets of charm and we would certainly follow him to the end of the universe. Zoe Saldana is the perfect sidekick and love interest. However, the entire show is completely stolen by the ever-angry Rocket Raccoon and his friend until the end, Groot who has only three words in his vocabulary "I am Groot." Although Glenn Close doesn't feature enough for us to really get into her character, when she does make an appearance, she is far more hilarious than we could have imagined. Guardians is not without a couple of problems, its length being the most notable one and what felt like a rushed ending but we can assure, the rest of the film's positives are enough to outweigh these little issues. The action scenes are spectacular, Star-Lord is not exactly your textbook superhero, you could actually classify him as more of a chancer. We couldn't finish this review without mentioning the amazing soundtrack which, let's be fair, made every single one of the trailers that little bit better. Hooked on a Feeling, Spirit in the Sky, Cherry Bomb and I Want You Back all make feature here and only bring the charm of the film to another level. And that intro? Perfect.