Guardians of the Galaxy was one of my most anticipated films of the year so I was both extremely excited and a bit apprehensive since there’s always the fear that when you get yourself hyped up about something you’re left disappointed. I was not disappointed but it wasn’t perfect.

Guardians of the Galaxy are about five misfits/criminals that must come together to save the Galaxy from Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). It’s a simple plot that we’ve all seen before with the bad guy wanting to take over/destroy the galaxy with the aid of some “thing” (in this case it’s an orb) that the good guys are trying to keep away from the bad guy – but the way the story’s told is what makes it feel fresh and interesting.

The Guardians themselves are all played really well and generally each have their time to shine. Peter Quill/Starlord (Chris Pratt) is funny, cocky but has a good heart. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is a total badass but does have a conscious and a softer side. Drax (Dave Bautista) is unintentionally hilarious as well as being slightly crazy. And then there’s Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel), the talking raccoon and tree, two characters that if they didn’t work then the whole film would fall apart. But work they did! Both Cooper and Diesel (as well as amazing visual effects and animation) brought these characters to life and the moments where I teared up were usually because of those two characters. Yes you don’t get to connect too deeply with the characters since you only get the bare minimum of their back-story (except for Starlord) but what you do get is interesting and works well as a starting point for the characters.

The action scenes were spectacular and the whole movie looked gorgeous. I think it was like a breath of fresh air seeing a big, bombastic film full of colour and humour rather than the more “dark and gritty” stuff we get. The humour was brilliant and never took away from the more dramatic or serious moments of the film. The only problem with so many laugh-out-loud moments is that everyone’s so busy laughing that you miss the next line – though that’s a problem with seeing any comedy film in the cinema and it just gives you another reason to go see it again.

The soundtrack was indeed awesome and I don’t think I’ve ever watched a film that uses music the way Guardians of the Galaxy does. It was clever and added something different to story. As a side-note, I have had the Pina Colada Song stuck in my head for almost a week.

The only real negative I have about Guardians of the Galaxy is the villain. Like I said, it’s the typical bad-guy-wants-to-destroy-everything plot and while Ronan is a foreboding presence it still lacks something. Also I think Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Korath (Djimon Hounsou) were underused and could have been really interesting villainous characters. Also Ronan sometimes feel like the discount villain as the audience knows that Thanos (Josh Brolin) is out there ready to cause havoc across the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see it again (though won’t be for a week or so since I gotta wait till I’m home so I can see it with my geeky-mother) so I can get all the lines I missed and appreciate it even more.