This movie is funny. I don’t read comic books or delve deeper into Marvel and DC further than the cinematic universe but this movie I really enjoyed. You didn’t need to understand a lot to get it and I like that. It’s nice to be included as just an observer of the genre and not have to spend hours on wikipedia looking up that one random bad guy you saw that you had no clue who he was.

But anyway. Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt playing a character from Earth called Peter Quill. He finds things he can resell and stumbles upon a silver orb that he takes. He doesn’t realise however how important this orb is and the villain of the movie, Ronan, an alien who wants the orb himself  tracks down Peter in an attempt to retrieve the orb. Peter hears of this and tries to sell it on but no one will buy it knowing that Ronan is after it.

Alongside this a bounty has been placed on Peter’s head and a plucky racoon, Rocket and Groot, a giant tree, want this bounty. The scuffle in trying to capture Peter however lands the three of them in prison. This is the prison where they meet Gamora, Thanos’ daughter, and Drax, another inmate. Gamora says she can sell the orb and the five hatch a plan to escape prison, which obviously they do.

What follows is a series of events, almost like cat and mouse, of Ronan tracking down the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and them trying to escape. There’s a lot of character development, a lot of getting to know each other and a lot of action. As well as all the comedy which I think puts this movie above others.

You could say The Avengers had funny moments, as do some of the stand alone Marvel superhero movies but this was on another level. It made fun of itself and knew it was supposed to be funny. We weren’t laughing because it was cringe-y, we were laughing because we meant it.

Chris Pratt is a brilliant comic actor and his fire for the role complimented by everyone else’s was perfect. The movie didn’t feel like it dragged on and it bought new ideas to the Marvel table instead of doing the same old stuff again. Each character has their own quirks and they have their own flair which makes them all memorable, even if Groot does steal the show a bit. It’s also different to the other Marvel movies, it has a racoon in it for God’s sake! You can’t get more different than that!

Before you go and see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 you should definitely rewatch this movie and familiarise yourself with the characters again. And it won’t be a waste of your time either, with how good the characters are it’ll certainly be a joy to watch.

And let’s hope the sequel can be just as good.

What do you think of Guardians of the Galaxy?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

25 year old media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding