'Guardians Of The Galaxy' review by Captain Raptor

'Guardians Of The Galaxy' review by Jake Boyle

I normally open my reviews with some sort of introduction to the film but it's going to be short and sweet this time, because I'm far too excited to wait to talk about this one. I have been waiting for it with bated breath for nearly two years, I love the source material and I'm fans of so many of the people involved in the project. So, in case it's not apparent, I might not be an entirely neutral, unbiased reviewer here.

How can I begin to sum-up the two hours of heaven that is Guardians Of The Galaxy? From a heart-wrenchingly tender opening scene to a high-octane, truly dazzling conclusion, this marvel of a movie is packed to bursting with jokes, thrills and great ideas. Gratifyingly, both jokes and gravitas are provided by all the characters, instead of dividing the cast into earnest straight faces and comic relief. Every fantastic line of dialogue is delivered equally fantastically by a cast that's as eclectic as the sort-of heroes they're playing. Everybody from charmingly dim leading man Chris Pratt, through Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper's absolutely stellar voice work, to masterfully entertaining small roles courtesy of John C Reilly and Karen Gillan - they're all at the top of their game. While everybody is probably of equivalent excellence overall, two performances particularly impressed me - Lee Pace manages to be genuinely threatening as the fanatical villain, despite seemingly being one the most genteel people in existence, and Dave Bautista adds more evidence to the slowly-growing, Dwayne Johnson-sized pile that suggests wrestlers can make surprisingly good actors.

Films are more than their actors, of course, and this can clearly be seen here. James Gunn, the Marvel team and the myriad of special effects experts working on this film have crafted a truly awe-inspiring world, full of epic, spell-binding settings filled with small, inventive touches, such as blades that are controlled by whistling. The depth and wildness of this film's universe puts its other sci-fi competitors to shame. The visuals are beautifully crafted, and all of the special effects - the motion capture, the CGI characters and the bright, ballistic, brilliant action sequences - are phenomenally rendered. One thing that could be said against the film is that it follows a definite formula, but rarely has the formula been played so seamlessly, and with such madcap and charismatic elements. The film's approach to the realities of space isn't exactly accurate, but one expects the script-writers were aware of this, and it's telling that this is the most substantial flaw I can think of. 

Guardians Of The Galaxy is the best film of the year so far, quite possibly the best Marvel film so far, and to put it simply it is an outrageously fun, exciting, joyous experience. The writing, the characters, the acting, the visuals, the soundtrack, the action and the way it ties in to the larger Marvel canon (stick around for a post-credits sequence that should bring a smile to any comic book reader's face) are superb. A lot of us were hoping for it to be a revolutionary game-changer, and it might not be that, but it sets a nigh unreachable benchmark for the rest of the game, and it takes itself wholly seriously without ever letting that lessen the fun or the general insanity. Basically, it's a fucking masterpiece.