But the Marvel Cinematic Universe has worked it's magic yet again and it turned out to be a hell of a good movie.
The cast is exceptionally good... current Winner of the Internet, Chris Pratt, is fantastic as Quill, he's charming enough, goofy enough and more than sexy enough to carry off the character without making it cringe-worthy.
And the fact that the character was taken from Earth in the late 80's allows for not only the best soundtrack to any of the Marvel movies thus far (although the music is all 70's rather than 80's), but also gave the writers the change to weave in any number of great 80's references.
Zoe Saldana and wrestler, Dave Bautista are equally brilliant (especially Bautista, how has better comic timing that I would have expected)... but to be honest more than a few scenes are completely stolen by two characters who aren't even there.
Groot, a walking, talking tree voiced by Vin Diesel, and Rocket, a genetically modified raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper don't feel like computer generated creations, especially Groot... I had to keep reminding myself at certain points that he wasn't a dude in a creature suit but actually CGI. There were a couple of moments in the Uncanny Valley with Rocket, but he's a raccoon, so that's pretty damn understandable.
But Groot quickly became my favourite character, and I did get a little misty eyed at a certain point due to his character... as well as having the best moment of the movie right at the end.
And because the story all happens on other worlds or just in space generally, they had great license to create a world full of candy colours and bigger than life people and places.
I will say that the fact that the villain was tied back into the larger Thanos storyline begun in (the end credits of) The Avengers makes Lee Pace's portrayal of Ronan feel a little "Villain of the Week"... and while I'm am incredibly biased, I can't help but think that Karen Gillan proved once again that she's not that great an actress given that she's a bit shouty and more over the top than absolutely called for as Nebula. I'm fully willing to accept it's more about the fact that I just can't stand her.
Also incredibly high on the "What the ever-living fuck" scale was the post credit sequence... I won't spoil it specifically, however I can imagine that a large number of people may not even get it because it took me a moment to realise... but it also doesn't tease a little bit of the next movie. It's just fucking weird.
Although thinking about it now I can only think that it was another, rather blatent, 80's reference.
Even taking that into account, it's a great movie overall, and a more than fitting member of the Marvel stable.
yani's rating: 4 Infinity Gems out of 5
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