This film has very few flaws but the most obvious one, at least to me, is that some of the references to 80’s pop culture seem forced and slow down what truly is a fantastic script. The story is influenced by many different films before it, some parts feel like Indiana Jones, others like Star Wars and others like The Avengers yet it all flows from one to another brilliantly and relatively seamlessly. The dialogue is sharp, witty and yet somehow very genuine at the same time, delivered perfectly by the entire cast.

I’ll be honest, when I first heard they cast Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon I was slightly worried as Rocket in every other medium, comics, games, TV shows has been given a cockney or at least English accent and naturally as an Englishman it upset me that Cooper got the role. However, now I have seen the film I can safely say that Cooper IS Rocket, he didn’t use his normal voice, which was my biggest concern, yet you could still hear it was him and the voice he used just worked perfectly for Rocket.

Vin Diesel as Groot is fantastic, I never doubted Diesel would be bad though as he has done voice work for The Iron Giant, another character with limited vocabulary. The bromance partnership of Rocket and Groot was one of my favourite things about the film and instantly made scenes funnier. Their introduction was fantastic and made them both instantly likeable, just so great. I could watch a ‘Rocket & Groot: Super Bounty Hunter Buddies’ film for two hours and I would love every second.

Dave Bautista as Drax was eventually very good, I felt that his introduction was a little wonky and some of the lines seemed a little wooden, but once the film started to take off, not only was his dialogue improving, the acting definitely seemed to go up a few notches.

Zoe Saldana as Gamora was very good, even if it is just more of the same for Saldana, nevertheless still a very good performance and she was a great Gamora.

Now, Chris Pratt IS Peter Quill/Star Lord, no one else could have been any more perfect for this role than Pratt, the delivery of jokes, the facial expressions, the body language all make him hilarious, yet in a heartbeat he can switch to full on action star without anyone questioning it and even the dramatic scenes are given great gravitas thanks to his performance. I cannot praise Pratt enough, he is perfect for this role.

Everyone else does a fantastic job too, I will mention two others though, Michael Rooker as Yondu knocked me off guard first because that is not the Yondu I would have expected but as we got more screen time with him the character really started growing on me, now yes it’s just Michael Rooker being Michael Rooker, but he is damn good at being himself! Also, Josh Brolin in the short scene we got with Thanos, his voice and line delivery was great, the make-up though is slightly off putting, maybe it is just because we got one short scene with him and I didn’t have time to adjust but it was very jarring for me, hopefully they either fix it in time for Avengers 3 or more than likely once I’ve seen Guardians a few more times I will appreciate it.

The director, James Gunn, pulled out all the stops for this film, you can feel the film ooze with the love and care that Gunn has built this world with and developed these characters, it helps you fall in love with the film just as he has since conceptualising the film. The film is gorgeous, the cinematography is fantastic, the action scenes are exciting and not just a huge blur, the make-up and practical effects are stunning, the pacing is a little off if I’m honest and that is another problem I had with the film but it’s not nearly enough to make me dislike the film, it is brilliantly made and performed with just a few bad things going against it.

What more can I say except; I cannot wait for The Guardians to meet The Avengers, whenever that may be, just make sure Gunn gets a say in whatever happens.

8/10