Guardians of the Galaxy

I took Alexander to see this the other evening. It wasn’t my idea, he’d gone to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 with his mum but while they were in the queue to get tickets it sold out. Guardians was a consolation prize and I made sure to book the tickets online before I told him we were going.

I’ve not read the comic book that this is based on, and I had no prior knowledge of any of the characters or the plot. That said I am a fan of science fiction and I read some British comic books (mainly from the 2000AD school).

It starts with a prologue, Star Lord as a 9 or 10 year old boy in 1988 listening to his Walkman while waiting outside the hospital room where his mum is dying. A poignant start but not overly sentimental and it cues up a storming soundtrack as the tape in the Walkman, lovingly prepared by his mum, gives us some rocking tunes from 70s disco and 80s pop.

From there on in it’s pretty much space opera. There’s a lot of comedy in there too. Certainly this is one of the best of the marvel movies that I’ve watched recently, and most definitely the funniest. It lacks that off-putting earnestness that some movies have, and it reminded me of Flash! although a very much better made version with really cool effects and a better soundtrack (sorry Queen, I love you, but there was more variety in this movie).

Overall I’d highly recommend it, especially if you have kids that need accompanied to see it or if you were one of the generation that owned a walkman (and I mean the original tape version, not some fancy smartphone with a Walkman logo on it).