Generally speaking, I'm fan of Chris Pratt and here he is thoroughly entertaining as the "Star Lord - Peter Quill", a sort of inter-galactic treasure hunter who is challenged to track down an orb. Once he finds and tries to sell it, his world becomes a whole lot more interesting as just about everyone from Djimon Hounsou - sporting a cracking hairdo as "Korath", to kick-ass Zoe Saldana "Gamora" and the most unlikely of duos "Rocket" & "Groot"- one a racoon (Bradley Cooper), the other a walking tree with an extremely limited vocabulary (Vin Diesel) - want to snatch it from him! It soon transpires that the orb contains a source of unimaginable power that the evil "Thanos" and his lieutenant "Ronan" (Lee Pace) will stop at nothing to possess. When all these attempts to steal his artefact attract the attention of the authorities lead by an immaculately coiffured Glenn Close, they end up in a maximum security prison where they decide to join forces - alongside the deservedly named "Drax the Destroyer" (Dave Bautista), forcing their way out and setting off on a quest to stop the arch criminals from reducing Ms. Close's world to atoms. It's got bundles of charisma, this film - the script is witty and fast moving, the characters are easily the most interesting and developed in the ensemble Marvel-verse, and the pretty eclectic soundtrack is used properly, rather than as a substitute for the dialogue. I'm praying that it doesn't spawn a whole slew of pointless sequels and spin-offs; it's originality is an huge part of it's charm.
