Review of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) by Ryan L — 15 May 2017

The best (most fun, anyway) movie in the MCU franchise. The action is well-paced, with fight scenes and spectacle balanced with downtime and some of the most unbelievably human scenes centered around Rocket and Groot. Rocket also gets some of the best lines and it is astonishing how Vin Diesel somehow earns his keep by uttering so few words with so many different inflections.

Unlike a lot of super hero movies that fall into the trap of introducing far too many characters, GotG treats nearly everyone- villain and hero alike - with plenty of character development. You understand who these people are and why they are on the screen. Few "action" movies seem to focus as much on getting you to care why they are fighting the "big bad" (and they put a fair bit of development into him, too).