Spoiler free TL;DR, go see it and stay after the credits. It’s worth it.

SPOILER WARNING

THERE ARE SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

Marvel seem to be physically incapable of making an on-screen misstep with this latest movie using obscure characters from their backlog and throwing them into the deep end with the big players. Rather than just floundering these characters take it in their stride and handily show that they can kick ass with the best of ‘em.

It all starts with Starlord’s terran birth mother dying of presumably cancer and handing him one last gift. He runs away before he gets a chance to open it and since he saw his mother flatline first-hand I don’t entirely blame him. Then he gets abducted by aliens and the fun begins…

We cut to 26 years later where Starlord is visiting an abandoned planet to retrieve an orb-shaped relic. Said relic was also being hunted by Korath – after quite possibly the least badass one-liner ever put to screen Starlord effortlessly dispatches Korath’s guards and escapes after almost crashing twice with the orb in tow. Of course he has no idea what he has just gotten himself into and suddenly has a 40,000 [CURRENCY] bounty put on him by Yondu – the leader of the ship that had abducted him 26 years ago. The bounty hunter Rocket and his muscle Groot stumble upon Starlord and become aware of the high bounty for him. All three are unaware that there is also the assassin Gamora on starlord’s tail, sent by Ronan who is working with Thanos for more personal ends. (You confused yet?)

After a 3-way brawl that manages to be awesome, funny and badass all at the same time, the four are captured by the Nova Corps and thrown in prison. Rocket can get them out but he needs some stuff first – the most important thing being a kind of battery which must be obtained last because once it is removed from its place 20 feet in the air on a wall in the most heavily guarded area of the prison the whole facility goes into lockdown. This is being explained as Groot absent-mindedly reaches for said battery… I am sure you can see where this is going…

Although Rocket does rather well in unarmed combat by just letting Groot handle things he eventually gets tossed a gun and we get another awesome, funny and badass action sequence cumulating in a guard control post being turned into a makeshift ship to move the four who have been joined by Drax the destroyer who is part macho-man, all muscle who foolishly charges headlong into anything without giving a damn about collateral damage.

Once the five are out of the prison they make their way to Knowhere – a lawless outpost where they meet with Taneleer Tivan A.K.A. The Collector who opens the orb to reveal that it contains an infinity stone. The Collector’s servant gets fed up and tries to take said stone, leading to them being engulfed by an explosion not unlike what happened when Obadiah Stane (The Iron Monger) fell into the Stark Industries’ Arc Reactor. The five escape with the orb in tow and now that they know the true nature of it they decide to take it to the Nova Corps who will keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

It ends up falling into said wrong hands when Ronan gets the stone and absorbs its power intending to put Thanos out of a job and destroy the galaxy itself starting with the planet of Xandar – Nova Corps home planet. After a brief tussle involving swarms of fighters, kamikaze pilots turning their fighters into missiles and a valiant effort from Nova Corps the five confront Ronan and ultimately beat him by using the power of the stone. As it turns out Starlord’s father was not of Terran origin but of an ancient unknown race that initially used their abilities to keep the power of the stones in check.

And anyone who has watched the movie knows that I left a lot of things out. That is because I want everyone reading this who has not seen the movie yet to see the movie. It is the quintessential 2014 winter blockbuster that everyone has to see at least once.

As usual with these things I saw them in 2D – The 3D doesn’t really add anything other than cost on the ticket.

And watch the post-credits scene. It is worth it!