If it weren’t for the ear-splitting excesses of the climactic scenes, this reviewer would have to eat humble pie and concede that the latest from the endless production line of Marvel super-hero fantasies is pretty good.
I wouldn’t venture any further than that, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to stay the course instead of leaving early. For starters, it’s laced with casually delivered gags that make the otherwise absurd characters seem easier to identify with.
Then there is the soundtrack, which repeatedly hits a surreal note when you least expect it – Glen Campbell, Sam Cooke, Jay and the Americans add rich irony and tunefulness, but when the crew arrive at the planet of Ego (Kurt Russell) accompanied by George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord, I laughed out loud. Have I been wrong about Marvel all this time? Are the movies always this tongue-in-cheek? No, I’m not a convert yet, and the hideous Logan is too fresh in the mind to think that I will be any time soon, but there is one other feature that lifts this above the mire of monotonous blockbusters – it is stridently anti-God. There are a number of secondary stories at play, dealing with revenge, power, unspoken love and other human frailties – all acted out as they were by the ancient deities on Mount Olympus – but it is the conflict with omnipotent Ego that is at the core of the matter.
Ego is the father of half-god/half-human Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), and he needs him to help in his grand plan to take over the universe. Peter, wanting to know who killed his mother, is taken in by Ego’s promises, but his close friends are not. The effects are stunning, the narrative straightforward and Peter’s fellow guardians personable – the relationship between the giant Drax (Dave Bautista) and petite Mantis (Pom Klementieff) is especially cute. The Big Fight at the end is far too long, which is a given in this type of flick, but it’s worth a look.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
