I went in to Guardians of the Galaxy with reasonably low expectations. Of course I was expecting the first-class graphics and solid storyline we’ve come to expect from Marvel, but I wasn’t sure if I could genuinely enjoy yet another Marvel-style superhero flick with the same armour clad muscle men and drawn out battle scenes.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to be presented with a new, fresh Marvel film that is as comical as it is action packed.

James Gunn (who has recently signed on to direct a sequel) sits at the helm of Guardians of the Galaxy which sees a team of unlikely buddies forced together when their paths unexpectedly cross. They spend the film fighting bad guys Ronan and Thanos and a host of their evil minions in pursuit of a magical orb that has the power to destroy entire planets.

Chris Pratt is a very likeable leading man, staring as the group’s only human member Peter Quill, aka ‘Star-Lord’. Zoe Saldana nails the hot, badass, leading chick role as Gamora, the highly skilled alien assassin, and Dave Bautista brings some muscle to the team as Drax the Destroyer. A bounty hunting racoon named Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and his sidekick, talking tree Groot (Vin Diesel – who has a total of five words to say in the entire film), round out the team that become known as the Guardians of the Galaxy.

In my eyes the film strikes the perfect balance between action packed battle sequences and comedic one-liners to give the movie a bit of texture. The classic 80s pop soundtrack and the constant references to pop culture – which could so easily have been overdone and tacky – are nailed. Even the clichéd post-battle make out sesh between the film’s leads – that so many action pics still sneak in at the end – was given the flick.

All in all this film is refreshing. It provides a refreshing change from the Marvel template we’ve come to know all too well. It’s a refreshing new comer to the action/sci-fi genre and thank god it gives us something refreshingly enjoyable to watch in what has been a reasonably dull line up of opening films recently.