My hopes were very high for Guardians of the Galaxy and I was not let down. This space epic was nothing short of phenomenal. It is incredibly great that our protagonists aren't quite "heroes". They are thieves and outlaws who had to come together for the greater good, which is rather refreshing in a genre full of honorable superheroes.
Comedy was used better than in any Marvel movie yet. Rocket was utterly hilarious and easily one of the best parts of the entire movie. Groot, with very little words, also shined in his humor and antics. Dave Bautista showed that he actually can act. Drax was badass and hilarious in every subtle way. Gamora was yet another badass chick in the Marvel universe and showed that not every female lead has to be a love interest. And of course, Chris Pratt was brilliant as Peter Quill. His humor, his attitude, his feelings, everything worked. Pratt will be a star who will be around for a while. The only negative is that Ronan, even as badass as he was, was too underdeveloped as a character and it was hard to connect with his reasoning for being evil.
It is great to see that Hollywood can make a space epic once again and have it work so well with comedy, action, and didn't find the need for a useless, time consuming love story.
Although some characters weren't as developed as others and a little too much time was spent setting up future Marvel movies in the plot of this movie as supposed to the post-credits tease, Guardians of the Galaxy was yet another grand slam for Marvel. Not only could it be the best movie of Phase 2, but also one of the classic Marvel films.