海角大神

聽is coming whether you鈥檙e ready or not, and聽Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper are all dressed up and ready to go, but does聽Guardians of the Galaxyactually聽deserve all the hype it鈥檚 been generating?聽

If the swathe of overwhelmingly positive early reviews are any indication, the answer to that question is decidedly a 鈥�Yes.鈥澛燚espite featuring a relatively obscure team of heroes that the average moviegoer (and probably quite a few comic book fans) might not have been aware of prior to the first trailers being released, it has the potential to be one of Marvel鈥檚 biggest hits.

聽鈥� Scott Foundas:

鈥淎n unusually prankish and playful Marvel Studios vehicle, director James Gunn鈥檚 presumptive franchise-starter is overlong, overstuffed and sometimes too eager to please, but the cheeky comic tone keeps things buoyant鈥β燭he adventures here comprise a fairly standard set of Saturday-serial cliffhangers and hairsbreadth escapes, and Gunn puts them across with a B-movie savoir faire that keeps 鈥楪uardians鈥� from ever getting too bogged down in its own mythmaking.鈥�

聽鈥� James Rocchi:

鈥淭he film鈥β爋wes as much to the space-faring fun of Joss Whedon鈥榮 鈥楩irefly鈥� and 鈥�Serenity,鈥� with its blue-collar approach to traveling the cosmos in search of profit, than it does to the other Marvel movies, and that鈥檚 a good thing: Unlike the stiff-jawed heroics of the other Marvel films, this feels a little looser and lighter.鈥�

聽鈥� Matt Risley

鈥淎聽weird, wonderful and wildly surprising sci-fi that if not the year鈥檚 best blockbuster, could at least end up being 2014鈥檚 most fun鈥β燗s indebted to 鈥楽erenity鈥� as it is 鈥楽tar Wars鈥� and 鈥楢vengers Assemble,鈥� GOTG reboots the space opera in the most surprising, entertaining and emotionally satisfying of ways. It鈥檚 your move, 鈥楨pisode VII.鈥� 鈥�

聽鈥� Edward Douglas

鈥淧ossibly one of the funniest (and strangest) Marvel movies yet, James Gunn and his cast deliver an infinitely entertaining space opera that鈥檚 really something quite special. J.J. Abrams鈥� 鈥楽tar Wars鈥� movie now has even more to live up to.鈥�

聽鈥� Oliver Lyttelton

鈥淭he film feels, even more so than this spring鈥檚 鈥楥aptain America: The Winter Soldier,鈥� a deviation from the Marvel formula, a gloriously, defiant weird movie that nevertheless proves to be an enormous crowd-pleaser. The final credits promise that 鈥淕uardians Of The Galaxy Will Return,鈥� and for once, you鈥檙e actively looking forward to it.鈥�

聽鈥� Simon Reynolds

鈥淭his is not the superhero movie you were expecting; dark and brooding internal angst gets traded in for a breezy cosmic adventure and crackling comedy quips. Marvel Studios has never been one to embrace the idiosyncratic or eccentric, but director James Gunn brings a fresh point of view to a genre that鈥檚 fast becoming to sag with predictability.鈥�

聽- Steve Rose

鈥淧ratt carries the show marvelously, it must be said. Gym-toned and scrubbed up, he鈥檚 come a long way from his dim-bulb shoeshine boy in 鈥�Parks and Recreation,鈥� but he retains that puppyish everydude charm. An action hero with expressive comic timing, he could become the Harrison Ford of our age.鈥�

聽- Mark Adams

鈥淎 fabulously freewheeling space adventure brimming with action, humor and spectacular special effects鈥β燭he little-and-large pairing of Rocket Raccoon and Groot could well be the film鈥檚 secret weapon. Rocket, with his feisty sarcasm and very large gun is a real cult hero, while the lumbering tree creature Groot is sweet but deadly, and often offers the film鈥檚 funniest moments.鈥�

聽鈥� Eric Kohn

鈥淲hen the Guardians engage in large scale combat, particularly during the explosive (and explosively dull) giant spaceship-set battle in the final half hour, the whole enterprise sags, only regaining some ground when the banter returns鈥� It鈥檚 just dumb enough to please complaisant viewers, but finds inspiration in a sarcastic attitude that transcends its factory-mandated conventions.鈥�

Guardians of the Galaxy聽currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 74%聽rating on Metacritic, and even reviewers who had gripes about the movie agreed with the consensus that it鈥檚 a lot of fun. In particular what stands out are the comments that it doesn鈥檛 feel like a Marvel movie, which is interesting in light of fan speculation that Edgar Wright departed聽聽due to his vision for the movie being too far outside of Marvel鈥檚 prescribed style.

One of the main challenges facing聽Guardians of the Galaxy聽was to take a group of characters that are predominantly very weird and to make them accessible to wider audiences who aren鈥檛 familiar with the comics and might have been put off by a straight-faced movie about a talking raccoon and a sentient tree that can only say, 鈥�I am Groot.鈥� Giving the movie a heavy dose of comedy mixed in with its sci-fi action and weirdness definitely sounds like it worked out well.

H. Shaw-Williams blogs at .