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Unfortunately I can't share my review of
Guardians Of The Galaxy until the 31st, but I can tell you that I loved it. The embargo has lifted on UK outlets however, and several have posted their thoughts online.
Empire magazine gave the movie 4 out of a possible 5 stars, praising the titular heroic characters (Drax in particular), the soundtrack, and the enormous sense of sci-fi throwback fun. They do have some issues with the villains however, going so far as to refer to Thanos as
"an embarrassment: a lantern-jawed CG ’toon blessedly only given a minute or so of screentime." But in summing up:
Colourful, tongue-in-cheek fun, purpose-built for grown-up lovers of kitsch ’80s science-fiction. But the Marvel formula is starting to feel, well, a little too formulaic.
Total Film also award 4 stars. They praise the film as Marvel's riskiest venture yet, but also have a few problems with the bad guys -- particularly an apparent lack of motivation for Lee Pace's Ronan The Accuser, and they call for more screen-time for his sidekick Nebula (Karen Gillan).
"As indebted to Serenity as it is Star Wars and Avengers Assemble, GOTG reboots the space opera in the most surprising, entertaining and emotionally satisfying of ways. It’s your move, Episode VII.
And it's 4 from
Matt's Movie Reviews too:
"Gunn has also delivered a very well structured action movie, more than proving his worth as a blockbuster visualist who knows how to choreograph an action scene, yet do so to the beat of his own off-the-wall rhythm, where any amount of surprises can and will pop up to remind that this is not your conventional comic book sci-fi movie. Guardians of the Galaxy is another triumph for Marvel Studios. Many will not know much about the comic book it is based on going in, but be sure that afterwards plenty will be talking about the movie with much enthusiasm."
More reviews should be online soon so we'll update if there's any new opinions of note. In regards to the film being a bit formulaic..well, it is. Although, as has been pointed out several times,
GOTG is risky and inventive in terms of tone and character, it doesn't really attempt anything new story-wise or in its overall structure. This is the Marvel way it seems...are we ok with that? Anyway, more from me on the 31st! What do you guys think of the first batch of reviews?