The very definition of cinematic fun.

Rating: 9/10 (9 August 2014)

With a group of heroes consisting of a raccoon, a tree, a green-skinned assassin, a red- tattooed warrior and a man stuck squarely in the 80's, GotG was always going to be the weirdest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That it's now up there with The Avengers as Marvel's best is testament to director James Gunn's vision, execution and utterly perfect casting. After a backstory-building scene with a young Peter Quill we jump ahead 20 years to witness Quill, aka Star Lord (Chris Pratt – a superstar in the making), in a dank cave dancing around to Redbone's 1974 hit "Come and Get Your Love", and the movie never looks back. It's not long before we meet the show-stealing Rocket Raccoon (voiced to perfection by Bradley Cooper), a cocky, smart-arsed bounty hunter with a penchant for bombs and machine guns, and his bodyguard Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a regenerating tree-like creature whose vocabulary consists only of "I am Groot". Throw in Zoe Saldana's sexy but badass Gamora, adopted daughter of genocidal maniac Thanos who is searching for redemption, and Dave Bautista's grief-stricken man mountain Drax, whose race of people take everything literally, and you have a ragtag bunch ready to save the galaxy from Lee Pace's indefatigable revenge- seeker (and awesome looking) Ronan the Accuser.
If the success of these eclectic characters is the driving force behind the film's triumph, then Gunn, on both screen writing and directing duties, deserves the lion's share of the plaudits. His script delivers some of the year's best lines ("if we had a black light, it would look like a Jackson Pollock painting") with a consistency that puts most modern comedies to shame, whilst there are also some genuinely touching moments that reveal a deeper emotional level then initially noticeable. The climax poses as a small weakness from a narrative standpoint, but with an otherwise outstanding story leading up to it this is a minor quibble. As with all Marvel flicks, the action sequences are damn impressive, however this outing gets bonus points for dishing them out with increased originality and a wicked sense of humour. A prison break set piece, with the inclusion of a hilarious mechanical leg gag (you'll have to see it to understand it), is just one of the many technically astounding, inventively choreographed and giddily enjoyable action-packed sections of the movie. Forgiving a couple of undercooked side characters – Benicio del Toro's The Collector and Karen Gillan's Nebula – and a finale that can't match the magnificence of the preceding 100 minutes, GotG offers the most unbridled, unconventional fun of 2014.