Guardians of the Galaxy: Marvel's surefire summer action smash

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/10/guardians-of-the-galaxy-marvel-summer-release

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I've already gone on record stating that Guardians of the Galaxy is likely to be one of this year's better fanboy-friendly blockbusters. Everything about the movie, from the impressive cast to the superb early trailers, feels spot on – and this barmy little space opera's timing couldn't be better with all the hype surrounding JJ Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII.

In theautumn, I was lucky enough to visit the set of James Gunn's movie at Shepperton studios in Surrey, where the enormous, incredibly detailed space environments fashioned in giant hangars were the first sign that we might be looking at something special. There will be plenty of CGI used in a film that features an anthropomorphic raccoon and a talking tree, but Marvel Studios has done its level best to create as much of this colourful, brave new world of bickering space weirdos as possible for real – and on a vastly grand scale.

Earlier this week Marvel released a new trailer for the film, which is definitely worth checking out even if it is mostly footage we've seen before. The use of The Runaways' searing 70s rock stomp Cherry Bomb superbly conveys the supercharged swagger that seems to power the movie.

Even more exciting is that US bloggers have been dropping their reviews of a 17-minute preview from the film which Imax has been presenting Stateside. And the reaction is almost universally positive.

Slash Film's Germain Lussier reckons Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon "was the star" of the main scene from the footage, which saw him orchestrating an elaborate prison escape. He writes: "Rocket has got a swagger and presence that's rare for a CG character. As he lays out his plan, you are totally with him, even when it gets sidetracked a bit by his big buddy Groot. You also understand why the other characters are behind him too. He's authoritative, intimidating and funny."

Heidi MacDonald of Comicsbeat.com is also in upbeat mood. "Was it any good? Oh yeah," she enthuses. "While this isn't the quirky, Steve Gerber-esque Marvel movie of my dreams, it's still plenty different in tone from every other Marvel movie we've seen. And more importantly, the characters are more than one-dimensional stereotypes."

She also agrees that Rocket sits front and centre, but points out that Vin Diesel's tree-like Groot has his own unique skill set: "He can grow shoots and stretch and do all kinds of Ent-like things."

Bruce Kirkland of the Toronto Sun says Guardians will "rock'n'roll your summer movie world" when it's released next month. "The Imax footage is absolutely spectacular," he writes. "The dialogue slung between the five core Guardians is funny, with its fast-talking sarcasm. The tone seems perfect. The five ragtag anti-heroes are brilliantly rendered in the excerpts. That includes the acting, both the on-set performances as well the motion capture needed for the characters Rocket the Raccoon and Groot."

To the prison-break segue from the preview footage, I can add a scene set in a Star Wars-like cantina which was shooting when I paid a visit to the set last year. A gaggle of bizarrely-dressed humanoid aliens parted for Chris Pratt, aka Peter Quill/Star Lord, to thrust his way into the foreground, before the other Guardians arrived quickly in shot and began a downbeat argument. Here, Pratt appeared to be the leader, pepping up his disconsolate comrades for the challenges ahead at a time of toil and heartache.

In a break from filming, Pratt described his character as a "roguish space dude who's socially stunted and essentially still very much a child". He added: "He's very selfish and lives for nobody but himself, until he meets this group of people that essentially become his family and learns to make choices based not solely on his own interests but the better welfare of the group and the galaxy."

Pratt said the Guardians made for a strong team because each was a solitary type secretly desperate for companionship. "Drax lost his family, Rocket has nobody, Gamora was taken from her parents," he told assembled bloggers and journalists. "Groot is a loner and a rebel and misunderstood. There's no one else in the galaxy who relates to them as well as they relate to each other. They have something to gain by being in a relationship with each other, and that's what makes it work."

Guardians of the Galaxy is a very big deal for Disney-owned Marvel, which has thrown everything at this weird little movie. The good news is that the comic-book space opera, which opens on 31 July here and 1 August in the US, looks likely to blow up at the box office while keeping critics more than happy. Whether Gunn's film hits Avengers-like numbers remain to be seen, but everything points to it being the most exhilaratingly ambitious comic-book origins tale since 2008's Iron Man.