Guardians of the Galaxy (d. James Gunn USA 2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (d. James Gunn USA 2014)
Please read ‘On Reviews‘ for a guide to how I write film reviews. Any spoilers are appropriately marked and, though I personally prefer to know little about a film before seeing it, there is a synopsis at the bottom for any who wish to see one.
Entertainment: 
Performances:
Predictability:
Technical:
Marvel seems to be riding high up on sunlit clouds. With every film released another few quickly enter the fray. Reportedly Marvel have plans up until 2020! One of the lesser known but seemingly popular titles is Guardians of the Galaxy. One of the corner stones of recent Marvel films is the use of CGI and as a Science Fiction film, the focus upon CGI will likely be a focal point. Based upon a Graphic Novel the film already has its audience which may be the cause of its apparent popularity. None the less with a sequel already in the works and a huge back catalogue of history to the characters this may just be the beginning.
Keys to the films success are the characters and their supporting script. Their banter is scripted very well and the differences in the characters compliment each other well. Humour is a huge part of the films entertainment, clashing very different characters with very different reasons for wanting the exact same things. A shaky alliance but a strong one. The humour given by great lines of dialogue, the variety of the characters also keeps things interesting whilst appealing to more audience members. Special mention should go to some of the CGI characters where performances coincides with Motion Capture to deliver some truly memorable moments.
So with the emphasis on performances to spearhead the often simple, though entertaining, plot points, how does the special effects fair? Well… it looks pretty. It should be expected of a marvel Sci-Fi film, the CGI is just as much of a Star as the other characters. the cinematography and Editing are completely second place. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes their function is to achieve exactly that, a background effect of invisibility. To compliment the action, though this can be achieved by simply going through the motions. It can be refreshing to see something more. If anything there is a push to confine the Motion Capture technology and sophisticated CGI. But with Final Fantasy: Spirits Within (d. Hironobu Sakaguchi, Moto Sakakibara Japan/USA 2001), Avatar (d. James Cameron USA/UK 2009), King Kong (d. Peter Jackson New Zealand, USA, Germany 2005), The Lord of the Rings (d. Peter Jackson USA/New Zealand 2001, 2002, 2003), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (d. Rupert Wyatt USA 2011) and Andy Serkis is a prolific figure in this area, there has been so much to develop the expanding technology. In Guardians of the Galaxy, however, this technology can help the humour but does not add anything to its use.
This is a very entertaining film and a good start to a lot more to come but it is disappointing how the plot points are simply met and this simplicity sometimes takes from the action. Similarly, there is not much to say that there is a lot of creative Special Effects here. This is a film for a good laugh and a good fun and there’s nothing wrong with that, here, it succeeds very well.
Synopsis
A boy grieving from his mothers death is taken away by aliens and becomes Starlord, he stumbles across an object of considerable power and upon finding many friends decide to hold it from their nemesis, a power hungry, destructive ruler.
Further Reading
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