Guardians Of The Galaxy

Guardians Of The Galaxy is a film about imperfection and its beauty. The talented ensemble lends gravity and foregrounds the film's themes. Themes about found family, lost children, unwarranted nostalgia and abusive power drive the film. Nebula(Karen Gillan) and Gamora(Zoe Saldana) are defined by their abusive relationship with their parental figures.

Star Lord(Chris Pratt)'s arc is about finding his humanity after retreating to a space fantasy fixating on nostalgia. Hence he is frozen in 80s pop culture and his arc centers around coming to terms with his loss. Overall the protagonists are defined by their imperfection and coming to terms with their losses.

Conversely, the antagonists are defined by their goals towards perfection. Ronin(Lee Pace) hungers for perfectionism thus being a concept of death. Albeit one-dimensional this fits into the film's themes of confronting death and grief. After all, it's telling that in the climactic finale, Ronin is defeated through the sharing of power by our protagonists.

Overall Guardians Of The Galaxy commits missteps when focusing on the Macguffins and one-dimensional antagonists but remains underpinned by great character work and a moving piece about confronting trauma and loss.

Technically GOTG has style. Its direction maintains an action-adventure tone. The colorful imagery uses movement, angles, depth, and composition. The rich soundtrack contains '80s needle drop and thematic scoring. The sleek production design looks distinct and retrofuturistic with the alien worlds.

The effects include mocap, makeup, blood, prosthetics but contain a lack of tangible practical effects. The pitch-perfect casting bolsters the film's star power and the dynamic. Overall Guardians Of The Galaxy balances style with thoughtful substance despite a couple of missteps.

Writing: 7/10

Direction: 8/10

Cinematography: 8/10

Acting: 8/10

Editing: 7/10

Sound: 6/10

Score:10/10

Prod Design: 8/10

Casting: 10/10

Effects: 7/10

OVERALL SCORE: 7.9/10