Guardians of the Galaxy

We saw Guardians of the Galaxy last night, Sunday of opening weekend. Maybe you did, too. Maybe you have zero interest in seeing a movie with a CG tree and raccoon steal the scenes they’re in.

This is not a review of the plot, or the fact that it’s a comic book adaptation, or how this movie fits into the larger project that is the Marvel cinematic universe.

This is me saying, “Oh, this is a neat looking movie.” The character design is good, but what I like best of all is the color, and the shapes of things. These are bold designs, and the palate ranges from black-on-charcoal rectangles all the way to curvy, sweeping organic and stellar remnants in bright rainbows which manage never to overstep their place. There are no neon sneakers in this galaxy. The art team reached back to just before the dawning of Star Wars for inspiration, to my eyes pulling from the best of the vistas of Jack Kirby space art, and Neal Adams line work in spacecraft.

This is what I want science fiction to look like. Of, if you prefer, Space Opera should look like this; mostly bright and bold.

So I am glad to have seen this one on a big screen, and even from the second row. It’s a big galaxy, and the visual teams brought it to life for me.