Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and all the images you see in this review are owned by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Directed by James Gunn
It shouldn’t have taken us this long to get here as the last Guardians movie came out in 2017, but with James Gunn’s erroneous firing and the subsequent pandemic (one that’s still going on by the way), we’re rather lucky to have gotten this film at all. Oh sure, we would have gotten some sort of Guardians movie either way as Disney has invested a lot in this franchise, but to have everything fall back into place after all the shakeups seems almost too good to be true. With such a big story behind the camera, however, it does put added pressure on James Gunn and crew to deliver a proper capstone to this series which is easier said than done. Can they give us one last fantastic ride with the beloved Guardians, or was all the drama behind the scenes ultimately for a mediocre conclusion? Let’s find out!!
A lot has happened since Thanos snapped have the world and The Avengers snapped them all back, but The Guardians of the Galaxy are trucking along as best they can. Their new base of operations is thriving with a community of what I can only assume are outcasts and bounty hunters, and they’ve had at least one confirmed concert by Kevin Bacon. Still, Peter “Star Lord” Quill (Chris Pratt) is still struggling after the loss and confusing return of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), and the rest of the Guardians have to pick up the slack with Rocket (Bradley Cooper) taking charge. Not exactly a perfect situation but one that they are dealing with, at least until Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) bursts in, kicks everyone’s butt, and nearly kills Rocket before getting booted back into outer space. With Rocket in critical condition, Peter along with Nebula, Mantis, Drax, and Groot (Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, and Vin Diesel) have to uncover Rocket’s past and his unique biology if they have any hopes of healing him, and in order to do this they will need the help of the Ravagers who have recruited Gamora in the time since she arrived to this dimension during the events of Endgame. It won’t be easy however as Rocket’s creator, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), gets wind that Rocket has been found and is hell-bent on taking what he believes to be his and will destroy anything in his path to get it. Can the Guardians outwit this evil scientist and work together as a team, even with the awkwardness between Peter and Gamora? What role did the High Evolutionary play in Rocket’s past, and what could that mean for this final adventure? Oh hey, is it finally a Guardians movie that doesn’t focus on Peter? Sounds like a nice change of pace to me!
There’s a reason that the Guardians series has been the standout of the MCU, even among those who have gotten sick of the formula, and there’s a reason why every ensemble action film these days tries to copy their success. Gunn’s particular brand of deeply personal storytelling with bizarre and outrageous humor perfected the superhero genre as Marvel Studios envisioned it; resonating with audiences in a way that the movies in its wake have failed to. This could have easily set the bar too high for even Gunn to reach again with this installment, but rest assured that the trilogy manages to end on a high note; working on its own terms as a singular movie while also providing a satisfying end to everything these characters have gone through since 2014. There’s little need to bore you by reiterating what Gunn and his crew have gotten right once again as you pretty much know what to expect from a Guardians movie, but in the interest of being thorough, the characters are well-written with complex and relatable foibles that the actors have only gotten better at fleshing out with each sequel. Star Lord’s immaturity reaches a tipping point when Gamora comes back into the picture that Pratt infuses with the right mix of anxiety and grief, Mantis and Nebula are still struggling to define themselves outside of their relationships to more powerful beings, and Drax… well honestly he’s just fine with himself and is mostly there to be a dad to everyone else which is what Dave Bautista excels at. Rocket though ends up being the center of the movie and it gets pretty heavy even for a James Gunn superhero film. In fact, what stood out to me, not just with regards to Rocket’s story but for the movie as a whole, is its complicated relationship to violence as a tool for both oppression as well as liberation. The key moments in Rocket’s upbringing hinge on moments of abject cruelty and violence which should fuel a sense of catharsis for the violence enacted on those oppressors throughout the movie, and yet it never feels as satisfying as you’d expect from a superhero action flick. The whole film has a fixation on animal violence as animals are just as likely to be the enemies that the Guardians face as they are the victims of the villain; often being one and the same. It never gets so heavy that you can’t enjoy the action when it does pop up, and Gunn is in top form here with some phenomenal set pieces, but I did feel some pangs of sadness given how well the movie had set up its themes. It’s a refreshing change of pace for the genre as the prospect of melancholy did not shy the filmmakers away from telling a thought-provoking story that will certainly stick in the brain long after the spectacle fades from memory. If I was to find a fault in any of this, I feel there’s a bit of disconnect between Rocket’s character arc, which happens entirely through flashback sequences, and the plot that the rest of the characters are moving through. Sure, the Guardians’ entire quest weaves into the history that we’re learning about Rocket, but one does not affect or lead into the other and the momentum suffers for it. It’s also trying to tie up a lot of loose ends which is understandable given that this is the last movie, and while I’d say they do about as good a job as possible given the circumstances, it does feel a bit scattershot with everyone squeezing in a few moments here and there to wrap up their arcs. Still, it manages to all work out by the end with a wonderful finale that provides the perfect amount of closure for these characters and their stories. It’s the kind of ending that trilogies always strive for but rarely achieve and the filmmakers should be proud of what they’ve accomplished here.
Perhaps I exaggerated earlier when I claimed the Guardians series to be the standout franchise in the MCU. Iron Man starting it all, The Avengers being a billion-dollar franchise, and even Black Panther as a breakthrough moment in genre filmmaking could all reasonably claim that title, but the Guardians films have always felt the most important to me and I could always go back to them whenever the MCU started to feel underwhelming. The fact that we go this movie as originally envisioned by Gunn is satisfying in its own right, but regardless of the history leading up to it the final product is what it needed to be and I could hardly recommend seeing a movie more than this one. If you were never into the Guardians films or are just burnt out too much by Marvel movies then maybe I could see waiting until the home release, but if you have any affection for these characters then it’s worth making the trip to the theater. Whether or not some of the cast reprise their roles in other Marvel films or even get their own spinoffs, this is the end of an era and we’re lucky to see it end on such a high note. Still, I wouldn’t say no to Kraglin and Cosmo Disney Plus series!
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