‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Review

James Gunn’s last Marvel film gives characters depth and resolution, which is a success. After watching the third and final film of Guardians of the Galaxy, here are some thoughts.

The movies and series needed to watch to understand Guardians of the Galaxy – Volume 3 are simply the series itself.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will not create the Marvel Universe in cinemas like the prior two films. There will be No Kang, multiverse, or cameos. It’s simply a Guardians film.

The Good news? Gunn’s goal is to show his appreciation for the characters without abandoning his former persona. Did he do it?

A story, a new protagonist

Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) walks through Knowhere, a community inside a Celestial’s massive head, carrying Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) Zune (Microsoft music player) to Radiohead’s “Creep,” signaling a shift in protagonism. Although the anthropomorphized raccoon spends much of the film in danger of death in the Bowie spacecraft’s medical bay, his tale flashbacks dominate the plot.

While we learn how the brutal scientific experiments of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) traumatized Rocket – not just physically – and introduce him to his first friends, we discover why the new villain is still obsessed with his creation and does everything to bring him back. This includes even counting on what should be the supreme creature of one of the races he created: Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), directly from the Sovereign horde, those unbearable golden humans.

The story focuses on this. Searching for a cure, fighting the High Evolutionary and his eugenic intentions, the last team gathering. In Rocket’s speech, a character states, “The story was always about you, but you never realized.”

James Gunn still gives each team member room. The filmmaker added depth and addressed loose ends without leaving anybody out.

The Guardians Christmas special revealed that Peter Quill and his sister Mantis (Pom Klementieff) must follow their own paths. Gunn reveals that Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Drax (Dave Bautista) are more than fierce warriors with clenched teeth. In a very thoughtful and sympathetic approach, he does not choose the easy pathways for this “new” Gamora (Zoe Saldana), brought from a different time and place, who hardly knows the Guardians…

We can still understand Kraglin’s personal drama as he tries to fill Yondu’s shoes and give Sean Gunn, famed for his motion capture parts, more screen time.

Much different tone than you imagine

The trailers suggested nonstop crying and actual sadness, so don’t be misled. The picture is more dramatic than its predecessors (although, in the prior one, the filmmaker still shattered our hearts with Yondu’s death), but it is not a simple drama about a horrific death. The Guardians’ relationships and the sense that this is the end are emotional.

The pop, reference-heavy comedy of James Gunn, which made us adore this dysfunctional ensemble from the first film, is still there. If you despise “Marvel jokes,” I’m sad to say they’re everywhere, lightening the plot. Drax and Mantis’ relationship has improved so much since their past appearances that we nearly want a comic special with them.

The action is brief but crucial, including a famous hallway thumping scenario. But here, in the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” we see all the Guardians working together to blast an army of genetically altered monsters while a crazy camera, almost a drone, goes back and forth, offering almost videoclyptic angles that MTV fans will understand.

The new characters

When were Nathan Fillon, Daniela Melchior, and Jennifer Holland, James Gunn’s wife, announced? All from director-led Suicide Squad? Many speculated that Melchior would be the Serpent of the Moon.

The three, along with many other familiar appearances and voices, are just supporting characters, not from the comics, who are there to help the Guardians.

Same with the two large entrants. Many people will be angered by this film’s Adam Warlock, a type of Superman with abilities but a preposterous representation given he has just escaped from his cocoon and hardly understands the world around him. Big baby. Forget the pretentious and heroic comic book warrior—this version fits better for this narrative.

High Evolutionary too. In the comic comics, he is a phlegmatic, classy, and irritatingly exquisite scrotum. Here, he is an uncompensated zealot who yells, loses his temper, symbolizes science without ethics or limitations, and is a hallucinated man seeking godhood.

How to imagine Guardians of the Galaxy without James Gunn?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 closes with an empty sensation in the chest as we understand that the team has changed, each character’s status quo is different, and their paths tend to separate. We’ve seen James Gunn’s work with that other crowd’s characters in DC’s Esquadrão and Peacemaker series. Who could match his Marvel feats with the Guardians?

What’s Marvel’s Guardians’ new role? We’re unsure. We know that volume 3 is touching, enjoyable, and representative, closing a cycle. The MCU, like the comics, struggles to stop cycles. New Guardians may appear, even from different multiverses. Guardians with signatures and soundtracks are hard to beat.

Good things start and finish. It’s fantastic when the finale is as satisfying as the beginning.

What did you think of the movie?