As the last dying embers of a foregone period of superhero hype Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 is a film that succeeds as much in warming as it does in concluding.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 2023)
Dir. James Gunn
AROH by SAGO rating: 8.3/10
Spoiler Free Review
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (GotG3) comes in a little more serious than the second, a lot more emotional than the first and significantly more poignant than most of the MCU especially after the last 3 years.
The third in the franchise works hard to create some novelty in its unique settings, architecture and character use and it actually succeeds. Nothing will beat the novelty of the first round up of this rag tag group of misfits and mercenaries but this iteration does a really good job of bringing some of that feeling back.
The film manages to be humorous without lacking depth - and emotional without pandering. In a rare feat the last of the trilogy brings the character arcs of its main ensemble to a nice little bow.
This film is not only worth the watch but worth the trip to the cinema. I watched it in IMAX and it was a wild ride.
Spoiler Review
The film starts with a soft graded look of the past of a cute and soon to be traumatized Rocket Raccoon. A ‘space-ified’ perspective of animal cruelty and bionics development. With this sequence Gunn let’s us know that we’re going to be taking a bit of a heart wrenching walk through the past of Rocket (Bradlee Cooper), a talking raccoon.
Shortly after we’re taken to the present day where we rejoin our Guardians and find an understandably dysfunctional Peter Quil (Chris Pratt) in a drunken stumper still heart broken at the loss of his lady love.
The gold coated Adam Warlock smashes through the newly converted HQ on Knowhere and deals an unbelievably glamourous beat down to the Guardians. But not for too long before the gang find their stride and start handing him back the most dynamically shot ass wooping you’ve ever seen.
It’s with this scene that Gunn shows us that while this may be 32nd film in an increasingly tired cinematic universe – he’s going to do everything he can to inject some semblance of novelty into this film. An approach that he carries throughout the film and that works incredibly well for about 87% of it.
After sending Warlock away battered bruised and with his tail in between his legs it becomes clear to the team that the injuries Rocket sustained during this battle are no joke. With this we’re launched into the driving motivation of the film – trying to get Rocket back to full health.
I really like this. It’s not trouble that the heroes went to find, it came and found them. Although we have a maniac super villain in The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) the focus isn’t on what he’s doing. As a matter of fact the Guardians really don’t spend too much time stressing about the fact this guy destroyed a whole planet for the sake of clean slating.
The main task at hand is an issue intrinsically tied to how the group functions. They function as a team and as a family and they must do all they can to keep what’s left of the family together. A break from universal stakes and a focus on more intimate risk is what makes this film work.
They are the Guardians of the Galaxy so there’s a minimum scope of threat that makes sense for them. But I love how Gunn has managed to focus the threat of a planetary villain down to being a family’s antagonist.
As the story progresses and the new Gamora is commissioned to help we get some heart grinding awkwardness and rejection. Quill so openly battles to come to terms with the reality that this Gamora is not his Gamora and likely never will be.
As the film progresses the thing it does the best is taking this mission - which started as a big fight, then turned into a medical mystery, then became a heist, and then a search and rescue operation - and turning it into a stage for the emotional development of these characters.
Those closest to Rocket finally get a look into his past and this forces him to have to confront the darkness of his creation, while also making everyone in the team have to go through some considerations about their place as Guardians.
Quill is getting over his loss of Gamora and struggling with his lack of family.
Gamora is stuck in a situation with the Guardians and inadvertently forced to learn and understand exactly how the last iteration her and the current her are different.
Drax gets to show his value to the group beyond being their Destroyer and our comedic relief.
Iwuji’s portrayal of the The High Evolutionary is so wholly convincing that it’s actually tragic that this man took this role before the probable recasting of Kang the Conqueror. Seeing him terrorize heroes in different personas for the next 5 years would have been a treat.
Ultimately the GotG3 ends in death and explosions as all MCU films do but Gunn makes sure to give us satisfying emotional tie offs to make it all worth it.
Overall, the look and feel of this film was amazing. The character development and plot was, very well put together. It’s one of the better MCU stories we’ve seen on this side of Endgame - and it’s a rare brilliant third.
Superhero films are always better in cinema because the one thing they always have to offer is spectacle. This one has so much more to offer and really is beautifully & dynamically shot: experiencing it in a cinema is a must.
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