Posted by My interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fell off about a year ago when I watched Dr. Strange 2 and heard about the controversies surrounding She-Hulk. As a result, I’m a little behind on Marvel’s releases in Phases 4 and 5. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. While I expected James Gunn to keep producing quality movies, I can’t deny that part of me was skeptical because I know that Thor: Love and Thunder was pretty bad, at least according to my friends, even though Taika Waititi nailed it with Thor: Ragnarok. Even when my friends told me Guardians 3 was good, I had to see it for myself to confirm. Even though I am a little late in seeing the movie, I must say that it is a good watch, and definitely one of the MCU’s stronger releases in recent memory.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The central plot of the movie follows the Guardians as they oppose The High Evolutionary and try to save Rocket’s life after a mysterious figure comes after him and leaves him in a critical state. The movie is interspersed with flashbacks that fill in Rocket’s backstory and explain how The High Evolutionary created him to help him engineer the perfect species. Once he succeeds, he plans to dispose of Rocket but Rocket is able to escape. The High Evolutionary now needs Rocket’s brain so he can put it in another species to try and make them better, and this is the central conflict that drives the plot. Overall, I found the story compelling. Rocket was the character, aside from Groot, whose history has been discussed the least in the MCU, so this movie is a nice addition that provides important character information. The movie also delivered on promises initially set up in the second movie. In the second movie, the Guardians earned the ire of the Sovereign who tried to come after them but failed. The end of the second movie set up Adam Warlock, the most powerful warrior of the Sovereign, and he appeared prominently in Guardians 3. I really liked what they did with Adam Warlock’s character. The Sovereign are created in birthing pods, but Adam’s was opened prematurely, so he’s incredibly stupid and childish. I found that it worked very well in the movie because he’s such a powerful character that if he fought at full strength, he just wouldn’t lose to the Guardians. But by making him a fool, he makes a lot of mistakes and loses in a believable fashion. I also like the redemption that the movies gives him at the end because it feels earned. The Guardians who he has been at odds with for the entire movie ultimately save his life and give him a second chance, so he decides to join them. It also probably helps that The High Evolutionary, the man who actually created his species, kind of tossed him aside after he was no longer useful. And killed his mother. Though unfortunately this conflict wasn’t as developed as I would have liked it to have been.
I found The High Evolutionary to be an excellent villain. His desire to create the perfect species drove him to act cruelly as he disregarded many of his experiments as failures unfit to even exist. Chukwudi Iwuji did an absolutely incredible job portraying him, especially during his most emotionally violent scenes. I couldn’t wait to see The High Evolutionary finally lose everything, and he does in one of the most spectacular climaxes I’ve seen in an MCU movie. I find his motivation to be especially interesting because he’s the first villain that I’ve seen since Thanos who strongly believes that what he is doing is the right thing, and these ambitions and convictions are what causes him to come into conflict with the heroes. I find it a lot more refreshing than *insert villain here* just wants power or money or revenge because Tony Stark made fun of him at a party once.
Something else that I need to touch on is that the movie does not pull its punches when causing emotional damage. In Rocket’s backstory, we get to see his friends who The High Evolutionary also created. And their deaths. And them almost welcoming Rocket into the afterlife before telling him he’s not done and can’t join them to play quite yet. It’s this final moment that really got me. Media rarely makes me cry, but I can’t deny that this scene in the afterlife got me to tear up. And it was in that moment that I really appreciated the movie for what it was: a story about friendship and self-acceptance. The Guardians enlist the aid of Gamora, who’s now a Ravager after the events of Endgame. Throughout the movie, Star-Lord tries to rekindle his relationship with her, which hurts to watch (in the good way). The consequences of the previous MCU movies really come into play in Guardians 3, and I appreciate seeing these effects because it’s easy to disregard them and retcon things. Returning to Gamora, her perspective was interesting because she no longer knew these people, so she saw the lengths they went to for each other. But in my opinion, the quintessential moment of self-acceptance occurs when Rocket tells The High Evolutionary that his name is Rocket Raccoon because up until that point in the franchise, Rocket had always denied that he was raccoon, but being on the ship, he finally discovered what that meant and he accepts it.
The ending was also very bittersweet because the Guardians disband. Nebula and Drax leave to run Knowhere and care for the children rescued from The High Evolutionary’s ship. Star-Lord leaves to visit his grandfather after having not seen him since his mother’s death when he was eight. Mantis leaves to explore the universe on her own. Gamora also leaves to rejoin her Ravagers. That just leaves Rocket and Groot to head up the Guardians, now joined by Adam Warlock, Kraglin (who now wields Yondu’s dart), Cosmo (a dog sent by the USSR into space who has telekinesis and can talk), and one of the young girls saved from The High Evolutionary. It’s bittersweet, but it makes sense from a pragmatic perspective. The first Guardians of the Galaxy released nine years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if some contracts were running out and some of the actors were ready to move on to different projects. Even aside from the pragmatic reasons in Hollywood, I think it was a good decision for the team to disband, and that gets into one of my main critiques of the movie.
When the movie first started, something felt off. It took a little while for me to get invested in the story, but even afterwards, I found myself a little dissatisfied with a lot of the characters. Many of them seemed far more extreme than they had in the previous movies. For example, Drax seemed a lot dumber in this movie that he had been in previous movies. Nebula seemed far angrier in this movie, especially at her friends, than in previous movies. Maybe the characters were more consistent than I’m giving them credit for, but it seems to me that the characters felt almost too exaggerated and hyperbolic, and this led to a lot of conflict in between the team. Even though the Guardians were a team, they didn’t always seem to like each other. While groups obviously won’t always get along, it seemed like discord and the disagreement was the norm, not the exception. I just didn’t notice the chemistry that held the team together like it had in previous movies.
SPOILERS ENDS
I enjoyed the movie. I found it to have some of the best cinematography I’ve seen in a superhero movie, including a jaw-dropping single take action sequence towards the end. The score, as per usual, was fantastic. The soundtrack is always a crucial part of the Guardians movies, and it’s no exception here. I also appreciate the use of comic accurate costumes for the Guardians. Finally, the movie had some edge that I’ve found lacking in a lot of MCU releases as of late. I’ve seen James Gunn in his DC outings where he has the freedom to do and say whatever he wants, and while that level of edge is absent in Guardians 3, there is still a brief use of strong language and a surprising amount of gore. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with Guardians 3 and I can say that it’s definitely one of the best MCU releases in recent memory. I would highly recommend checking out the movie if you haven’t already.
Broad Scope Entertainment 