Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

The Guardians of the Galaxy return for a third cinematic adventure and final hooray for the original cast and James Gunn.

The Guardians of the Galaxy have established their headquarters on Knowhere and it serves as a safe haven for the Galaxy’s disenfranchised. However, Knowhere gets attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) and it leaves Rocket’s (Bradley Cooper) life hanging in the balance. The Guardians must find a way to save their friends but must discover Rocket’s tragic past and face a powerful being called The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji).

Since Avengers: Endgame the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be on the decline. More of the films have received mixed critical reviews and even the online discourse has been more hostile. Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and She-Hulk have been seen as the franchise’s low points. The franchise had seemed directionless since it was more focused on churning out content, regardless of quality. Many of the projects seem to be made to set up future films and TV shows. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 avoided the issues that have affected other Phrase Four and Five films.

Guardians of the Galaxy has an advantage compared to other MCU films: it’s setting. The Guardians of the Galaxy films take place in space, so separate most of the MCU which takes place on Earth. This means the Guardians of the Galaxy could do what they want and have few limitations. All three Guardians of the Galaxy films have been written and directed by James Gunn whose reputation has grown since 2014. He’s now co-chair of DC Studios and is going to lead Marvel’s cinematic rival creative direction. His next film is going to be a Superman reboot.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 avoids most of the pitfalls that have befallen recent MCU films. It was a self-contained story, there was no setting up for future Marvel projects. The film did follow up on ideas from previous films, like Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) being a displaced person from another timeline. This was building on what has already been established. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was an improvement over its predecessor since it felt more focused since the Guardians were together for the film. It didn’t have loads of storylines going off at once.

The third film had a simple goal: the Guardians were looking to save Rocket. This mission ended up expanding because they needed to face the maniac with a God Complex and a web of followers and corporate entities. This led to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 the darkest entry in the trilogy. A big portion of the film focused on Rocket’s origins where The High Evolutionary experimented on Rocky and three other animals. They were mutilated and kept in horrible conditions. Yet these animals harboured hopes they would move to The High Evolutionary’s paradise planet. The film ended up being similar to Grant Morrison’s We3. They were emotional weight because of the pain Rocket and these animals suffered, yet they still remained hopeful.

The High Evolutionary was obsessed with the idea of creating the perfect lifeform. He performed numerous experiments to enhance living creatures and he sees any failures as expendable. He was seen as a god to many races, and he had the power to destroy planets if he was displeased. There was an empathise that he had no problem wiping out whole species and experimenting on children. The High Evolutionary made me think of Jupiter Ascending where Earth was created by aliens and farmed humans. It didn’t help that Iwuji’s performance reminded me of Eddie Redmayne in that film. I half expected The High Evolutionary to have an outburst saying ‘I CREATE LIFE! And I destroy it.’

The opening of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 set out a more sombre tone. It opened with Rocket having dreams about his past and when he woke up, he listened to an acoustic version of “Creep.” It stood in constant to the opening of the first two films which were a lot more comedic and upbeat. The sombre tone also extended to Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) since he had fallen into depression and drinks his sorrows away.

Whilst Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a darker film, there was still plenty of humour. Gunn knows how to an excellent comedy with darker moments. He managed to do that with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and The Suicide Squad, he did it again with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. There were great moments of comedy during the film. The best comedic sequences involved the Guardians’ heist of one of The High Evolutionary’s facilities and Nebula trying to figure out how to open a car door. I enjoyed the running gag where Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) enter into a feud. It was a lot better than Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man: Quantumania.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 also saw a marked improvement in the MCU’s special effects. Marvel Studios had gained a negative reputation amongst special effects artists because they overwork and underpay them. Many of the Phrase Four and Five projects had notorious effects. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 maintained a high level of quality CGI work and used physical sets instead of just filming on a green screen.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was a great conclusion to the Guardians of the Galaxy by being an emotional and heartfelt film whilst also being an entertaining blockbuster.