Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 review

Amid endless online chatter about “superhero fatigue” following a number of underperforming (and uninspiring) superhero flicks from both the Marvel and DC camps comes Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the purported last film of the smash trilogy. Once again written and directed by James Gunn (who was unceremoniously let go by Marvel — and hired by the Distinguished Competition — before being brought back to the MCU to warp up this trilogy), this entry is at once a solid return to form for the MCU while still suffering from a bloated case of sequelitis.

The Guardians films are the most outrageous and unique films in the MCU canon. Bearing all of James Gunns’ hallmarks (quippy dialogue, a balance of heartfelt emotion and oversize action and gore), the films work best when they concentrate on the unlikely dynamic of the thrown-together team members. Spearheaded by the half-human, half-alien orphan Peter Quil AKA Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), the team includes the mouthy pint-sized Rocket (a superintelligent raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper), the dim yet lovable Drax (Dave Bautista), Quill’s half-sister Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), who both suffered under the watch of Thanos, and Groot, a living tree creature (voiced by Vin Diesel).

In true superhero fashion, the final Guardians film is a sprawling and over-stuffed cosmic drama that nonetheless delivers on the comedy, emotion, and widescreen action fans of the franchise have come to expect,  even as it casts a much darker shadow than the earlier films.

Rocket’s Origin Story

Rocket is the lynchpin of this entry. Early in the film Rocket is injured by the mysterious cosmic character Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), who attempts to return him to his creator, a being known as The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). It turns out Rocket wasn’t simply born as a talking, violence-loving raccoon; he was engineered to be that way by The High Evolutionary, in an attempt to populate Counter-Earth, a near-identical version of Earth filled with intelligent, highly tinkered-with animal hybrids.

Rocket is badly injured in the attack, but The High Evolutionary built a fail-safe into Rocket’s design, killing Rocket if anyone should try to interfere with him. The next 150-odd-minutes are spent with the remaining Guardians trying to steal the hidden plans from The High Evolutionary to help save Rocekt’s life.

That fairly straightforward Star Wars-esque plot is intercut with Rocket’s flashbacks to his tragic past, which he has never shared with his teammates. Created and tortured by The High Evolutionary alongside a host of other equally tragic animal hybrids, Gunn goes for the heartstrings with Rocket’s brutal backstory, which is about as dark as we’ve seen in an MCU film.

Everyone Gets Their Flowers

Apart from delving into Rocket’s history, Gunn’s script allows each of the Guardians members their time in the spotlight as they deal with the potential death of their teammate and what they want from the rest of their lives. It may sound like overblown melodrama for a Marvel movie, but Gunn understands that fans treat these characters seriously; that tricky balance between real drama and over-the-top goofiness is Gunn’s specialty, and he delivers that in spades in this go-around.

The entire cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 came ready to play this time around, and the film easily features the best performances of the trilogy. Even Chris Platt, who often feels devoid of human emotion in his recent blockbusters, delivers a fiery performance as Peter Quill tries to reconnect with his former flame Gamora, who has had her mind wiped and no longer remembers their relationship at all. The incredible Chukwudi Iwuji also turns into a perfectly committed performance dialed up to 11 as The High Evolutionary, a vile, Doctor Monroe-like creature who ruthlessly kills and tortures defenseless animals in order to fuel his mad creations.

An Emotional Send-Off

If this is truly the final film in the Guardians trilogy, Gunn has crafted a fine sign-off for the team. The action scenes are well-conceived and take advantage of the IMAX presentation (pony up for the IMAX ticket for this one), and the film delivers an emotional arc for each of the main characters that feels well-earned.

There are still some missteps, however. The inclusion of Adam Warlock serves no real purpose, and Gunn’s vision of the Jim Starlin-created cosmic character as a pouting dolt with powers is a wasted opportunity to bring the character into the MCU. The film also has a fairly oppressively dark tone for much of its running time; some solid one-liners don’t easily wash away the images of tortured, defenseless animals and children in cages.

There is some aspect of grading on a curve when it comes to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3— it’s so much better than the rest of the superhero dreck we’ve seen recently that it’s hard not to get swept up in James Gunn’s emotional and heartfelt send-off. You also can’t help but leave the theatre with a smile (and maybe a fist pump) after the undeniable one-two punch of The Replacements and The Boss needle drops over the closing credits. Now that’s how you wrap up a franchise on a high note.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is in theatres now.