'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' Review: Galactic Farewell Tour for James Gunn's Misfits Skyrockets
It’s time for James Gunn to bid adieu to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with one last Guardians of the Galaxy mixtape before heading to DC Studios. It’s fascinating how Gunn transformed a mid-tier superhero team into some of the best movies within the MCU’s repertoire. Star-Lord, Gamora, Nebula, Drax, Mantis, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot have their final curtain call, and damn, I’ll miss these intergalactic weirdos. As much of a mixed bag as the MCU has been for the past few years, James Gunn dropped his spice and delivered a riveting finale for HIS Guardians of the Galaxy.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
PG-13: Intense sequences of violence and action, strong language, suggestive/drug references, and thematic elements
Runtime: 2 Hours and 30 Minutes
Production Companies: Marvel Studios
Distributor: Marvel Studios
Director: James Gunn
Writers: James Gunn
Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, Sylvester Stallone
Release Date: May 5, 2023
In Theaters Only
The Guardians are adjusting to their life on Knowhere. Each member is doing their part in putting the finishing touches on the city. An alcoholic Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is still mourning the loss of his Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). As the community comes together, vengeful Sovereign High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) sends her artificial creation Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), to destroy the Guardians and capture Rocket (Bradley Cooper) per Rocket’s creator, the High Evolutionary’s (Chukwudi Iwuji) order. After a stalemate battle leaves the city in shambles, Warlock retreats, and Rocket is incapacitated. The Guardians learn that Rocket has a bomb in his heart. With less than 48 hours to spare, Star-Lord, Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Groot (Vin Diesel) venture off to piece together remnants of Rocket’s past and find a way to save his life.
The past several MCU sequels—excluding Black Panther—had a noticeable character development problem. We had four Thor movies where the titular lead regressed, three Ant-Man movies where Scott Lang was one-note, and three Spider-Man movies where Spider-Man had to learn how to be Spider-Man. Thankfully, James Gunn establishes from the jump that the Guardians have become a family. He loves these characters, and it shows through their interactions. The dissonance between their offbeat 2014 angst and their current state as loving sweethearts has become so vast that it immerses one in their story. They bicker as usual, sometimes to the film’s detriment, but the comedic banter comes from a well-intentioned place. Once Adam Warlock awakens and topples Knowhere like a kid kicking a sandcastle, you hope every Guardian makes it out alive, primarily the film’s emotional centerpiece: Rocket.
With the past Guardians entries, Gunn focused on Star-Lord finding his definition of family amid all the grief and trauma from his upbringing. In Vol. 3, Gunn shifts to Rocket Racoon and his undisclosed past. Amid the Guardians’ quest to save Rocket, Gunn interlaces fractured pieces of Rocket’s backstory, and it’s some of the darkest material the MCU has tonally traversed to date. Kidnapped, mutilated, and imprisoned by his creator, The High Evolutionary, Rocket and his fellow cybernetic anthropomorphic cellmates Lylla the Otter (Linda Cardellini), Teefs the Walrus (Asim Chaudhry), and Floor the Rabbit (Mikaela Hoover) have high aspirations to enter a new promised land. Rocket’s backstory plays like a slave drama. I’m talking 12 Years a Slave but for furries. Don’t let the cutesy designs and soft voices fool you. This story features disturbing imagery and tragic content, rivaling Nebula’s abusive relationship with her dad Thanos. Rocket’s redemption tale retroactively reframes his abrasive, foul-mouthed demeanor in the predecessor and paints a fresh layer to his character. Bradley Cooper breathes new life to his voice performance as Rocket this time, pouring raw emotion and pain into his dialect.
Compared to its predecessor, Vol 3. is on a much smaller scale. Gunn ambitiously exchanges epic sensibilities for effective character growth for his entire team. Gunn provides enough development for each Guardian member to give this iteration of the team a sense of finality for this chapter of their lives, like the filmmaker behind it. Gunn barely left any crumbs as each Guardian gets a piece of the screentime pie. Even newcomers like Adam Warlock and Cosmo, a.k.a. the best doggo I would put myself on the front lines to protect, have well-rounded arcs. Star-Lord and Gamora’s relationship gets proper attention, and Gunn maturely handles their story.
Considering its self-contained nature, Gunn personalized this entry with his style, adding to the fun. He douses the screen with bright colors and an inspired pulp art style in the production design of every background. There’s an entire galactic heist set piece heavily inspired by Gunn’s early Troma days. The action sequences have variety and are all so fun and well-choreographed. I can’t fail to mention the kickass playlist, which has better bops and needle drops than Vol. 2, showing how music supervision is an art form, not a karaoke jukebox. It’s great that the usual suspects from the James Gunn lineup helped him tie this chapter up. Gunn’s best friend Nathan Fillion, wife Jennifer Holland, and The Suicide Squad’s Daniela Melchior have minor roles during the prison set piece. All these factors defy the feeling of the quintessential MCU movie, for it plays like a straight-up sequel to a director’s singular vision, which hasn’t been a thing since Eternals (yes, I will openly defend it).
Of all the Gunn veterans, Chukwudi Iwuji from Peacemaker stands out in his main-antagonist role as The High Evolutionary. He deliciously hams it up with his self-righteous cadence and dialect but isn’t afraid to wear his insecurities and short temper on his sleeve, making him all the more intimidating. It’s about damn time that a Marvel villain is a direct villain, not a long-winded three-dimensional person who happens to be villainous. He’s a straight-up wicked person with a God complex. The dude is so petty he has to physically be above others to prove his intimidation, standing on an apple box at one point to look down on tall Queen Elizabeth Debicki.
AT LONG LAST, the CGI of a Marvel project is complete and looks great! All the CG assets and green-screened backgrounds are fully-rendered. Instead of getting a regressive-quality Rocket, they advanced his look more than ever. Props to the VFX team at Framestore, who made me notice how much emotion can be pulled out of a CG raccoon.
Compared to its predecessors, Vol. 3 is the smallest Guardians has been in scope despite having the longest runtime. Not to play the runtime police officer, but there is no excuse for this final entry to be as long as it is. As refreshing as it is to get funny jokes in a Marvel movie again, the constant humor within the first two acts derails the tone and urgency. The Guardians are aware they have 48 hours to save Rocket. While they’re on a ticking time clock, the film pauses to deliver extensive bits. The bits are often funny and garner big laughs, but it’s like seeing a sketch comedy crew doing their tight seven while trying to diffuse a bomb. Gunn’s script takes the shortcut of Star-Lord stopping to look at the screen and say, “Hey, let’s stop. We have to save our friend.” By the third time it happens, it doesn’t sound convincing.
These Marvel movies have to stop pausing in their tracks to recap the events of Endgame. Everyone has seen it. Most of Vol. 3’s audience has seen Endgame. On multiple occasions, the film revisits the events of Endgame and how it affected the Guardians’ dynamic as if Gunn had jotted down reminders and dumped them into the script. That’s not to say the Russo brothers' handling of the Guardians doesn’t impact some of Vol. 3’s story problems. Gamora’s return is convoluted. Zoe Saldaña runs on 100% attitude, acting more aggressive than Neytiri in the last Avatar movie, but Gamora and Star-Lord’s 50 First Dates predicament often conflicts with Rocket’s backstory. Because of the Russo brothers, Gunn must juggle completing their love story and having Rocket as the emotional centerpiece. Given that he can’t do both, he takes several frustrating story shortcuts.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might bite off more than it can chew, but its focus on character growth, dazzling action, and rocking playlist has James Gunn going out with his galactic-found family in style.
