Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
4 out of 5 stars
In 2014, a pack of intergalactic misfits came strutting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it’s never been the same since. Volumes 1 and 2 rank among the elite Marvel movies, with the first one being my all-time favorite. Writer/director James Gunn has accomplished incredible things with these characters, and with Volume 3 being his farewell – he doesn’t disappoint. Guardians of the Galaxy is THE best MCU series and it ain’t even close. The stakes and emotion ride high in this one, centering around Rocket’s (Bradley Cooper) origin story that will upset animal lovers everywhere. It assuredly pulls on the heart strings, but there’s a beautiful balance between the darker stuff and the sincerity and hilarity that fans have adored for close to a decade.
Peter (Chris Pratt) is still grieving the Gamora (Zoe Saldana) he loved, her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) is in contact with the Gamora that remembers nothing, Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis’s (Pom Klementieff) friendship has grown sweeter and funnier, and Groot (Vin Diesel) is…I am Groot. Oh how far they’ve come, and the bond and love that’s grown between them all leads up to this. As we’re very aware, the villain of these movies is always significant, and Chukwudi Iwuji is superb as the High Evolutionary. He’s as sinister as they come, willing to experiment on anything to make the perfect world. He’s playing God on a whole other level. Howbeit, his ultimate showdown with the Guardians is rather anticlimactic. There’s also the addition of Will Poulter as Adam Warlock. He’s perfectly cast but the characterization of Adam as an immature doofus is a lame introduction.
Unlike the previous two volumes, this go-around seems a bit bumpier and bloated and oddly less epic. But the visual effects, production design, makeup, set pieces, and, of course, the music are first-rate. And at this point, we know the performances are guaranteed to be excellent. Gunn really goes for it, having his Guardians face the music in fun, thrilling, moving, and celebratory fashion. Vol. 3 isn’t the best of the bunch, yet it’s the culmination of so much that it’s still a genuinely special experience – coming full circle with its found family theme that’s always been the heart of this trilogy. It’s a bodacious, bittersweet goodbye as well as a cool new beginning.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
Subscribe to the SoBros Network Patreon here – $5/month gets you instant access to an exhaustive content library of articles, podcasts, and videos created exclusively for our subscribers!