‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ May Be Overstuffed, But It’s Still a Heartfelt Feast | Review
The Guardians of the Galaxy have always been outliers within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in part because James Gunn was given the opportunity to helm a cohesive trilogy of films, which were outlandishly weird, endlessly fun, and filled with personality. Whenever the Guardians appeared in a film without Gunn, they rarely lived up to expectations set by the trilogy. Gunn has a very distinct brand of humor and a flare for visual chaos which has helped to set this trilogy apart from the rest, and with The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 he stuffs it full of all of his hallmarks to craft a fitting send-off for this band of misfits. The film is a certified heartfelt feast, even if there is a lot to process all at once.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 picks up a few months after the events of the hilarious holiday special, with the cast of characters at home on Knowhere. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is still lost in the sauce, mourning the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and not handling well. In Peter’s absence, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) has absconded with his Zune to listen to music, because Peter isn’t the only one with a tragic backstory that needs some moody music to brood to.
Gunn manages to keep things quite tight at the start of the film. After quickly catching audiences up to speed with the emotional state of each member of the Guardians and filling in the blanks for those who may not be up-to-date with their knowledge, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) comes crashing into Knowhere, throwing the whole place into chaos. Adam’s arrival sets the Guardians after The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), which conveniently brings into focus the emotional baggage that Rocket is thinking about at the start of the film. The first act takes Rocket out of commission for most of the film, but even then he’s never far from thought, and ultimately Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. is his film. Every aspect of the plot connects to him, both literally and physically.
Image via Marvel Studios
At the heart of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a really sweet story about a group of friends growing up and going their own ways. At the start of the trilogy, they were all misfits that didn’t quite fit in, and through the bonds they formed with each other. Now we get to see how they have grown into themselves and found strength in those connections to take control of their own destinies. It may be sad to see the group fall apart and leave Knowhere (and each other) but it also allows for something new to rise up. With Star-Lord out of the picture for the time being, Rocket gets to be the leader he was born to be and his newfound band of misfits has the potential to be just as much fun—in their own ways.
This is something the Avengers failed to achieve throughout the formation and later ruination of their band of heroes. None of them came out of that group better than they started. In fact, most of them ended up alone, forgotten, in therapy, or otherwise traumatized by the experience. This is what has always made the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy different, and by extension all of Gunn’s series and films. He truly gets what it means to take an ensemble and explore them as individuals and as a group, without leaving anyone in the dust.
In the midst of the crisis with Rocket, Peter still finds plenty of time to be sad and salty about the fact that the version of Gamora that they’re forced to team up with—thanks to Nebula (Karen Gillan)—doesn’t remember him and isn’t interested in rekindling the romance he remembers. This Gamora is much sharper and crueler than the Gamora that audiences fell in love with across the trilogy and various other appearances. The unrequited nature of Peter’s enduring feelings for her is quite sad, but it does provide the much-needed opportunity to finally let go, which facilitates whatever the next leg of his journey holds. Gunn even provides Gamora with a fitting send-off, allowing audiences to see that she has a new band of misfits to call home with.
Image via Marvel Studios
On the heels of the holiday merriment that Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) got up to a few months ago, Vol. 3 gives the comedic duo a lot to work with as the Guardians set off across the galaxy to save Rocket’s life. Drax, who is often relegated to being their “heavy” fighter or comedic relief, is actually given a somewhat sweet story arc—though it is a little underdeveloped. In the same vein, the culmination of Mantis arc feels a little rushed, although it may be intentionally open-ended to leave room for future stories for her.
With the exception of Rocket—who steals the show—Nebula is the standout character among the Guardians. Peter is still basically fumbling through life, which leaves room for Nebula to step up and take a stand. She calls the shots with most of the plan to save Rocket, and takes charge when she needs to, to the betterment of the group. Her storyline with her sister is very understated, which works perfectly with who they both are as people. Her arc across the three movies has probably been the greatest, and Gunn leaves her in the perfect position to either turn up again or exist in a scenario that is perfectly suited to who she is and what she is looking for in life.
In addition to the Guardians, Gunn also managed to neatly balance a whole ensemble cast of secondary characters. With any other writer-director, Adam Warlock would not have been handled as well as he was. He may only be on screen for a few minutes in total, but Gunn delivers a story across each of those appearances, which is fantastically paid off in the third act and post-credit scene. Even though he was used as comedic relief a number of times, Poulter was still given a lot of meaty emotions to explore with the character, setting the stages for the future. In a similar way, Kraglin (Sean Gunn) is given a fun subplot with the very good girl Cosmo (voiced by Maria Bakalova) which connects the first act with the final, creating a fun dynamic and somehow more heart than some of Gunn’s other attempts to wring emotion out of the audience.
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The High Evolutionary plotline is dreadfully horrific, not in structure or even in execution, but in substance. He’s another in a long line of purple-wearing baddies who want to play God, except this time his motives are too nebulous to ever view him as a cartoonishly evil version of Toy Story’s Sid. Instead of toys, he’s doing heinous experiments on animals; chopping them up and piecing them back together again to create the “perfect” being for him to populate his perfect planet with. Iwuji gives a really stellar performance, even though he’s mostly just working with rage and maniacal evil as his motivators. It doesn’t help that most of his story is told across scattered flashbacks that are largely focused on Rocket and the friends (voiced by Linda Cardellini, Asim Chaudhry, and Mikaela Hoover) he made while he was a test subject.
The end of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and James Gunn’s departure from the MCU is sad in its own right, but it does feel like Vol. 3 chose to insincerely tap into its audiences’ emotions with several plotlines. Rather than allowing the emotional weight of the trilogy’s end to carry the film, it opts to manipulate—twofold. Rocket’s horrific backstory easily plays into the cruelty of animal abuse, which makes complete sense with what the film is trying to do, but then Gunn takes it a step further by using child abuse and what is essentially human trafficking to really play upon sympathies. Nixing the latter would’ve meant the sacrifice of a fun arc for Drax, but it also would’ve aided in shaving off a little time, and the overstuffed film desperately needed to be trimmed down further. The instinct to pack as much as possible into the final film is natural, but it hinders an otherwise fantastic film from fully succeeding. Surprisingly, the most emotional aspect of the film probably wasn’t intended to be the real heartstring-puller, and it comes as the payoff to Peter’s years of running from his childhood.
Music is one of the real highlights of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, but then again, music has always been the backbone of what has made the entire trilogy a beast to be reckoned with. In particular, the use of “Dog Days Are Over” was an inspired choice, since the dog days are over now, and hilarious because it implies Florence Welch exists in the MCU, and for some reason, that’s harder to imagine than Kevin Bacon being abducted by aliens.
Image via Marvel Studios
After a handful of very uneven and largely lackluster phases, the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to have finally hit a fresh stride by finding solace in the goofy and oftentimes outlandish aspects of the comic books. From this to Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the MCU finally feels fun again. While Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 is and always will be its own unique corner in the franchise, hopefully, it will remain as a reminder to future storytellers that you can do depressingly dark animal testing plots and still dress your cast up like Among Us characters bouncing around on a flesh-made space station.
FINAL VERDICT: B+
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 is in theaters now.
