Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Movie Review by Steven Redgrave : Pop Culture Leftovers

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Movie Review by Steven Redgrave

May 8, 2023 7:52 pm |

In, writer and director, James Gunn’s latest and last installment for the MCU, the Guardians of the Galaxy must seek out answers to Rocket’s past in order to save him from the High Evolutionary, who will stop at nothing to get him back.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 certainly leads the crew into their biggest and most challenging mission ever. While keeping the fun and humorous banter among the Guardians that we have grown to love, this installment also raises the level of emotion by really showing audiences the terrors that this lovable foul mouthed raccoon has endured before his time with the team.

Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is truly at the heart of this film and the main focus of this story. As the smallest member of the Guardians, he has quite a large story to tell and doing so brings in the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), one of the stand out characters and main antagonist. Iwuji absolutely perfected such an imperfect character, becoming more unhinged as we see him. His interactions with a young Rocket are some of the most emotionally raw moments of the film, giving us a lot of what drives him as the villain and placing him among the top of the MCU.

These two characters on screen really set the tone for this film early on, showing a much darker and intense tone than the typical Guardians of the Galaxy outing. There’s some heavy moments that will have audiences forget they entered a PG-13 MCU film. Some scenes depicted animal cruelty and while hard to watch, these moments also add a level of intimacy and depth to these characters. One scene introduces a few animals that look like they were ripped right out of a live-action Toy Story film if Guillermo Del Toro directed it. Luckily, most of these uncomfortable moments are more told with implied actions, rather than seeing it happen, but this is certainly the darkest tone that the Guardians film’s have ever been, maybe even the MCU itself.

As for the Guardians, be assured this isn’t a story of Peter Quill/Starlord (Chris Pratt) chasing Gamora (Zoe Saldana) down in space. In fact the two seemed to have had plenty of encounters since we last saw their relationship or lack of one. Gamora now feels like a completely different character, at times coming off as downright mean, giving a different dynamic for the rest of the Guardians to adjust to. Peter is still dwelling on his lost relationship, making for some funny interactions and even better growth for his character.

Nebula (Karen Gillan) has taken a more prominent role, both in screen time and as a leader, while having to deal with the shenanigans of the others. Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) continue their dysfunctional duo comedy, just like in the Disney Plus Holiday Special.

Unfortunately, Groot (Vin Diesel) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) take a backseat as Groot is only used for the occasional “I am Groot” with a couple fight scenes and Kraglin given a moment that would make Yondu proud, but surprisingly neither are present enough for the final chapter in Gunn’s trilogy.

Cosmo (Maria Bakalova), a telekinetic dog, joins the team and has an ongoing comedy bit with Kraglin that starts early on and continues throughout their time on screen, but the character is mostly limited to just that, despite the potential she has among the Guardians.

Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) is introduced fairly early on in this film, giving us a glimpse of his power and purpose. Sadly, he has a similar fate to Cosmo and is not used nearly enough in this film. Poulter gave a great performance of an emotionally stunted being built for battle and while he has some impressive moments that shine, the character is used more as a cartoonish goon than the true threat that he is.

The biggest stand out from previous Guardian films is the scope of this story. While it is a stand alone story for the Guardians, the third act feels like a big event similar to an Avenger level film, bloated with CGI heavy action against enemies that look like rejects from Doom and what’s presumably the last mission for this team. The grand scale of it all feels quite fitting with everyone having a moment to stand out and plenty of stakes on the line.
Ultimately, this is a fitting conclusion to Gunn’s iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, full of heart and comedy, cementing an unknown B-team into a memorable A-team of A-holes. Of course, with an enjoyable soundtrack focused on 90s music. While there’s more characters than the story knows what to do with, the theme of family and personal growth reminds us why we grew to love this team and those very relationships add something to this franchise that other MCU films just haven’t figured out yet.

PCL Rating: Tupperware

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH