Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

Theatrical Movie Review

When “Guardians of the Galaxy” came out back in 2014, no one knew what to expect. The MCU had been going hard with popular characters like Iron Man and Captain America, so bringing in this weird team with a tree guy and a talking raccoon felt a little out there. But despite a somewhat strange choice, writer and director James Gunn was able to create a story about found family that resonated with audiences everywhere. We are now getting the final installment in the Gunn trilogy with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is still struggling with the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana). He spends his days in Knowhere getting drunk while Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) try to keep things running. When Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) shows up to collect Rocket for The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), Rocket is injured and the Guardians must figure out how to save him.

This is a sprawling movie. Gunn very clearly loves these characters, and it shows in every scene of this film. Essentially it’s two movies. One that thoroughly explores Rocket’s backstory, which also gives us plenty of development of the villain, and the rescue mission. Splitting the film up this way was smart, because at two and a half hours, it could feel overlong, but this never did.

Everyone in the cast absolutely gives it their all in this movie, and they all play off of one another beautifully. But I have to give a special mention to Cooper. He is here doing voice work on one of the most absurd characters, and he imbues Rocket with an incredible amount of soul. It is a gorgeous performance and it is unendingly disappointing to me that performances in genre films like this are so often overlooked when it comes time for awards season.

The effects in this looked better than many of the other more recent MCU movies. The scene on Counter-Earth used almost entirely practical makeup effects and it makes the whole thing feel more real. Certainly there is plenty of CGI, but the blend of practical and computer generated effects makes this a special entry. There is a single shot fight scene at the end that has some phenomenal choreography and is more interesting than anything I’ve seen in a while.

The story is lovely and continues to expand on the themes of family present in the first two films. Something that kept it fresh was shifting the focus a bit more to Rocket’s story rather than Quill’s. Peter is still very much in this movie, but allowing the rest of the team lots of screen time kept this from feeling like a retread of old material. I also appreciated that it was mostly it’s own movie and not concerned with world building for the next one.

Since “Endgame”, the MCU has felt like it has been struggling, particularly with the characters who have already had several stand-alone movies. I don’t know if this movie will right the ship, but the sky feels a little clearer today.

This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on May 7, 2023.