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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Movie Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

OVERVIEW | Even though this is a film about a group of aliens embarking on a galactic journey, it still feels human and relatable. Thank goodness we finally got a good film from Marvel since the end of the Infinity Saga. I would even go as far to say that this is the best Marvel film since Endgame.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 DIRECTOR
James Gunn
B-SCORE
STUDIO
Marvel Studios
GENRE
Action, Adventure
MPAA
PG-13
RELEASE DATE
May 5, 2023

Your favorite ragtag group of misfits is back, embarking on another adventure to save the galaxy and in turn, their own self discovery. We find our group in the midst of dealing with the loss of their friend Gamora after the events of the Infinity Saga. Each dealing with the turmoil in their own way while focusing their energy and time spent on the protection of their new home, Knowhere. Peter Quill distraught by the loss of his love seems empty and distracted, finding salvation at the bottom of a bottle. This film finds a way to bring our heroes back to prominence by threatening the team dynamic when one of the key leaders, Rocket, is brought to the brink of death. This time, there is no stopping them from finding a way to save their family member, regardless of the obstacles in their way. 

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3. © 2023 MARVEL.

Like the previous films, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 relies on its soundtrack to help provide an emotional foundation as a key thematic element to its structure. The story opens up with Rocket sitting alone on the steps of the town square in Knowhere queuing up a stripped back acoustic version of “Creep” by Radiohead. A perfect song choice to help the audience understand that Rocket, along with the rest of our Guardians, are longing to find purpose in this new life. Rocket walks through the city streets mouthing the words as the song plays on the speakers: “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, What the hell am I doin’ here? I don’t belong here”. This of itself is the key theme of the entire film and Rocket’s journey up until this point. We are plundered into the distant memories and struggles Rocket went through in his life throughout the film with the use of flashback cut scenes. Even though this is a Guardians of the Galaxy film, it presents itself as more of a Rocket origin story while also guiding us through the evolution of all the characters. 

At times the film can be a tad bit bloated and unfocused by branching into too many storylines without being able to make sense of all of them. I feel a lot of this is due to James Gunn, the director and creative vision of these films, from not having enough time to pull on all the intertwining strings that he created. His recent controversy and drama with the studio forced him to take a beat and depart ways with the Marvel system after this last Guardians adventure with him at the helm. He will be moving over to take creative control of the DC cinematic universe. Vol 3 seems like his goodbye letter to fans of these characters. With that being said, there were a lot of easter eggs that were teased in the previous films that I think Gunn wanted to deliver upon even if they weren’t as impactful as he would have hoped. In my opinion, the biggest egg that was less than to be desired was the introduction of the character Adam Warlock, who is teased at the end of Vol. 2. He is thrown into this film without much focus and I feel like Gunn probably had bigger plans to introduce him to the team, but he didn’t want to leave the fans upset without finding a way to bring him into the fold in some way. This along with other plot lines tend to muddy up the direction of the film and can be seen as disjointed and distracting to the Rocket origin story this film is based on. Regardless of this fact, the film finds a way to still bring to light the key importance of this entire franchise, and to me, that is the idea of a found family and being given a second chance. Everyone makes mistakes that they have to live with in their lives, but being able to still find love within the people around you is what this journey is all about. 

Major props to everyone involved with this film. It looks absolutely stunning and James Gunn outdid himself with still being able to invent new worlds and concepts that haven’t been seen yet in the Marvel cinematic universe. The weakest parts of the story in my opinion can be forgiven because this is still a good film that is rooted in the themes of personal discovery and what it means to be part of a family. It is at times laugh out loud hilarious while still being able to bring you to the brink of tears at certain moments. Even though this is a film about a group of aliens embarking on a galactic journey, it still feels human and relatable. Thank goodness we finally got a good film from Marvel since the end of the Infinity Saga. I would even go as far to say that this is the best Marvel film since Endgame. Even though this adventure still doesn’t give us any direction for where the Marvel strings are going to lead us in the next phase, it’s a great addition to the franchise behemoth. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Movie Review

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