[Review] Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (8.5/10)

 

Title - Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3
Production - Marvel Studios
Starring - Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementeiff, Karen Gillan, Elizabeth Debicki, Sean Gunn, Will Poulter, Chukwudi Iwuji, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Rosenbaum, Daniela Melchior, Maria Bakalova, Nico Santos, Linda Cardellini, Asim Chaudhry, Nathan Fillion, Jennifer Holland, Mikaela Hoover
Writer - James Gunn, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning
Director - James Gunn
Release - 3 May 2023

Out of all the trilogies Marvel Studios have put out, before today, Captain America was probably the best one. But Civil War wasn't exactly a Captain America story.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 was the perfect bookend for the franchise trilogy. Throughout the three movies, they were like the first act, second act and final act with Vol. 3. It was a perfect ending because every character in the Guardians team, even the side character of Kraglin, kind of had an arc for himself. But definitely for the core team, including Mantis who joined in Vol. 2.

What I was disappointed with, though it did not affect my rating, was the opening credits. This movie did not follow the first two with a fun and upbeat opening action sequence. It opened with the song "Creep" playing in the background, setting the tone of a darker movie. And when the title logo came on, it was underwhelming when compared to the first two.

The story centered around Rocket and his history of how he came to be, so flashbacks were a plenty throughout but fit very well into the tone and pacing. And the team came together for Rocket while going through their own character arcs.

There were one or two items that I wasn't fond of. First being how Gamora was "found" by The Sovereign. That felt way too easy and felt like the movie jumped a beat ahead of itself. Second was a character being called stupid and we never really got back to resolving that, though it kind of resolved itself at the end between the two characters involved.

Some characters that also didn't get to shine, very unfortunately, was Groot, Warlock, as well as The High Evolutionary that was just one-dimensional.

But what Gunn did that really pulled at the heartstrings was the flashbacks involving Rocket and his friends. There was some uncontrollable ugly crying because it was that effective.

And in the end, there was a cheer moment when the whole team came together around Rocket that just warmed the heart.

There was a moment when Zoe Saldana's Gamora lashed out and, once again, showed that the actress is bigger than what the role allowed her.