Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 elevates the stakes to new heights, providing an unexpectedly emotional climax for everyone’s favourite band of misfits – but it’s also a shambles.
Over the course of two hours and 29 minutes, audiences are smacked around the head with an epic mix of action, story, a sprawling ensemble of characters, and a whole lot of history.
We last saw the Guardians in Thor: Love and Thunder, when they waved farewell to temporary colleague Fat Thor, whom they all semi-supported through his identity struggle following Avengers: Endgame, as well as for their Christmas special.
But this is the first time we’ve seen a feature-length film focused solely on them since Vol. 2’s release in 2017, and it feels like writer-director James Gunn had too many ideas for the ragtag group’s final outing, all of which he crammed in here regardless. It’s overcrowded and unnecessarily lengthy.
However, it would be churlish not to acknowledge that this is a fitting send-off for Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), and the gang – and what a gang they’ve become.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gives space to each member, continuing Nebula’s (Karen Gillan) journey to empathy and heroism alongside Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff)’s growing antagonism, Quill’s difficultly in accepting that the Gamora (Zoe Saldana) he knew and loved is no more, and Groot… well, more of Groot just being the sturdy, reliable and awesome backbone of the Guardians. Without him, they’d all perish.
There are genuinely outstanding performances from the main cast, who are by now masters of their characters (and it shows), as well as younger members like Will Poulter as a surprisingly charming Adam Warlock and Chukwudi Iwuji (The Split) as the scary High Evolutionary. In an MCU already brimming with villains, he more than holds his own.
The film, however, belongs to Bradley Cooper’s Rocket. To all intents and purposes an origin narrative for the wise cracking yet guarded raccoon, the Guardians are forced to race against time to save him, with glimpses from his dark and painful history revealed along the way.
This ambitious objective and its intertwined past contribute much to the film’s surprising emotional depth. There’s a lot going on in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but you’re made to care about it all.
Nebula is the other standout in the story, as Gillan brings the former assassination machine’s redemption arc to a satisfying conclusion, in contrast to her sister’s return to a more hardened attitude as the younger version of herself who travelled to the present in Endgame following the death of the original Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War.
Despite its emotional strength, the picture nonetheless delivers a punch with its trademark combination of comedy and passion as the Guardians snipe at each other while fumbling along on their goal, misfortunes regularly derailing them. Rocket’s life may be in danger, but Drax will always make it clear that he is just Quill’s second-best buddy.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is obviously problematic, but it’s difficult to dislike as some of Marvel’s most creative onscreen characters are sent out with all the flash-bang-wallop (and tears) they deserve.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 lands in cinemas on May 5.
Source My Celebrity Life.
