Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 Review

“We'll all fly away together... one last time” – Rocket Raccoon

I might as well kick this one off with a slice of blunt honesty. I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing this movie! There, I’ve said it. And that’s an odd stance for me with a superhero film. I’ve followed the Marvel and DC franchises since the beginning, I’ve followed the source material since the 1960s. So why the negativity? It has nothing to do with the fact that the Guardians isn’t a title I wasn’t familiar with before seeing the first film, an incredible eight years ago. (Eight years? Where does the time go?) I still haven’t read any Guardians. It has absolutely nothing to do with the firing and rehiring of James Gunn as writer director. That’s between him and the studio.

Basically, it has everything to do with Marvel Studios and their current creative direction. They seem to have been struggling since Endgame, and that leads me to my theory. (As regular readers know, I love to theorise). When Marvel started all those years ago with Iron Man, introducing all those legendary characters over an incredible span of movies, each a chapter in possibly the most epic story ever committed to film (fight me on that one, I dare you) it was all new, every movie was a step forward as the overall arc gathered momentum toward a conclusion, the scale of which was off the scale, as was audience anticipation. And they didn’t let us down.

Since then, the films have been wandering around without a real direction – there were exceptions, the Spider-Man films being the main ones, but for every Spider-Man, Thor: Love & Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, there was an underwhelming Black Widow, Shang-Chi or worse yet, The Eternals. Phase IV was uneven at best, and Phase V seemed to be no better with the downright dull Ant-Man: Quantumania. Yep, Marvel was in turbulent waters.

Also, this was known to be the last Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Another beloved set of characters we weren’t going to see again. The audience haven’t got over the loss of Tony Stark yet, now we have to lose the Guardians? (This being the case, Marvel, in my opinion, really need to fast track some of their top tier characters like the X-Men and Fantastic Four to the big screen. Literally NOBODY cares about the Eternals. Oh, and while I’m at it, quit squandering Daredevil on Disney +)

So, you see? Negative vibes abounded as I wandered into Screen 8 at the multiplex.

The movie didn’t take very long to win me over, leaving the bitter taste of Quantumania a fading memory. It was reassuring to see all the usual familiar furniture in place, as we re-join the Guardians at their home base of Knowhere (a giant floating skull – if you haven’t been following the story, just accept it) along with some of the waifs and strays they’ve picked up along the way. All is going as well as can be expected, with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) the legendary Star-Lord drowning his sorrows in a bottle, still lamenting the loss of his beloved Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who died in Infinity War, but was resurrected as an earlier version of herself with no memory of their relationship in Endgame (phew).

The Guardians find themselves attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), who delivers an ass-whooping to the entire team within a matter of minutes, leaving anybody who isn’t paying attention wondering what the hell just happened. Warlock is a Sovereign warrior, created by their Queen. (Remember those golden people from Guardians 2? Well, he was what was in the cocoon at the end, if you hung around for the sting.)

The attack leaves Rocket Raccoon critically injured, but the Guardians can’t help him, because his body has been cybernetically enhanced. He is the property of his creator, containing proprietary hardware and has a kill switch which prevents anybody tampering with him, so they need to trace his origins and retrieve the key, fighting the clock – and anybody who stands in their way.

And that’s the bare bones, spoiler free plot right there. The film delves into flashbacks of Rocket’s creation, which have up to now been a mystery, and the story, as it unfolds is harrowing and tragic. We see Rocket sharing a cage with other creatures who’ve been ruthlessly experimented on, creating monstrosities, but all of whom elicit audience sympathy immediately. Though, when they’re first shown in a nightmarish sequence, they reminded me of the mix and matched toys under Sid’s bed in Toy Story.

Who would do this? And just… why?

Enter the villain, The High Evolutionary (Chukudi Iuwji) – and as far as villains go, this one is among the best. He has no redeeming qualities. He has anthropomorphised animals, thus creating a Counter-Earth (which kind of reminded me visually of Pixar’s Onward – watch it, you’ll see what I mean.)

But again, why? Well, like all the best villains, he has delusions, one of his best lines is; “There is no God. That’s why I stepped in” and as he says, he’s not out to conquer the universe, he’s perfecting it. The performance by Chukwudi Iuwji is head and shoulders above that of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Quantumania - this is a villain that the audience will immediately love to hate, whereas Kang is almost immediately forgotten, despite being touted as the recurring Big Bad in the coming films. (Coming films that I now have a little bit more faith in, because this episode is a return to the style and substance we used to enjoy in Phases I-III.)

The two and a half hour running time which seemed daunting when I walked in to the screening just flies by, as the movie drives forward in a heady mixture of space battles, exposition, surprises, warmth and humour. It’s also the first Marvel movie to contain the f-bomb which was surprising, but understandable when used. I’ll miss this cast and the direction this trilogy has taken. It’s been a fun journey.

Much as I was disappointed in some of Phase IV, there’s still life left in Marvel. The loss of James Gunn is definitely a major creative blow for them as he assumes his role overseeing DC films, as well as writing and directing. I, for one, can’t wait to see what he does over there.

So, it’s score time. Yesterday, I felt this might be an eight, but having slept on it, and after careful consideration it’s not an eight after all.

Rob Rating 9