Guardian of The Galaxy Vol. 3 review

Director: James Gunn

Run time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a surprisingly risky blend of dark tones and sinister villainy with great visuals, tasty music, and the emotionality we expect. The third entry in the trilogy moves in new directions while balancing each character’s screen time and a well-wrapped narrative.

Vol. 3 begins right after The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The Guardians are finding and building community on Knowhere, but Peter/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) are struggling to adjust. Peter still reminisces about his relationship with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Rocket is reflecting on his near-death experiences and what makes someone truly happy. 

After a seemingly random attack in the middle of their new home, Rocket takes a deadly blow. The team gathers to rescue him, only to find a kill switch implanted by Rocket’s creator, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), so they set off on a mission to save the raccoon.

Gunn’s work in the MCU is primarily known for great use of music and emotionality tied to lesser-known characters. This time around, the song choices play well, covering multiple decades, but the placement of each song isn’t quite as memorable as the previous movies. 

This is still obviously Gunn’s strong suit, so we’re excited about his work with the DCU. Music is surprisingly not the strength of Vol. 3 but the film brings so much more to the table that audiences may not care. 

A Twitter interaction the same night of the screening put it well: “The choices were fine but I didn’t think they had the same emotional resonance as many of the ones in Vol. 2.” @andrewkorpan1

The action and comedy of the movie are solid and remind us of the balance that only Gunn and a few others can strike. We have another classic hallway scene and the jokes are legitimately funny. Gunn knows how to utilize both action and comedy and still keep the story moving, so props for that. 

The beauty of the film is that the narrative and actions of everyone else really round out Rocket’s story, while every other character gets fleshed out more so through verbal interaction. It’s a risky choice, as mentioned, but it works. Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), and newcomer Cosmo the Space-dog (voiced by Maria Bakalova) all equally build the third film into the giant that it is.

This Guardians film sees the return of many additional characters from the series including Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) and Stakar (Sylvester Stallone), joined by three new main characters. The High Evolutionary is the biggest one that pays off, while Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) is functional and clearly meant for future iterations, whereas Cosmo is a fun addition and walking easter egg that we’ve eagerly wanted to interact with. 

The High Evolutionary is impactful in a way that Thanos and Killmonger weren’t: you don’t empathize with him at all. He’s passionate and cruel, steadfast and unbreaking. It’s been a while since the MCU has tapped into that class of villainy where you really don’t want them to win. Adam’s role, as mentioned, is functional, but it was nice to learn more about his history and watch him develop throughout the movie. 

You can tell Gunn thought through the introduction of the character, yet it’s also clear that he’s merely setting up the next filmmaker to take the story in any direction. Cosmo is a nice touch of a side character that will hopefully pop up in The Kang Dynasty.

The trailer hints at brutality and the film certainly goes into a new space in terms of tone. I don’t think the movie contains enough cruelty that the film needs a warning label, but fans of the MCU and Guardians movies should be forewarned that the movie is almost in the vein that we expected from Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness. 

Most of the material is off-screen, but if you’re sensitive to animal noises, medical scenarios, and blood, do be prepared. I did find the scenes necessary and the opposite of sensationalized.

MCU world-building is still in motion here and it’ll be cool to see how people continue on with Gunn’s toys. He really gave the actors space to act and audiences will appreciate it, especially after their appearances in Thor: Love and Thunder and The Infinity Saga. Gunn is reassessing what he can do with these characters while using them at the same time. The film is clunky and fresh and that’s what the trilogy and universe needed.

Emotionality and family are at the forefront of the series and always have been. Though I didn’t cry as I expected to, the film pulled me in deeper than expected. Gunn already knows how much we care for these characters, and it’s easy to care for them because we can tell that he cares for them too, so the stakes and potential loss of any or all of the Guardians feels different than the potential loss of a Steve Rogers or Natasha.

The biggest reason to see Guardians and the reason I can’t recommend it enough is Gunn’s risk-taking. This film easily could have been a rinse and repeat of what worked in the past, but instead, Gunn and the team continue to push their sci-fi-space-team genre. 

The film has flaws and feels stilted or awkward at times, but it’s for good reason and makes the experience worth it. A trilogy only has one job and that’s to wrap stories up, which the film does a good job of, but Gunn also found a way to legitimately have audiences fear for their favorite characters and fear for some of them in fresh ways for the universe. The film is awkward, fulfilling, risky, and fresh all at the same time.

Lastly, we could never forget the post-credit scenes. They’re small in stature and ripple and are pretty self-contained. Check them out but don’t expect anything groundbreaking for future installments. Overall, I give the film a 4 out of 5.