Describe This Movie In One Far Side Quote:
WOMAN: Looks like another one of those stupid Incredible Journey things.Brief Plot Synopsis: Bunch of a-holes save the galaxy, experience personal growth, not in that order.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 4 "stupid guys that no one loves" out of 5.
Tagline: "It's time to face the music."
Better Tagline: "Is that Freedom Rock? Then turn it up, man!"
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Now Thor-free, the Guardians of the Galaxy have taken over as protectors of the dead celestial skull known as Knowhere. Peter "Star-Lord" Quill (Chris Pratt) is still mourning the loss of his timeline's Gamora, because this one's (Zoe Saldana) doesn't dig him. That all gets shoved aside, however, when Knowhere is attacked by the Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) of the Sovereign, who critically injures Rocket (Bradley Cooper). His comrades must now travel to a space laboratory that may hold the clue to saving their friend.
"Critical" Analysis: Probably the unlikeliest story emerging from the juggernaut that would eventually become known as the Infinity Saga was how writer/director James Gunn took an unlikely group of superheroes unknown to any but the most hardcore comic geeks and made them an integral part of the MCU. Not only that, but when all is said and done, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies will have easily grossed a billion dollars worldwide on their own.
Not bad for a team comprising a blowhard half-human/half-alien, a monosyllabic tree, a cybernetically enhanced raccoon, two daughters of a Titan, a living planet's pet empath, and a Kylosian with no understanding of metaphors. And not bad for Gunn, who was fired from Vol. 3 thanks to tweets unearthed by a guy who believed in Pizzagate, then rehired when Disney's powers-that-be realized the so-called whistleblower ... believed in Pizzagate.
Gunn is on record as not entirely agreeing with how the Guardians were depicted in Avengers: Infinity War, comments one assumes are solely directed at Quill's actions, because "Why is Gamora?" is still objectively hilarious. He delivers his big send-off here, before he buggers off for good to head rival DC Studios. But if anyone was worrying Gunn would salt the earth on his way out, they can (mostly) breathe easy.
Things kick off in Knowhere, where Adam Warlock makes relatively short work of our heroes (here's a nice nod to The Thing courtesy of Groot's severed head), and initiating a "kill sequence" in Rocket's hardware that propels the rest of the story.
Rocket spends most of the present-day action in a coma, which conveniently allows Gunn to bifurcate the movie into 1) the Guardians' quest to save the de facto heart of their team, and 2) that same character's tragic origin story. It's a neat move, considering that Gunn has been teasing Rocket's background since the first film. It's also pretty grim, in that Rocket was far from the only animal being experimented on, and the results of said experimentation are surprisingly (for Disney) horrific.
Unsurprisingly, both stories involve our new baddie, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji, in a complete 180 from his role in Peacemaker), who's also connected to the Sovereign and Adam Warlock. I haven't worked out where he ranks in the pantheon of MCU villains, but he's like nothing we've seen before. Brilliant, like Loki and Thanos, but utterly unhinged, and Iwuji is ridiculously good.
The only real downside is Quill's borderline stalker behavior when it comes to this multiverse's version of Gamora (who has no memory of/affection for him), but happily Gunn doesn't take the easy route with that, and the end results are satisfying. The visualizations of Orgocorp and Knowhere are vivid and much less muddy than those of, say, Quantumania. The whole endeavor still drowns in green screen and CGI, but at least these are characters we care about.
While this is most definitely Rocket's story, the supporting cast get its chances to shine as well. Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) benefit the most from the attention, and it's been fun to watch these later additions grow into their roles on the team. And Maria Bakalova (Borat 2) is a scene stealer voicing Cosmo the Spacedog.
But it's Dave Bautista who really deserves recognition for making Drax into much more than a Destroyer. From his affection for Rocket to friendship with Mantis to his ultimate fate (which is pretty obvious if you've paid attention), Bautista has inhabited his character in a most unexpected fashion.
Otherwise, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has no real tie-in to the larger MCU. There are a few references to Thanos, the Snap, and the Infinity Stones, but that's about it. This tracks with the trilogy as a whole, which has always stood outside the larger Marvel narratives. Outside of their own movies, the Guardians show up in the final two Avengers flicks, and were mostly shoehorned into Love and Thunder.
In fact, GotG3 feels like an almost deliberate attempt to remove the Guardians entirely from the larger MCU. If that turns out to be the case, James Gunn and company have picked a nice wrap-up for the trilogy, which is far and away the most consistently excellent movie trilogy Marvel has produced.
Gunn's departure also marks the end of one of the MCU's most singular creator's visions. He was largely free to operate unbeholden to the endless tie-ins and external world-building endemic to the rest of the franchise. Whatever your feelings on Gunn or the Guardians themselves, that relative independence will be missed.
Is There A Post-Credits Scene? Two, of course. The mid-credits one is a nice coda, while the post-credits one promises something it's hard to imagine anyone being excited about.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is in theaters now.
