Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Rating: 9.0

TL;DR - I LOVED Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3! It’s is a perfect finale to a perfect trilogy! James Gunn is a master of emotion and overall a creative genus in every way! I laughed, I cried, I loved the action, the story, and of course the soundtrack! It’s a blast, and I left very satisfied — best from Marvel in a while. What a ride!

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Film Info:

Premise: Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.

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Marvel Studios

Written & Directed by James Gunn

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoë Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Maria Bakalova, Sylvester Stallone

Runtime: 2hr 30min

Rating: 14A

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

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IMDb Rating: 8.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 81%

RT Audience Score: 95%

RT Critic Average: 7.2/10

RT Audience Average: 4.7/5

Metacritic Score: 65

CinemaScore: A

Letterboxd: 4.2/5

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Fun Fact: The second MCU film to use the song "Crazy on You" by Heart. It was first used in Captain Marvel when Carol's childhood memories are first show.

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Review:

written by Tyler Park

Do you ever sometimes just want to enjoy a movie? Like just enjoy it, and not critique it after because of how much you enjoyed it?

Well, that’s how I feel after seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

It’s a pretty perfect finale to a perfect trilogy. And it’s the most satisfied I’ve been after watching a Marvel movie in quite a while. All thanks to James Gunn!

So, let’s just go through what I loved about this movie. Because my god… I really, really loved it. This is the quality I expect from Marvel, and I hope they learn their lessons from this. James Gunn really delivered an excellent final film in his Guardians trilogy, and it just shows how important a singular vision and voice for a story is. Vol. 3 completely elevates the first two movies now in retrospect and I love it. The writing is so tightly woven; now words and quotes from the previous two films have completely different meanings. There’s such a growth of character over the 3 entries (plus the holiday special) and a real maturation of Gunn as a filmmaker as well. These three films feel connected, they fit together so well as one story, and overall… this could go down as one of the greatest comic book trilogies ever made, if not the greatest trilogies ever made in general.

I honestly don't know what to say.

From frame ONE it feels different. It moves different. It carries itself different. It means something from the very start, and it wants you to know that.

Within a minute, that no-cost, head-empty, good-time-at-the-movies fever I've felt throughout the theatre in the last few MCU movies was gone. It was like the air was sucked from the room. The atmosphere totally shifted. I could feel the other people in the theatre key into that 1000%, as if everyone was holding their breath and bracing for something that was going to physically shift them in their seats. Something visceral and emotional and so very fucking real.

And what followed across the next 150 minutes was nothing short of that.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a movie turned up to 11 from start to finish. It's so much adventure, so much action, so much passion, craft, vision, and feeling. Oh god, there's so much feeling.

Maybe it isn't as classical or immaculate as Top Gun: Maverick or Avatar: The Way Of Water, but I think the sheer bang for your buck is equal. The sheer amount of insane ideas per sequence, and the energy they hold; at maybe an hour in, I was certain they'd spent the entire $250 million dollar budget, but then it kept powering on at that exact level for a further ninety minutes. I was in awe.

The amount of sets, costumes, props, practical effects, and lighting arrays is inexplicable, and they all look utterly phenomenal. I saw the same level of care applied to the production of this movie as I saw in The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi, or dare I say it - Gore Verbinski's Pirates Of The Caribbean movies. The visual effects are stunningly, and often stylishly realized. Plus, the CGI is the best Marvel has had in a few years! Guardians 3 doesn't always go for realism, and that's why it doesn't miss. It blends practical and digital to an immersive, exciting, imaginative effect, and builds a visual palette that, for the first time in a decade, made this MCU movie totally immersive. I was so into it.

The MCU house style? Gone. Non-existent. Vaporized.

I don't actually know if I've seen another movie with this exact texture before. DP Henry Braham and James Gunn have absolutely cooked up something wholly unique here, and it's nice to see a superhero movie with as much care put into the look and feel so immediately after The Batman, even if it's going for an entirely different look, tone, and rhythm. It's colorful and vibrant and it almost glows at times. It's just really visually exciting, and it's definitive, undeniable proof that Disney and Marvel were always capable of doing this. They've just actively chosen not to.

I missed Tyler Bates' more traditional spin on leitmotifs in the music a little bit, but John Murphy underscores this perfectly. You might not be noticing memorable melodies (until you do!), but this thing absolutely wallops the emotions when it wants to, and intensifies the action when it needs to.

And the action!! Good lord. James has never had the structure or flow or geography of the modern action greats in my eyes, but his ability to just hurl an unrelenting amount of cool-as-hell ideas into an action sequence is second to maybe only the likes of George Miller, Chad Stahelski, James Cameron, Christopher McQuarrie, and Peter Jackson. The giddy joy of a space-faring sci-fi fantasy flying through the big stuff with the fervor of Fury Road is something to behold. The hallway scene near the climax of the film is definitely one of the best action scenes in the MCU, and the way Gunn shoots it is epic. Really love the creative ways he moves his camera!

And that's probably the next thing; there's a meanness to Guardians 3 that takes it to the next level.

The biggest missing piece to the MCU, outside of Endgame, has been its utter refusal, or maybe even inability, to be difficult. To be challenging. That's not to say Guardians 3 isn't funny. Oh man, it's funny. But that tonal space it plays in; one where things are desperate and bleak and driven by loss, and the fear of loss, is what allows this whole thing to shine so spectacularly. Just like what I adored about Endgame, seeing these characters, these people, genuinely afraid - for each other and of themselves - is as compelling a thing to see as any superhero outing can offer. Those are stakes that actually matter. Those are stakes that mean something. The endings of Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 are so much more adult than anything else in the genre. Not because they’re dark, but because they both willingly sit in the unresolved relationships and tensions of life in a complex world and find some semblance of love nonetheless.

And so therein lies the game-changer to Guardians 3. This is an ending. A finale. The stakes are life or death. The stakes are "will I ever beat the things that have made me who I am?", and James Gunn goes all in on that. Feeling isn't five movies down the line. Feeling is now. Now. Feeling is all we have.

Guardians 3 embodies that by going for broke in every frame. It leaves no stone unturned, no story unresolved. It's saying goodbye and it's leaving nothing unsaid along the way. Everyone doesn't just get their moment; they get a good dozen or so each. It's payoff after payoff and the catharsis of it all is overwhelming. I genuinely have not felt this way in a movie since the end of Toy Story 3. It delivers THOSE kind of feelings, the ending is very bittersweet but perfect; I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

Gunn’s writing here is masterful. The comedic moments work better than ever, and the balance between those and serious ones is perfect. But really, it is the amount of heart, depth, and care James Gunn has put into this story and into these characters that will leave a lasting impression on fans. No one can write these characters like Gunn can.

From the film’s opening, Gunn sets the tone that something looms over the heads of our Guardians on Knowhere. It opens on Rocket’s past and slowly transitions to Rocket presently listening to Peter Quill’s music. It feels unsettling, darker, and more mature for a Guardians film, dropping the upbeat opening dance scene for something more impactful. Gunn doesn’t hesitate to throw the viewers right into the heat of the action. This story belongs to Rocket, and the more audiences watch the flashbacks to his past, the more they realize that he has always been the glue to the Guardians’ functioning as a team. Even though Rocket has a tough exterior, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about anyone or anything. Those who always hide their emotions have a lot to deal with. As we dive into Rocket’s past, we are introduced to the High Evolutionary and his plan to enhance animals/humans into higher life forms for a new world.

As a quick aside, I have to say the High Evolutionary might be one of Marvel’s best villains. James Gunn gets that sometimes you just want your villain to be a giant, unsympathetic piece of shit. I think this is maybe the most I’ve ever hated a Marvel villain and that’s all because of how convincingly cruel Chukwudi Iwuji was in this role. He brought a truly unhinged performance as the High Evolutionary, and genuinely made me want to take a swing at him.

Anyways… back to what I was saying:

It feels that this is the only way Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 could have been written. Rocket’s story covers all aspects of what makes a Guardians movie unique. There are still romantic elements with Peter and Gamora. The fun relationship between Drax and Mantis makes for some humorous moments. And yet all these elements are handled in different, surprising ways from what you would expect. Throughout the entire movie, Gunn proved his strengths at subverting expectations and took the story in new ways I never considered that it would go. Especially when it came to the ending. I didn’t expect it to happen exactly how it played out, but having seen it… I couldn’t imagine it being anything else. (Plus, that final montage set to “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine is one of the most cathartic and euphoric scenes I have ever experienced in a movie, I can’t stop thinking about it!)

Of course, the rest of the soundtrack was awesome too, and worked so well with the emotions of the film! It might just be the best of the trilogy. Ain’t no one doing needle drops quite like Gunn!

Rocket’s story is incredibly emotional and heartfelt that every time the film starts to lose itself in the common MCU-ness of it all, Gunn grounds the story and pulls you back in. By focusing on Rocket, the rest of the Guardians came together, and their development as a fully formed family was complete. Rocket's story competes heavily for the most emotionally devastating piece of the MCU to the point that it may turn some people off. The animal cruelty elements are quite difficult to watch, but necessary to the story and make the overall message of the film very effective. (And it really makes you HATE the High Evolutionary).

Is the movie overstuffed? Maybe, but the pace is so blistering (overall flows pretty perfectly) and the space so imbued with emotion that I was nothing short of enthralled. I think these things should have and could have always moved with this much weight and ambition.

Time will tell if this is truly the last time we see some of these characters, but if this is the end... it's a satisfying one. James Gunn is a master of emotion and a creative genius in every way. His script and direction are truly excellent and oozing with creativity, heart, humor, and of course weirdness. The movie feels so handmade and personal to Gunn — it is about imperfect people learning to grow and find acceptance in themselves despite their past mistakes — mirroring Gunn’s firing and rehiring from Marvel a few years back. I am so happy he got the opportunity to tell this story and complete his trilogy.

Truthfully, the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is one of my favorites of all time, joining the ranks of other perfect trilogies such as The Before Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Dark Knight, and so on.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a devastating and wonderful film — a perfect conclusion to the trilogy and a deeply emotional film that utilizes its characters in all the best ways. It’s the first Marvel film in a while to truly feel like it has a soul — like it’s a real movie. I really felt the stakes here, unlike with Quantumania, and I genuinely love that it focused on character-driven stakes over “save the world” ones — it was really refreshing! I just really loved how the movie made me feel, it's a rollercoaster of emotions and left me feeling so damn full by the end… and I haven’t even mentioned how much I loved Cosmo, Adam Warlock, how Gunn perfectly concluded every single character’s arc over the three films, or even how elements of this movie deepen the emotional impact and meaning of events in the first two films.

It’s just pretty damn special all ‘round.

Guardians of the Galaxy was my first Marvel movie. That film will always hold a special place in my heart.

With the release of Vol. 3 nine years later, this whole trilogy will forever be a huge part of me as a movie fan. I can’t put it into words… but I’m just so in love with these films. I’m just so happy!

Thank you for all the great times, James Gunn.

(I can’t wait to see what you do in the DC universe!)

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Trailer: