Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, directed and written by James Gunn, tells the story of our beloved group looking to settle in Nowhere, but it doesn’t take long for their lives to be turned upside down by the echoes of Rocket’s turbulent past, played by Bradley Cooper. Still recovering from the loss of Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana, after the events of Avengers: Infinity War, Peter Quill, played by Chris Pratt, assembles his team to defend the universe and a teammate. But this mission could spell the end of the Guardians as we know them, if it is not successful. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 coming right after a bomb called Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and simply comforting, you can see the care and responsibility James Gunn has for the characters and the franchise as a whole, just like its predecessor films, the third Guardians movie does impress in the visuals. When it comes to the feeling of immensity and grandeur, volume 3 fills our eyes with brilliance, really, when we can see a soul behind the project in which you see all the respect and desire of James Gunn to finish the trilogy in the best possible way. Super-Hero movies recently are going through a very complicated phase where the studio releases something with a script and story bordering on ridiculous and thinks that the public will embrace it as we saw in Black Adam and even in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania… Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 came to change that concept, with a film with not only exciting story, but also with captivating and brilliant characters with impeccable direction, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is a film that has heart because it finds room, in a sea of formulas and adaptations, to have identity, propel its characters and make us feel something. All the visuals and action work better because the emotions the protagonists are experiencing also make sense and convince on this side of the screen.
The group comes this far with such a strong harmony that the prospect of the end is more than that, of a tragic end that generates a certain distress and despair. Back to the subject of action in the film, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 has the best action scenes in the entire franchise, one scene in particular that left me jaw dropped was a sequence shot in a corridor, that is simply a sample of what our guardians are, besides being a team that protects the galaxy they are also friends, a family. Even with James Gunn giving space to all the guardians, even Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) get their phenomenal moments, but the real star of this show is Rocket, the manipulated and intelligent animal, who has always been the thematic center of the group. Putting him at the center of the story is the big success of the feature, as the character’s evolution is remarkable and resembles the maturation and changing themes that the franchise operates on throughout not only the trilogy, but also every Marvel feature film he appears in. This journey not only shows Rocket’s past, but closes all the arcs of the other films of the group. The twisted way in which Gunn gives space to all the members, as it leaves a sense of completeness by dividing the main characters equally, while exaggerating and diluting the thematic strength of the script. Director James Gunn knew how to balance the emotional moments and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is a lively and humorous film. Although the jokes about the various naiveties of Mantis, played by Pom Klementieff, and Drax, played by the talented Dave Bautista, are repetitive at times, the film finds an unexpected humor for example Nebula, played by Karen Gillan, and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) appear at unexpected moments with an excellent comic tone, my biggest problem with most of James Gunn’s films would be the totally out of tone and exaggerated humor, being something that can sometimes break a dramatic scene or break a very tense moment because of a joke. For those who remember James Gunn also directed the film The Suicide Squad which is a film with a higher rating because of its violence well exposed and swearing o-dominate, in The Suicide Squad I think Gunn is a little crazy in time to make certain types of jokes or something like that something I did not feel while watching Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. Although all the guardians have their time and place to shine, I think Groot (Vin Diesel) and Gamora end up getting a little more attention than the other guardians, even though they have several epic scenes, they don’t get as much attention as in the previous movies. Gamora in this movie is totally different from the previous ones, because as we saw in Avengers: Endgame (2019) this “new” Gamora is not the one we know because it is a Gamora from another universe, Peter Quill is very sad the whole movie for knowing that Gamora is not the one who always loved him and that he always loved, this “new” Gamora does not show affection to the guardians, she thinks they are a group of weirdos and losers, even though she is rough and a little violent with some guardians, Gamora helps them save Rocket’s life.
Lastly, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 introduces two major characters to the universe, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) who we saw previously in the post-credits scenes of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, and also introduces High Evolutionary played, by Chukwudi Iwuji, who had previously worked with James Gunn on the Peacemaker series. High Evolutionary is the main villain of the film, a scientist who also created Rocket in order to perfect not only him but any form of life, and this obsession with finding and creating the PERFECT form of a being causes him to hunt Rocket the entire movie. The character Adam Warlock is like a baby in the form of an adult in the movie, probably this childish behavior will be the most divisive thing in the whole movie, because sometimes he demonstrates a power out of the ordinary, and sometimes he cries because he is hurt, in my opinion it was not something that bothered me much because the movie explains a little why he has this childish behavior. To finish let’s talk about the biggest and best point of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 the soundtrack, besides being the best playlist that Peter Quill could hear during all this time in the universe, counting with songs like Creep by Radiohead, Do You Realize? by The Flaming Lips and also Crazy On You by Heart among many other sensational songs in which you will find during the whole movie, even in the two post-credits scenes. Amidst such a solidified Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is a mission that concerns Peter, Gamora, Mantis, Nebula, Drax, Rocket and Groot, Cosmo and Kraglin. By keeping this clear all the time, the feature already accomplishes much of what it is setting out to do and makes its characters an intrinsic and indispensable part of the battle both individually and as a group, summing up, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is a heartbreaking farewell to all the members of this team we have followed for almost 10 years, thrilling and stunning James Gunn ends his work with Marvel Studios in the best way.
★★★★★
