Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Will Poulter, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Linda Cardellini, Nathan Fillion, Sylvester Stallone
Director: James Gunn
Writer: James Gunn
Watching this final instalment of James Gunn’s terrific Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy felt like saying goodbye, in more ways than one. At the most basic level, this movie marks the conclusion to the story that Gunn started in 2014 and functions as send-off to a bunch of characters who will likely still stick around in some form, but not as the unit that carried them through nearly a decade of movies. But on a larger level, I felt like I was saying my goodbyes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with this film. The MCU has been dominating the box office since 2008 and, for all my gripes with the series narratively, stylistically, and politically, the execution has still been solid considering the huge scale of the project and it has produced some movies that I hold close to my heart. Then Endgame happened and delivered what felt like a pretty definitive conclusion to the whole Thanos arc and then the movies just kept on going. The MCU since then has become oversaturated with middling movies and shows in search of a new direction and the factory-like churn that it takes to produce so many titles so quickly has given way to homogeneity and insubstantiality. As the Guardians trilogy made its final bow, I realised that there was nothing really left for me to look forward to and that I was pretty much done with the MCU.
It’s easy to forget what a surprise hit the first Guardians of the Galaxy turned out to be, a space opera about a C-list Marvel team that most people had never heard of back when it wasn’t a sure thing whether the Marvel brand alone would be enough to sell the movie. Since then the Guardians and its members have grown into one of Marvel’s most beloved properties and Gunn’s movies rank amongst the best that the MCU has ever produced. But going into Vol. 3, the man faced an unenviable position. I don’t want to speculate too much on what went on behind the scenes, but what we know is that in 2018 Disney fired Gunn and for a while it looked like their plan was to hand his finished script to someone else, an idea that the castmembers and fans strongly opposed. Disney eventually brought Gunn back into the fold, but in that time Gunn landed a directing gig with Warner Bros. that would later turn into something long-term. In the time before he got back to work on Vol. 3, Infinity War and Endgame happened and while Gunn probably had some input on how to handle the Guardians, he was not in control of the storytelling decisions in those movies. One of those decisions was for Gunn’s female lead to be killed off and replaced with a version of the character who had none of the memories or character growth of the first two movies. That, as well as other details, would have to be incorporated into Gunn’s movie.
Now, what makes Gunn an interesting filmmaker is that he has this unique gift for being able to work to the demands of billion-dollar conglomerates to produce the moneymaking corporate products that they want while simultaneously delivering well-made entertaining movies that feel personal and heartfelt. And Gunn couldn’t be that kind of filmmaker if he wasn’t a team player, someone who knew how to work with what was given to him, make compromises, and toe the line when needed. Going into Vol. 3, it wouldn’t have been very difficult for Gunn to pull a Rise of Skywalker and actively undo the developments of the preceding instalments so he could pick up where he left off, but he doesn’t do that. The resulting film actually follows through with what it was given, and while it does often feel at odds with itself in that way, it works. Or at least it works as well as it was ever going to work. Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) does not get her memories back, so instead her relationship with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) becomes about him dealing with the loss of the woman he loved and learning to move on and find his own personhood. It’s nice, but it doesn’t feel like the culmination of a long multi-chapter story-arc, it just feels like Gunn making the best of a bad situation.
Where Star-Lord was very much the focus of Vol. 2, this movie shifts the spotlight to the foulmouthed, explosions-loving raccoon Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper). A surprise attack by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), son of Sovereign High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) from the previous film lands Rocket in critical condition and there is some sort of kill switch amongst his implants thwarting all medical treatment. To save their furry friend, Star-Lord and fellow guardians Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) need to track down the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), the man who experimented on Rocket years ago and made him into the traumatised sentient being that he is. To do this the Guardians will need the assistance of the Ravagers, led by Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone), and he enlists his newest recruit Gamora to accompany the former comrades she no longer remembers. However the High Evolutionary is a megalomaniacal being who wishes to play God and he is determined to get his hands on his former test subject for his own nefarious purposes. As events unfold, we are treated to flashbacks of Rocket’s time as the prisoner and playing of this sadistic Dr. Frankenstein, along with some fellow cyber critters, and the tragedies he experienced that turned him into who he is.
In the middle of all the MCU lethargy of grey sludge and multiverse crossovers, it cannot be overstated what a breath of fresh air Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 feels like. There is a vision to the movie, and it is the vision of a filmmaker who read and loved comic books growing up. The movie is rife with bright colours and grotesque imagery that lean fully into their own silliness. There is a scene where the Guardians must infiltrate a space station made of living matter and make their approach in boldly-coloured spacesuits, and it is all so delightful to look at because it was clearly filmed and captured with a mind for how it was going to look on the screen rather than strung together in post-production. Creature designs are as creative as you would expect from a Dr. Moreau sort of madman and are executed especially well by a blend of practical and computer-generated effects from a production team that understood the virtues and limitations of both. The misfit critters of Rocket’s past are particularly well done, with designs that run the gamut between scary and cute, and their scenes are especially effective for how touching and sad they are. As a filmmaker with a soft spot for outcasts, Gunn really takes this chance to really lean hard into the crippling loneliness that these characters all share and it leads to some well and truly cathartic moments.
There is an edge to the movie that almost borders on sadism, a viciousness and darkness on par with those kids films from the 80s back when PG actually meant something. It was Don Bluth who said that you can put anything in a kid’s movie as long as there’s a happy ending, and while Vol. 3 is not a movie for little kids it does live up to that spirit. For all the scenes of brutality and cruelty, there is humour and affection to be found behind it all. The film has a sense of finality to it that might create an expectation for some tragic or heroic death scenes, but Gunn is more interested in growth and in helping his characters realise that they will always have each other even if they won’t all be Guardians forever. It’s the reason why the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are head and shoulders above the rest of the MCU, because the characters are continuously growing and changing, because their actions have real, lasting consequences, because they have a tree man who can pack so much feeling and personality in only three words that he feels human to us (also because these movies actually look good, I cannot stress that point enough. It doesn’t deliver the perfect ending that the movie deserves, the Gamora of it all feels too much like a solution to a problem the movie never wanted to have in the first place. But with the state of the MCU right now, its ending will do.
★★★★
Aled Warren Films 