Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 is a truly awesome film that has been a long time coming. The movie is, unsurprisingly, about the Guardians of the Galaxy, a ragtag group of spacefarers trying their best to protect the universe, who have to go on a long and treacherous journey to save their friend while dealing with a truly evil madman known as the High Evolutionary attempting to chase them down in the process. Taking place on planets all over the universe the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) encompasses, viewers follow Peter Quill, A.K.A Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and a misplaced Gamora (Zoe Saldana) on an adventure like no other all the while the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) searches for them, accompanied by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter).
Before watching the movie, I did hear good things about it, but at the same time, I was unsure of what to expect due to the rather mundane track record the MCU has been on for quite some time. However, those concerns were blasted away once I actually watched the film.
Guardians Vol. 3 is going down as one of my favorite MCU films to date. It made me laugh, it made me feel, and it almost made me cry. I was not expecting to be teary-eyed about a movie with a talking raccoon (let alone his friend, a talking tree), and yet here we are. I’d argue this third installment in the Guardians trilogy is almost, if not as good as Avengers: Endgame. James Gunn, the director of the film, somehow found a perfect mix of seriousness and silliness and made it work. Even if you aren’t a Marvel fan, I’d say you can truly enjoy this movie as a standalone experience (although I do recommend watching the first two Guardians films as well as the Christmas Special released in the latter part of last year) as it has so much to offer.
As expected from their previous experience with the roles, the Guardians are perfect in their roles. Each one has been and still is bringing greatness to the table when it comes to voice acting, especially Bradley Cooper as Rocket. Although he doesn’t physically play Rocket for obvious reasons, you can really feel the emotions he’s trying to bring through the furball. Speaking of, the majority of the cast do play their characters in live action, and they do so perfectly. With each character having distinct looks and habits, you can tell who will say what and who will do what, revealing an impressively spectacular synergy between every actor on screen.
The High Evolutionary, the main villain of the movie, has a particularly fear-inspiring aura around him whenever he is in a scene, and while the Guardians rarely take anyone seriously, he invokes a special feeling of dread wherever he shows his face. As far as acting of any sort goes, GotGV3 has an out-of-this-world cast who play their roles perfectly (and are obviously having fun while playing them).
As mentioned previously, the majority of the cast play their characters live, and their make-up looks stunning, but the real spectacle is the CGI and Animation. While some recent Marvel projects have suffered from subpar graphics, Guardians Vol. 3 certainly doesn’t as it is visually awesome wherever you look. Whether it’s a setting that will be shown for all of 5 minutes or a character who is fully animated throughout the entirety of the film, the SFX team for the movie did a wonderful job at encompassing the many unique sights the movie has to offer.
The music, as always, is also amazing and the song choices perfectly fit the situations they are played in. Guardians Vol. 3’s soundtrack consists of a lot of songs from the early 2000s in order to show a progression of time of sorts. There is rarely a tune you’ll find yourself not enjoying in the film, as they are great picks from a good time for music.
Being James Gunn’s send-off Marvel film, Guardians Vol. 3 does everything it needs to do correctly. From giving well-deserved conclusions to many fan-favorite characters to granting others as well as newcomers a chance to shine, this movie is a step in the right direction for Marvel as well as the titular Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn was attempting to create a fun, emotional, and hilarious experience with his last Guardians film (although it may not be the last Guardians film ever), and he certainly succeeded. The message of finding your purpose which permeates through the entire film is shown perfectly, and yet it isn’t shoved down your throat as many movies attempt to do with their messaging.
I personally give Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 a 9/10, and I’d recommend it to just about anyone. It is an experience truly worth experiencing.
