Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3
- 4/5 Cameras 🎥🎥🎥🎥
- Directed by: James Gunn
- Starring: Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Chukwudi Iwiju, et al
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The MCU is now well into its teenage years, at 15 years old
(with 32 movies), the franchise has transformed into a behemoth of entangled plotlines
spanning an entire galaxy. At one edge we have The Guardians of the Galaxy,
back again for their third solo adventure, but will this entry give the audience
the closure they were hoping for?
We re-join the Guardians where we last saw them in their
2022 Disney + Holiday Special, at their new headquarters on Knowhere, trying to
live a peaceful life whilst dealing with the aftermath of previous events. This
peace is shattered by an attack from the previously teased Adam Warlock (Will
Poulter), which leaves one member of the group seriously injured, leaving the
rest Guardians with no choice but to speed off into the galaxy to find a way to
save their life.
Make no mistake, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 has
everything you love about its predecessors; laugh-out-loud jokes, an impeccable
soundtrack, and a whole bucket of heart. However, right from its opening
sequence, it’s clear that this is a much darker movie than the previous two
films, and in fact even a lot of the MCU. The film focuses on Rocket’s (Bradley
Cooper) backstory with the abuse he and so many other animals suffered at the
hands of the film’s villain, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwiju). Alongside
this Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is also dealing with the loss of the love of his
life Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and the reality that the current (or should I say
past?) version of her, doesn’t remember him at all. It’s a shift away from some
of the light-heartedness of the MCU’s other films, and I believe it pays off.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 also strays from its two
previous films as it plays more as an ensemble whereas previous entries have
pushed Peter (Chris Pratt) as the main character. This allows characters who previously
played more of a supporting role namely Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Mantis (Pom
Klementieff) to shine a little more. I particularly enjoyed the development of Nebula’s
(Karen Gillan) character with her showing the most growth of the bunch, taking
on more responsibility, and showing considerably more emotion than we’ve seen
before.
The main stand-out of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, for me,
is its villain. Marvel films are notorious for not having the best bad guys,
which is what makes Chukwudi Iwiju’s performance as The High Evolutionary even
more of a treat. Iwiju’s performance is captivating from the start, playing a
mad scientist/self-proclaimed God-type character with an intenseness that makes
his character truly irredeemable and very terrifying.
One aspect that lessened my enjoyment of Guardians of the
Galaxy Vol.3 was the wasted potential of Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). The
character was introduced in a post-credit sequence at the end of Guardians of
the Galaxy Vol.2, 6 years ago, and his MCU debut has been widely anticipated ever
since, however, his appearance in this film fell flat. The character’s
inclusion in the film felt like he could have been replaced, or even removed
entirely, and no one would have noticed. This is a shame, however, as Will
Poulter’s performance itself is extremely enjoyable, providing some great
comedic relief, but it leaves the feeling that his potential may have been
wasted. I will also add that the way in which Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is re-introduced
felt a little rushed, but this is not a huge issue once she gets back with the
team.
As expected, James Gunn’s trademark flare of comedy, emotion,
and great music is splattered all over this film, and also as expected, the
needle drops chosen by Gunn deserve their own shout-out, in particular, the use
of the Beastie Boy’s ‘No Sleep till Brooklyn’ and Florence and the Machine’s
‘Dog Days are Over’. I also really enjoy
the diegetic use of music in the Guardians films as it helps audiences connect
with the world.
Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 provides a satisfying
send-off to a group of well-beloved characters. Yes, it’s not as fresh as the
original film, but there’s an argument to be made that in a market so saturated
it’s becoming harder and harder to do what Guardians of the Galaxy did in 2014,
and perhaps there’s nothing wrong with a movie being exactly what you expected
it to be.
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