Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Having sat through some phase 4 films that failed to inspire... Guardians feels like a breath of fresh air. It's less a run of the mill superhero film and more a out of world space adventure handled with care by James Gunn.

At its heart, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 is a story about family, loss and technology all of which are prominent in today's zeitgeist. These themes sometimes cause you to forget that you are watching a Marvel movie. The movie's backstory is dark but it helps to hammer home the themes and the villain.

The universe is full of characters that are both weird (sometimes very weird) and unique when compared to the rest of the MCU. That's mostly a good thing. Despite the movie being dark at times, there is also a lot of humour which fits especially well with the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise when compared to other Marvel franchises. The action and of course the music was up to level we now expect from Guardians of the Galaxy movies. This is one of the better Post Endgame movies and a fitting end to the trilogy.

I've talked about this before, how expectations can mold your appreciation of a movie, so let me tell you what my mindset was coming into this one. I liked the first Guardians, although not as much as everyone else as I think Ronan is such a forgettable villain. I really didn't like the second one and thought it was a huge step down from the first one, it felt rushed and had another very weak villain. Marvel was coming off of a terrible string of movies and I even didn't like the Guardians Christmas special. I was still a fan of James Gunn though, and loved his Suicide Squad so there was that to look forward to. So, to say I wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did is the understatement of the year. Another thing I wanted to talk about after watching this movie, was the much talked about superhero fatigue. When people mention it I think they tend to dismiss or forget that two incredible superhero movies came out this year alone (the other one being the Spiderverse movie, of course), so it just proves that if well written and well executed a superhero movie can still be really good, what people are tired is the terrible writing and lack of originality that populates most superhero movies released nowadays. Anyway, with all that out of the way, let me tell you just how much I loved this movie. It is incredibly well written, interweaving character development, emotional set pieces, comedy and action like it's nothing, with the highlight for me being the characters which are the heart of this thing. I mean, Star-Lord, Rocket, Gamora, Nebula, Drax, Mantis, Groot, even all the supporting characters like Cosmo, Kraglin or Adam Warlock, they're all so likable that you can probably ask ten different persons which one is their favorite, and you might get ten different answers. That's a testament of how good they all are! Execution wise, this is a beautiful movie, very well directed and the VFX for a change are actually good and serve to enhance the story. My only nitpick might be the villain that, although good conceptually and probably the best of this trilogy, is not as memorable as everything else, something that seems to plague all Gunn movies. Anyway, I really, really liked this movie and it is easily in my top five MCU movies. Highly recommended.

"There is no God. That's why I stepped in." I have to admit, this is one of THE best lines ever spoken by a supervillain - it concisely captures their whole reason for being. (Seems like that would have been a perfect thing for Thanos to say.) Oddly though, for once there's no real backstory for the High Evolutionary, as there usually is for Marvel villains, but that might have been just too much material. Quite appropriately, all the attention is really on our scruffy, argumentative, and lovable heros, the Guardians.

I liked that all of them, this time around, get their well deserved fair share of screen time, and if doing that means sitting through a pretty long movie, then fine. Mantis and Nebula in particular are better characters than they were before, Quill and Gamora and Drax are as good as ever, and the choice to make Rocket and his very extended backstory the mainspring of the plot was clever -- and by the end, it carried real weight. Rocket is now elevated to a tragic, substantial figure at practically the same level as Spider-Man, and that's saying a lot.

The whole Guardians series owes director James Gunn bigtime, and it's a shame to see him move on (but I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll be able to do over at DC). He set in motion a group of characters that really worked, and this 3rd instalment builds very effectively on top of its predecessors. Going in to the theater I knew what I expected out of them, but we got more than that. That's a big compliment.

At the same time, what was done with Warlock and High Evolutionary was kind of odd, in the end. I was disappointed that Warlock especially was kind of trivialized. He's capable of becoming a major character if they would just follow the path set out in the original comics. That one criticism aside, this is still one of the MCU's best and we can thank them for letting James Gunn do what he had in mind.

The ending to the guardians of the galaxy movies didn't miss action, comedy or romance. The way it played with the soundtrack was on another level. You'll notice it's filming techniques are up to date and the cgi had nothing to complain about, no goofy ahh MODOC cgi (quantumania) or scenes that looked like they were filmed on a blank green screen, it truely was a work of cinema and lacked nothing in this way. Although it was your typical villain from the past coming back for revenge, this story was probably the saddest marvel project to date and hit harder than I was expecting.

Watch this in the biggest screen you can, completely worth it.

This is a fun and exciting space adventure that's elevated by the great heart and humor of its characters, especially Rocket. Throughout the movie, Rocket's character is at the core of the story, and his journey is one of the most interesting and impactful elements of the film.

The film features plenty of action and explosions, but at times it feels like there are too many of them. The plot also has a few flaws, with some of the storylines feeling rushed or underdeveloped. However, these issues are overshadowed by the film's strengths - and surprisingly dark themes.

This is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, delivering plenty of entertainment. While the film has a few flaws, it's still a fun and engaging, with Rocket standing out as the heart and soul of the movie.