If you had told any studio executive 15 years ago that Guardians of the Galaxy, an unknown comic-book property, would A) be arguably more popular and B) more financially successful than a Superman movie, they would laugh right in your face and call you crazy and rightfully so. Cut to the present day, the Guardians of the Galaxy are not only some Marvel’s most favored characters, they’re flat out some of the most popular character across all of pop culture. There was so much skepticism going into the first Guardians of the Galaxy back in the late summer of 2014 because the general public had no idea what this property was. Sure, it had the MCU brand on it but it was ultimately the first true experiment with the MCU franchise and the success really paid off. The world instantly fell in love with these characters and really proved that Marvel could make just about anything and audiences will flock to see it. Despite what might think about Vol 2., there was still a number of great things to digest from that comic-book escapade. Going into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, we knew that this was going to be the last time that we would see these characters in the same movie together for one last ride. The marketing and word of mouth was promising for an emotional and very satisfying conclusion with this era of the MCU. Whether you’re a fan of the last number of recent comic-book movies, some might argue that instead of comic-book movie fatigue, we’ve been getting a lack quality with Shazam 2, Quantumania and even Black Adam failing to meet expectations on a critical and financial level. Wakanda Forever made money, but in comparison to the first Black Panther, it made a lot less.
We’ve still got a lot more exciting comic-book movie properties to experience later on in 2023 and with the current status of the genre, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the most refreshing and exciting comic-book movie in some time. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is something that we haven’t felt with an MCU movie in ages. Out of all three films, Vol. 3 is maybe the best and personally made movie of the trilogy. It’s more layered, each character is given a beautiful arc, the action is the great and the comedy is phenomenal. It also serves as a massive step up in quality from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 by not shoving comedy down our throats. With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania being a lackluster start with Phase Five of the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a great beginning and a beautiful conclusion of an era of lovable characters.
In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Quill is still struggling with the loss of Gamora but he and the rest of the Guardians embark on a new mission to protect Rocket from a new threat, the High Evolutionary.
James Gunn is easily one of the best directors to ever set foot in the MCU sandbox. For tackling Marvel characters that come with their own personal baggage of being criminals, the level of humanity and joy Gunn pours into them and to the entire dynamic within the team is some of the best character work in the entirety of the MCU. Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana and Pom Klementieff all give heartfelt performances and the best portrayals of their characters than in any other MCU movie they were featured in before. But there’s absolutely no contest. The real star of this movie is Rocket Raccoon. A character that is silly when judged on paper, but having this chapter of the MCU focus on the origin of Rocket is maybe the most important, most tragic and heartwarming backstory of any character in the MCU. Bradley Cooper does magnificent voice work whereas Sean Gunn does a commendable job performing the motion capture. The Guardians come together in the best way possible that surpasses anything that was established in the previous films.
Most people would agree that the bets villains in the MCU are Thanos, Loki and maybe Killmonger. Not to say Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary is even remotely better than those three, but this is easily one of the best villains in the MCU and perhaps the best villain out of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. He might as well be a more compelling villains than Majors in Quantumania. Chukwudi Iwuji gives a chilling and haunting villain performance that encapsulates the bleakness and the brutality within Rocket’s past. Is he as methodical as Thanos? Is he as charismatic as Loki? Not really, but on his merits, Chukwudi Iwuji is a terrific villain that will definitely scar animal lovers.
No movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 doesn’t have many issues except for maybe one minor problem and that was the character of Adam Warlock. The character of Adam Warlock was majorly underused. If you say the post credits scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, the character was teased to have a role in the next film down the line. Will Poulter is a solid performer and has a very exciting career ahead of him, but the lack of utilizing his character was short sided because all of the focus were on the Guardians and not him. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies have never really been famous for having world class villains but with the High Evolutionary that ultimately changed but with Warlock who was sort of the villain, partially, didn’t make a huge impression.
The summer movie season has officially begun and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has kicked off the summer of 2023 with a bang and hopefully it gets better and better. With more MCU movies/TV shows down the line, it’s always important that quality over quantity should be the mindset of any executive and filmmaker and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the kind of quality that the majority of MCU fans haven’t felt maybe since Spider-Man: No Way Home. This is most heartbreaking and brutal the MCU has been in awhile but James Gunn wonderfully finds ways to give us that levity and fun that we can find with these films. It ain’t over for the MCU but the Guardians will always live in our hearts for ever and ever.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 