I’m going to kind of do something different here. I want to talk about not only Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 but kind of my personal connection to the movies and the comics that they’re based on. Vol. 3 felt like the closing of a chapter after having to wait six years, even though it felt like much longer because of the nature of the MCU release schedule. Well, that and some real-world things that happened that I don’t want to talk about.
Before I review the movie, I want to talk about the comics and my personal connection to both the comics and movies. Like I was incredibly excited for the first movie in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. One of the reasons is because of James Gunn. I feel like I’ve talked about my love for James Gunn previously, but this was before I knew that his love for comics translated so well to the screen. When it comes to the comics, I became both aware of and a fan of the team during the storylines, Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest. Those storylines got the team to look very close to what they would look like in these movies. The first Annihilation storyline is one of the best comic book storylines and it came out as the original Civil War event was happening. Both of them got me invested in comics again.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the perfect example of why I love James Gunn’s movies. He has a way of combining comedy and heart that makes the Guardians movies stand out from the rest of the MCU movies. Even now with people supposedly suffering from superhero fatigue people still clamor to see Vol. 3. I feel like it shows that people still want to see superheroes but just not everything has to be a massive universe threatening event, sometimes you just have to save your best friend.
The cast is very similar to what was in the Holiday Special as well as Vol. 2. There were new additions to the 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, and Sylvester Stallone star. I also really want to mention how good Maria Bakalova is as Cosmo. Cosmo has been in the movies in the periphery since the beginning. Zoe Saldaña is in a much different spot than the rest of the regular Guardians cast. Since Gamora in Vol. 3 is a different character, we’re seeing a reset of most all of the character relationships. Rocket is the main character of this movie, which means both Bradley Cooper and Sean Gunn get to shine. Gunn plays the younger Rocket while Cooper plays him the rest of the time. Chukwudi Iwuji plays the worst villain in the MCU, because he has no redeeming qualities. I think if you find anything redeeming about him you should probably take a look inward. I also want to mention Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock because this is a very different version of the character. This is Himbo Adam Warlock where he’s walking around with an almost empty head.
The effects throughout Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 are amazing. The use of practical effects make me feel that its James Gunn’s way of staying connected to his beginnings as well as just having a different look than visual effects. All of the denizens of Counter Earth look awesome. The visual effects look amazing. The fact that some of the most emotional scenes not only involved CG characters but properly evoke the emotions that they’re supposed to shows the quality of the effects as well as the performances. The set and costume designers did an amazing job throughout the movie. The set designers were able to pull off what I can only say are close to miracles. The music played a huge part in Vol. 3, much like the other movies. The original score by John Murphy is fantastic. The needle drops that happen throughout the movie are so incredibly fun. The one at the end of the movie works on so many levels that I don’t think there could have been a more perfect choice.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 feels like the end of an era, mostly because of Gunn’s new role in DC, but not only because of that. I do hope that people continue to make movies in the Guardians franchise but maybe treat it more like Star Trek where they’re one-off adventures and keep the fun nature. I just hope that whatever happens the characters aren’t changed on a fundamental way. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is still in theaters and you should watch it in theaters if you’re able to, to get the full effect of the story. I give Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 9.5 Zunes out of 10. [kofi]
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