Guardians of the Galaxy 3 | Review, 5 things I liked and disliked about it

Prologue:

As Star-Lord is still reeling from the loss of Gamora. Peter Quill must rally his team to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own. A mission that, if not completed could lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

IMDB: 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

Trailer Review

Plot:

The movie starts off where we see Baby Rocket in a cage and a hand moves towards him facing the palm downwards, usually indicating aggression. From there the scene moves to the present.
The journey continues for the Guardians of the Galaxy further after the events of Avengers: Endgame and Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special. Guardians are currently at Knowhere, a planet made out of the head of a celestial. As Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Drax (Dave Bautista) are making the planet and lives of people better by helping them. On the other hand, Star-Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is still sulking over the loss of her Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and has been drinking a lot. Soon at night when everyone is heading to sleep, a golden bright man comes gliding through the dark space towards named Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). Recently formed by Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) to destroy the guardians. As soon as Warlock gets to Knowhere, he grabs Rocket and gets ready to take him to Counter-Earth as he was asked by Ayesha and the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). Although, Rocket manages to escape from the grasp of Adam Warlock as he is saved by the guardians who come to rescue him. We see that Rocket gets gravely injured by Adam and now Rocket is struggling for his life.
As Guardians set themselves on a quest to save their friend and family member, we get to see the backstory of Rocket and how he was evolved by the High Evolutionary. We see many characters reunite with the Guardians and some of the characters are newly introduced. Now we are on an adventure to see whether the Rocket will survive and how Guardians will take on the challenges they face.

Review:

Finally, we get to watch a good movie from the Marvel Studios. After Avengers: Endgame, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 might be the movie that is enjoyed by everyone. A movie that does not explore the multiverse and has Kang in it. It does not provide any big thing coming up in the future as well.

Instead, James Gunn provides a beautiful story to the viewers and fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and proves that there is nothing such as ‘Superhero Fatigue’. James Gunn delivers a well-written and directed movie to its viewers. Although, the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has not been a famous one for viewers. But considering the recent downfall of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 becomes the best movie along with ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’ since the start of Phase 4.

The movie delivers perfectly on the basis of a comedy yet emotional storyline, creating an atmosphere of loss for a guardian, and eventually leading up to an awesome showdown between the Guardians and the antagonist, High Evolutionary. We get to see weird and unusual animals, evolved mammals, and even a planet that can be highly appreciated for its creativity. Similar to the previous movies, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 has the perfect background music. James Gunn knows where he needs to add what kind of a song and at what time, perfectly matching the lyrics to the storyline.
At last, I would say that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 brings the vintage Marvel magic back on the screen for the viewers, and especially for the fans who were feeling disappointed because of Marvel’s recent projects.

5 things I liked about Guardians of the Galaxy 3:

There are a lot of things I liked about the movie. I think 5 points might not be enough to cover them, but still, I will try to point out the best things about the movie.

1. The overall story of the movie leaves a long-lasting impact on the audience. Whether it was Rocket getting injured, or the ending where we see most of the original guardians retire. It makes the audience emotional. We see the origin story of Rocket, along with the friends he made in the cage at the High Evolutionary’s lab. From there we see how the other Guardians are attached to each other and what heights they cross to save not just their friend but a family member.
2. The cinematography, CGI, colour grading, and music in the movie were nearly perfect. Marvel movies usually are colourful to watch, but this time as the tone of the movie was emotional and sad, we had many scenes where the colour grading was shifted to dark and dull according to the story.
3. The elements of comedy were perfectly added to the script. It never feels like the jokes and comedic elements were forced, unlike the recent Marvel projects. The entire movie is perfectly balanced with the elements of sadness, loss, adventure, and comedy.
4. The character development of every character like Star-Lord, Mantis, Nebula, Rocket, Drax, and Kraglin was wonderful to experience. Carrying out the from the first movie till now, Star-Lord has come way ahead from always sulking about getting kidnapped by Yondu (Michael Rooker) and being bullied by the Ravagers, to finding a family he loves and can die for with the Guardians.
   Mantis who recently figured out that she is a step-sister of Peter Quill and her relationship expands towards him as she tries to help him out in his life. On the other hand, her friendship with other members of the Guardians gets even better.
   Nebula has started getting more friendly with the rest of the members and acts less like a warrior who is always on a mission.
   Rocket had a huge role to play in this movie. We see his origin, and how he made friends in the cages of High Evolutionary. And the most emotional scene in the entire movie was when his friends were killed by High Evolutionary and his crew.
   Drax initially had a small role to play in the movie but as the story progressed, we saw the fatherly side of Drax which melts the heart of the audience.
5. The final action sequence of the movie was the best sequence I have watched in the Marvel movies in a long time, probably after ‘Spiderman: No Way Home‘ where Spider-Man (Tom Holland) has a fight with Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) in the middle of the movie.
   Coming back to GOTG3, that final action sequence must have taken a lot of effort from not just action choreographs but also from CGI artists as well. The hallway sequence was beautifully choreographed, where every hero had ample opportunities to show their skills and abilities.

5 things I disliked about Guardians of the Galaxy 3:

After talking about the things I liked about the movie, let’s talk about the things I disliked. Although there are not many things I disliked about the movie, and not even I can point them out.

1. The open-ended finale for the Guardians gives the audience an unsatisfied outcome. At the end or post-credit scene, we see the lineup for the Guardians of the Galaxy with Rocket, Adam Warlock, Groot, Cosmo, Kraglin, and Phyla (Kai Zen). Although we are excited to see the new Guardians, but we also want to know more about the previous members of Guardians who have currently retired.
2. James Gunn leaving the Guardians along with Marvel and moving to DC franchise can be a huge setback for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a recent interview, James Gunn said that Kevin Feige used to ask for his reviews for certain scripts in Phase 3 of the MCU and what changes could they make to improve the overall narration. Considering the fact that Gunn is the CEO of the newly formed DC Studios and will be leading the upcoming DC Universe, the Guardians are left stranded and will be looking for new directors to continue their story.
3. Nova still not being addressed in the entire Marvel Universe feels like a disservice to the fans of Marvel Comics. As Nova, Sam Alexander or Richard Rider was teased by Marvel in Phase 3, and expected to be in Phase 4 after the events and destruction of Xandar by Thanos (Josh Brolin), we expected him to be in the third sequel to the movie, or at least being mentioned. And currently, no one knows when we can expect the space ranger to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
4. Gamora being a part of Ravengers than Guardians feels odd to me personally. Although we are in a similar situation to Peter Quill to expect her to be the one who was killed by Thanos for the Soul Stone. But I still believe that Gamora needs to be with the Guardians, and her presence makes Guardians complete.

Well, that’s all I could point out for the third installment of The Guardians of the Galaxy. The movie is perfectly curated and is surely enjoyable for all types of audiences who have been following up the story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the beginning of the story of the Guardians. Do watch it out as it reminds you what the peak of MCU used to feel like.

It’s Review Time rating of
Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3
8/10