Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is one of the longest-awaited MCU sequels, arriving six years (to the day!) after its predecessor. Writer and director James Gunn promised that this movie would serve as a conclusion for his Guardians team, and in terms of closing things out, the movie does so with some spectacular visuals and a story that sometimes feels a bit too big for its own good.
Following the well-received Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, Vol. 3 again finds the titular team using Knowhere as its base of operations. Spirits are not as high as they were, however, with Rocket (Bradley Cooper) reflecting on his traumatic memories and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) getting drunk every day and wallowing in self-pity. Nebula (Karen Gillan) has taken charge on most matters, with Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) being their usual goofy selves, and Groot (Vin Diesel) helping out where he can.
The guardians' mostly peaceful existence is shattered by the arrival of Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), who attempts to capture Rocket in order to return him to his creator, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). In order to save their teammate from life-threatening injuries, the guardians trace Rocket's origins and the story doles out looks at where Rocket came from and the events that left him so jaded and angry.
Gunn's script is packed with story, both to the movie's benefit and detriment. There's a lot of ground to be covered, and the movie sometimes feels overstuffed as a result. As the story jumps back and forth between past and present, it becomes clear that the looks at Rocket's past are the most affecting and substantial parts of the story. In the present, the guardians' journey to save Rocket, while loaded with a lot of fun and frenetic action, mostly just feels like wheel-spinning in order to arrive at a grand conclusion.
What suffers under all the plot's weight is meaningful character development, especially for the newly introduced Adam Warlock, who mostly just comes across as a powerful dummy. His characterization isn't entirely that far off from Drax, whose story also tends to feel a bit flat, or at the very least, like a retread of what audiences have seen in the past two films. The most unfortunate casualty, though, is Gamora (Zoe Saldana), who often tends to feel like an afterthought. The fact that this version of the character had no memories of her life before could have been fertile ground, but mostly goes underutilized.
Luckily, the performances keep Vol. 3 afloat, as all of Gunn's regulars deliver on both humorous and emotional beats. The guardians themselves are all on point, with Klementieff's Mantis and Gillan's Nebula being the particular standouts. Iwuji, however, almost steals the show from everyone with his over-the-top yet believably cruel High Evolutionary. As far as Marvel villains go, this one might not be as memorable as some of the greats (including one from Gunn's own trilogy, that being Kurt Russell's Ego), but Iwuji imbues his character with a recognizable sense of frustration at the world, which he takes out on those he sees as being beneath him.
James Gunn promised, however, that this movie was about Rocket, and on that front, he delivers. The looks into Rocket's origin are deeply emotional and heartbreaking. Rocket's animal friends, who straddle the line between ugly and cute, are lovingly rendered and serve as a surrogate family for the future guardian. Thematically speaking, Rocket's story fits with Gunn's typical mold of found family. The awful relationship between Rocket and the High Evolutionary recalls the ugliness of the father-son dynamic seen in the Peacemaker series. Cooper's voice performance here is a high note, as he hits all the right emotional beats even when playing a much younger version of the character.
Visually, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is stunning, and far and away more interesting to look at than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's brown CGI sludge. That movie tried (and mostly failed) to imitate the diversity of Gunn's galactic settings, which is fully on display here. As with other projects by Gunn, one thing remains true: the director has an eye for the grotesque. The High Evolutionary's mechanical-animal hybrids are cobbled-together monsters, and an early stop at a biological facility imagines an environment created entirely from organic matter. There are other flourishes that recall Gunn's work on gorier projects like The Suicide Squad and Slither, and even with the restraints of a PG-13 rating, it's clear that the boundaries were pushed to the limit. It's a refreshing change of pace from recent Marvel projects, which have started to feel a little too clean and shiny for their own good.
Gunn stages his action sequences with his signature creativity, including a single-take hallway fight scene that might take a spot on the list of Marvel's best. At its worst, there is still a glut of CGI, but it's clear that wherever he could do so, Gunn takes the route of using practical effects. This includes an entire town full of evolved animals who appear to be living a circa-1970s suburban life. If anything, Vol. 3 makes it obvious that Marvel is losing one of its best talents to DC.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, much like the team of heroes at its center, is imperfect. However, the care and love that Gunn has for these characters and their story is obvious from the jump. It's going to be difficult to say goodbye to all of these lovable misfits, but at the very least, Gunn got to give his characters the ending they deserve.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters on May 5th.