So the final Guardians Of The Galaxy film has just been released in theatres and for
the most part, its a satisfying ending for the James Gunn's MCU outing.
It has the trademark comedy of the previous films, but it combines that was
a more emotional storyline to deliver a very dramatic ending for this franchise.
In this video, I'm going to be giving you my spoiler-free
review for Guardians Of The Galaxy 3, discussing why I think it's a great ending to James Gunn's
Marvel trilogy, but one that isn't without its faults too.
Before I get into it though, if you want to see more videos on upcoming theatrical
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But without further a do, lets dive into my review for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3.
So superheroes on the big screen have had quite a patchy period as of late, and a lot
of those movies have been connected to the MCU.
Thor Love and Thunder, Quantumania and even Multiverse Of Madness have been instalments
that had potential, but failed to really live up to the standard that Marvel used to set.
We've seen unfinished CGI, poor plotlines and over
the top humour combined to give us films and even shows that just exist to set up what's
to come.
But while James Gunn was really the one to push forward that trademark MCU tone that
set the standard, he also is the one who continuously
seems to make it unique, and does so in a way that achieves what this movie alone set
out to do.
And that is to provide a moving and satisfying finale for a franchise that was
an unlikely success story from the beginning.
Returning MCU fans know that nothing fully ends in this universe, and while chracters
die, villains lose, and storylines end or evolve,
at the end of the day, they are all a part of a continuous machine that sets up the next
thing.
But James Gunn and the extended cast that are apart of this franchise, and have gone
out and tried to give us the best conclusion to this Guardians story that they can, with
a potent mix of action, story, humour and emotional
payoff.
It is something that makes you further excited to see what Gunn does with his own cinematic
universe over at dc and it does show that the filmmaker can approach different tones
in a comic book movie quite well, even if at
times it does become quite jaring in.
Before we get to that conflicting tone though, it's key that I start by discussing the importance
of the Guardians themselves and how this film really takes on a more emotional edge with
those stories.
On the surface, the film is a series of quests, where the Guardians have to obtain certain
objects and info that can solve their problems, but that is used as a structural
backdrop for the story to explore each of their emotional centres.
Volume 3 gives a good amount of screen time to each member of the team, whether it be
Nebula’s journey in gaining empathy, bringing the former machine’s redemption
to a great finish, and one that is in contrast to her sister’s return, as she has a harder
attitude by being a younger version of that character.
There's also Drax and Mantis and their comedic friction, Peter Quill’s problems with accepting
that his once lover Gamora is no more, and then Groot, with being the physical support
that brings the family together.
But the Guardian, whos story really nails this added emotional telling, is actually
Rocket, who as was seen in the trailer, is really put through a tormenting
past.
Rocket is basically the star of the show, and we learn that his backstory is heartbreaking
and one of the most emotional stories told in Marvel films.
James Gunn effectively focuses on a raccoon and his animal friends and shows
how the film's villain, The High Evolutionary, is behind the evolution and essentially the
experiments on living creatures to make the perfect
society.
So with an emotional origin story for a wise cracking raccoon, the Guardians are now in
a situation where they must race to save his life, and we as the audience see his
dark past along that journey.
Now while all of the Guardians do a great job in their own ways, and the villains do
serve the purpose of the plot to make you feel the weight that's put up
against them, I will say that the critical point from a character perspective, is again
the villains, and that's something that I honestly thought was a weakness with the previous
Guardians films as well.
While the first Guardians film is one of my favourite MCU movies, my main criticism with
that was with Ronan the Accuser's villain and how he was too over the top
and not very memorable.
And the same can be said about Adam Warlock and The High Evolutionary in the third film.
They serve the purpose of the narrative, you can tell that the actors are
trying in their roles to really convey a good performance, and I respect that, but you do
feel that they could have done more with them, especially with that of Adam Warlock.
I was really looking forward to Poulter's performance and
I just felt they missused that character.
But overall, the Guardians are the focus of this and they really nail their final outing
with each of their character's conclussive beats, and
it also really shows that James Gunn knows how to work with a large ensemble.
Coming now to the filmmaking and tone of the film, its mainly a good mix of everything
we love about Gunn's style, but then there are a few small issues in there too.
On one side, there are the brilliant imaginative visuals, and
its definitelly the most colourful, trippy and even humourous of Gunn's offerings with
his trilogy, making you further wonder if he can approach
someone like Superman in a vastly distinct way.
He himself has said that his Superman film will be vastly different in tone and approach
and from knowing him as a filmmaker that does put
the effort in with all departments to create something different with each film too, that
does give me the confidence that he can do something approapriate for a certain character.
This installment also brings more of the practical
in its make-up and world-building as well, especially with that Counter-Earth location,
and I respect that Gunn is able to bring what he did
on The Suicide Squad film when it comes to added practicality.
You can tell that Marvel have let a creative work their magic rather than get too involved
and that helps this film over some of the more mucky sperhero mcu flicks
in the last few years, which felt really factory produced.
There's stupidly silly gags and lines that remind you of the filmmakers comedy,
there's action sequences that are also stunning and some moments that use another great soundtrack
to play on repeat afterwards.
Gunn adds a darker and emotional sensibility to all of
this, as spoke about before, and while he does a mostly great job of balancing those
differing tones, I will say that at times it does feel off putting, and its as if Gunn
and his crew threw everything at the screen knowing that
this would be the end.
However, the ending of this film does deliver when it comes to all of these tonal beats,
in a similar way to volume 2 and everything we saw there, and it shows that
the director knows how to build towards a satisfying outcome for his central characters.
It's bittersweet and makes up for some of the tonal
problems that stem throughout.
So after a disappointing Phase 4 in the MCU on both the big screen and the small screen,
and a really underwhelming start to phase 5 with Quantumania, Gunn has delivered the
goods in his final MCU film, and done so in a way that
shows that lessons can be learnt from the issues of the past.
There should be more time taken to craft a project and make it look and sound as
good as possible, and the films should be led by a sense of heart and have a well-written
dramatic storyline that does something we haven't seen before.
This film shows that the MCU can work much better when a creative filmmaker
is given the room to bring their vision to life, rather than have a filmmaker carry out
a project that you fully dictate and use as a stepping
stone to get to the next instalment.
They've gotta focus on individual storytelling before they can ramp up the universe teases
and nostalgia to the max, especially if there's loads of
new characters coming in before those planned Avengers films.
At the minute, I'm not too excited about those because the writters haven't had the greatest
track record in the MCU, whereas somelike James Gunn is fresh off multiple
films that have gone down well, both for Marvel and DC, and his vision has been retained through
all of that.
Even after a trilogy of films in the Guardians saga, he has somehow managed
to make each of them feel different in their own ways, and the consistent ambition and
heart that he brings every time, will be truly missed in
this cinematic universe.
Its a great sendoff for this group of iconic characters and its the most well put-together
MCU film in a good while.
But that was my spoiler free review for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3.
Overall, its a solid conclusion to the Guardians story and I think that Gunn has done a great
job of rounding out his trilogy on its own merits.
I'm still not confident for the future of the MCU yet because Gunn has now left to start
his universe at DC and the projects coming up could be more of what
we've seen recently, where one movie sets up the ones that follow.
While I can't say whether this will be the case once again, we've just seen it so much
from Marvel outside of the Russo Brothers and James Gunn since Endgame, and
it becomes quite an unspired landscape.
Still, as always, I'll give them a chance and Guardians 3 is for me, a small win for
the studio, so there's definitely hope that better films
could always come.
I'm giving Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 a rating of 8 out of 10.
But to those who have already seen the film, what do you
think of the final Guardians movie from James Gunn and do you agree that it's a great ending
for his MCU trilogy.
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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