Ok so Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3 feels like a home run for the MCU.
After a lot of underwhelming projects recently it did feel like the franchise had somewhat
lost it's appeal.
Instead of the heart and creativity that had once made the franchise special we were reduced
to what felt like products coming off an assembly line.
Whether it was in the cinemas or on the shows, it just seemed like Marvel were bombarding
us with a lot of medicority where the focus had solely been on making as much money as
possible.
We've had Ant-man and The Wasp Quantumidia, Multiverse of Midness and many more.
There's a lot of talk of superhero fatigue at the moment and with Marvel being the biggest
producer of content in the genre it felt like thisonce gigantic juggernaut had somehwat
lost it's way.
It's the same thing that has unfortunately happened with Star Wars and whereas these
films once felt like major events that you couldn't miss out on, people are happy to
skip them now because they don't feel like they really matter.
The...the midilorian?
F**ks sake.
Now you know I love comic books but it had even got to a point where I thought that things
were getting way too oversaturated and there weren't any stories that felt like they innovated
and raised the bar.
I was talking with the Canadian Lad about this last week and we got onto how many projects
there were coming out and how it's also really cringey when Youtubers name drop other youtubers
to make themselves sound important.
I was saying that the current slate feels like back in the day when you'd go into a
comic shop and pick up one of their pre-packaged bundles of books where there was about 10
put in a black bag and it was labeled something like 'Mystery Mix.'
The price was pretty cheap so it seemed like a good deal but upon opening it up at home
you'd see there were some good ones but that most were meh.
In the end you'd read about three of them and the other 7 were ones that you weren't
really that interested in so you just never opened them up.
I kinda feel like that's what the current state of affairs is like where we've been
given a big bundle of books but there's a lot we can't actually be bothered to read
and we're just sitting around skimming through the ones that might be interesting.
Everyones getting a comic book movie these days but the c and d list characters are no
longer the innovative ones that they used to be.
Batman and Superman always had a big audience so they could things by the numbers and it
was normally the more obscure characters that had to do things differently to stand out.
I feel like movies like The Batman and Joker are being far more creative nowadays though
whereas you're getting the ones like Shazam and Ant-man that are phoning it in.
However, I'm happy to say that Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3 shows that when you have
someone putting their heart and soul into something that it can take things to the next
level.
Within the movie there's one scene that I think not only exemplifies why I fell in love
with the genre but it also thematically brings together all the elements that made the franchise
so successful.
That is the corridor scene.
It feels like James Gunn is going super Sayan and this brings together everything he's learned
since that first Guardians movie to make this moment his masterpiece.
Now to give some context to why it works so well we have to look at what the Guardians
have gone through.
After an attack by Adam Warlock early on in the movie their faithful squirrel hedgehog
hamster Rocket was left at deaths door.
Discovering a killswitch within him that would activiate if they attempted to use a medpack
they set out to meet his maker.
This took them to the high evolutionary who wiped out an entire planet of his experiments
because he didn't think they lived up to his standards.
The group had split up beforehand in order to go and meet him and the planets destruction
pushed them further apart.
However just before this scene they managed to reunite in the hanger of the High Evolutionary's
ship.
Quill said that they had to go rescue Mantis, Drax and Nebula but they made a big entrance
by busting through the walls on the back of some Abilisks.
At this point the group could easily go off and fly back to nowhere leaving the Evolutionary
to his own ends.
After all his experiments had been disrupted and he'd even had his subjects turn against
him and try and form a coup.
However, there's just one little thing.
The ship is full of animals and Children that the Evolutionary could subject to more experiments.
Getting flashbacks of what it was like under the knife, Rocket valiantly says that he's
not running anymore and the pair mount up to save the others.
This really exemplifies what makes the Guardians the Guardians and this group is very much
a voice for the misfits and outcasts who are often overlooked.
Superhero movies at one point fell into the cliche of centring around saving the girl
with Lois Lane and so on always being the damsels in distress that got in danger.
It's rare to see the freaks given a voice but the guardians are very much seen as their
champions.
Before the first film was released absolutely noo one thought that the movie would be successful
because this was a team made up of a racoon and a talking tree.
However Gunn has always been a voice for obscure and overlooked characters which the Guardians
and the Evolutionary's victims exemplify.
You could argue all day about animal testing, farming, the dairy industry and the cruelty
within them is often something we put to the back of our minds when we're eating and enjoying
ourselves.
Going off on a big tangent there but I think Gunn purposely put animals and kids in cages
to maybe try and act as metaphors for things in our own world as a way to be a kind of
voice for the voiceless.
It's there if you wanna see it and not if you don't but it adds a nice layer of subtext
to what the Guardians are trying to accomplish here.
Now whether you think that's laced throughout the movie or not I think there's no denying
just how good this scene plays out.
Set to The Beastie Boys No Sleep till brooklyn this signature song carries it's own meaning
that ties in with the group itself.
The track is about touring and in it the rappers talk about how tiring it can be going on these
gigantic journies from city to city playing their music.
They're away from home, facing monotony of going through the same thing over and over
and just without a sense of place.
However laced throughout the music is the determination that they won't rest until they
reach their home in Brooklyn.
Now metaphorically that's what the guardians are going through as well.
They've been broken up, broken apart and have been through battle after battle but they
won't stop until they save the day and get home.
It works perfect in this moment and it also showcases Gunns signature style in full effect.
This is a director who has built his name off making moments almost like music videos
and he's an expert when it comes to selecting a song to put into a scene.
Every Guardians film has had it's own soundtrack and we've gone from casettes all the way up
to a Zune which Peter plays at the start of the scene to kick things off.
Now as for the moment itself you have to just marvel at the technical work behind it.
One take shots are ridiculously hard to put together but Gunn has this hallway scene flowing
beautifully from one character to the next showing all their strenghts and weaknesses.
We have Groot stuffing a branch down a Hellspawn and then exploding it from the inside, quill
throwing electrical charges on guards and Drax pinning someone to the wall with his
knife.
We even get callbacks to the prior films with Rocket standing on Groots shoulders shooting
and Quills charge being something he's used in the other movies.
My favourite moment though is watching Nebula get punched in the head to see it go over
the back of her body.
Lots of her bones and parts are broken during this moment and I love how she pulls everything
back in place and keeps firing.
The movie is laced with a lot of body horror but this is the moment that stands out to
me.
Now we end with Gamora fighting off against one of the Evolutionary's squid headed hell
spawn.
She's a character who hasn't really felt like she's part of the group due to all the stuff
that happened with the multiverse earlier in the franchise.
Quill has tried his hardest to get her back with them and I think that it's during this
moment that she finally feels like she's part of the team again.
Ending on her and having the team all standing about panting is such an outstanding way to
close it out and the final shot of the group altogether works so well to show that they're
once more united.
Why I love this scene is because of the choreography on display, the way the camera does things
like move through the stomach of a creature, the way that we see the guardians all working
together and the way that the music reminds us of what's really going on in this moment.
This is the team coming together for one final time to show us why we fell in love with them
in the first place.
It's got some great callbacks, is beautifully executed and it shows the entire team both
in front and behind the camera at their best.
I dunno if this is the best action scene in the MCU but I'm hard pressed to think of another
one that tops it.
In the end I can't wait to rewatch this moment again and that's why it's perfect.
Either way I'd love to hear your thoughts on it so make sure you drop them down in the
comments section below.
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Now if you want something else to watch then check out our breakdown of who Adam Warlock
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With that out the way, I've been Paul, you've been the best and thanks for stopping by the
Heavy Spoilers show.
Take care, peace.