Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3

Review Score:

B

The Unprecedented Times –

May 12 / 2023

In what might be the last gasp of the MCU golden era, James Gunn’s colorful space epic delivers on the promise of a heartwarming space adventure. 

The Guardians openly care about one another, showing a level of character development you might not find elsewhere in the MCU. They’ve come a long way from their first on-screen adventure, which seemed to have informed the writing style of nearly every subsequent writer or director in the franchise. Whereas the Guardians of the Galaxy’s quips and quirks were a fun departure from the early era MCU’s usual group dynamics, they now are forced into nearly every interaction between characters. At one time, the Guardians would have been unique in their banter. But when Marvel started pairing heroes up more frequently post Civil War, it bled into most conversations. Suddenly every movie was Guardians of the Galaxy. 

But despite the best efforts of others to drive this style of writing dialogue into the dirt, Gunn proves that it still works. Something I’ve noticed about James Gunn’s superhero movies is that they are always genuine at their core. This is true across all three Guardians  movies and in his take on DC’s Suicide Squad. Yes, there will be jokes. Yes, there will be sarcasm. But at the end of the day, the characters have real emotions and face genuine danger. Better yet, they treat each other like real people. It is clear that the current team of space-faring aliens all have grown to view each other as family. And where they might have had a hard time admitting it in Volume 1, they love one another openly in Volume 3. Despite being a mostly alien team, they feel more human than many of the MCU’s current lineup. The story itself feels similarly grounded, even when the living tree creature is wielding eight guns at once in a crashing spaceship. The story is about the characters, rather than the characters being shoved into a villain’s tale of universal domination.

This also pushes the boundaries of a PG-13 rating in a way I haven’t seen in a long time. This is PG-13 in the way that Raiders of the Lost Arc is PG-13. The backstory of Rocket Racoon is explored through flashbacks, and it’s one of the MCU’s more effective and emotional tales of late. Yet it does feel slightly anti-climactic as an ending to the Guardians story. Some of the character’s epilogues feel rushed, while others feel more natural. With news of several of the team’s actors stepping away from Marvel, it was strange to see some choices made for the sunset of their stories.

James Gunn and the team behind Guardians 3 continue to embrace a beautiful cosmic color palette. It’s the little things that start to add up in the end. The colorful, vintage inspired space suits worn during a heist are physical, not nano-tech. The characters have to clumsily remove them, which presents a challenge that drives the plot. During that same heist, they visit a planet that uses a type of organic, physical, slimy technology. This concept is built upon and makes for some interesting visuals. Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 is not bogged down by an overabundance of cameos and crossovers with Spiderman, or Dr. Strange or any of the other major players. It builds on the groundwork Gunn has laid out since the first installment in the trilogy.

The MCU is going to miss James Gunn.

Review Score:

B

Gubb wrote this review. You can’t get mad at Gubb.