Riot’s Reviews: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
If there is one constant in the MCU, it’s that Guardians of the Galaxy and its director James Gunn pump out the hits. The Guardians’ involvement was integral to the story development of Infinity War and Endgame, and Gunn’s writing skills helped to make one of the slightly more obscure Marvel Comics groups a household name. He used perfectly timed, quirky comedy and nostalgic, situationally relevant music to get people hooked into the lives of these characters. His interpretation was arguably too good, as his influence started making its way into other titles of the Marvel Universe, to other directors who simply couldn’t handle the formula (just see what eventually happened with Thor: Love and Thunder). Regardless, Gunn consistently proved himself trustworthy to find the merging point between silly comedy, proper storytelling, and emotional gut-punches which made his impending exit from the franchise (and the MCU entirely) more than worrisome for its fans. Due to an extremely shaky Phase 4, I often commented to people that future success relied heavily on three upcoming titles: Black Panther II, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The first two, while each decent in their own right, I think failed to get people properly motivated and back onto the Marvel train. So how would Gunn’s final flick fare not only as an MCU standalone, but also against the backdrop of his previous two, very successful films?
In the spectrum of Marvel films, it’s certainly one of the best we’ve seen in a while, especially in regards to Phase 4. One of the unexpectedly big struggles of superhero films lately has been a significant downgrade of their special effects, something that was clearly remedied in this movie. I have been vocal about my distaste for CGI animals, feeling far more interested in seeing them removed completely from films instead of making special effects mockeries and forcing actors to awkwardly interact with air. That being said, Vol. 3 took the realism of these animals to another level (regrettably I’ll go over why this a bad thing, later). The fight choreography was spectacular and culminated in a hallway battle sequence that featured some of the best special effects I’ve seen in a while. The interpersonal drama and bickering between the Guardians continues to be as hilarious as we’ve expected throughout the years and the actor’s natural chemistry ensures the humor (as well as the drama) remains strong, giving off that slightly dysfunctional family vibe we’ve all grown to love.
Being that this is supposed to be Gunn’s last run at the hero group, the film was packed to the gills with compelling and heartbreaking emotional conflicts. Rocket’s backstory is gut wrenchingly tragic (as everyone should have assumed it would be) and involving adorable new anthropomorphic animals (Linda Cardellini as Lylla, Asim Chaudhry as Teefs, and Mikaela Hoover as Floor) just made it all the more disturbing. Vol. 3’s best addition is its antagonist, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), who embodies all the elements that make a truly compelling bad guy. He is ruthless/soulless in all the right ways and it was great to see the creators get down to brass tacks where the villain doesn’t need any aspects to their ideology that are “relatable.” While his main motivations (to essentially be god and create his interpretation of the “perfect” being/society) aren’t exactly a fresh idea, his delivery and demeanor are hard to ignore. He is an absolutely irredeemable monster which makes the conflict actually have tangible risks. As a final note about new faces, the film has a pair of situationally perfect cameos.
All the positives being said, Vol. 3 had some unique problems that I think stood out, especially when considered against its previous two films. Some of these issues are admittedly nitpicky in nature but others are undeniable black marks in the overall quality of the film. 1) In the lead up to its release, there were an endless amount of articles about the significance of featuring the MCU’s first f-bomb. Not only is it utterly stupid to make a big deal about this (nobody should think this is a good thing), I find it similarly foolish that the featured language crossed hard over the threshold of acceptable usage in these movies. Even the prior films at least went out of their way to avoid using explicit language. Simply put, Vol. 3 is not for kids and I say that for far more reasons (which I’ll get to later) than unnecessary inclusions of curse words. 2) While the music selection wasn’t bad per se (opening with Radiohead and ending with Florence and the Machine were solid choices) it didn’t feel up to par with the previous two films. The song quality wasn’t lacking, it was more that the tracks didn’t feel right for the scenes they were featured in. 3) People have been waiting for Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) for a long time. The character’s significance to the Infinity War comics left people wondering why Marvel would wait to get him involved. Poulter’s appearance/performance in this film were perfectly fine and he was appropriate both in humor and overall look. But Warlock and The Sovereign’s participation, while logistically sound, felt shoehorned and messy. 4) The film struggles with some consistency issues, especially those involving Gamora and some of the High Evolutionary’s motivations. 5) Finally, while I certainly don’t agree with the current social media campaign to have a “trigger warning” added to the film, the absolutely horrible things that happen to the CGI animals is a rough watch. Again, I’ll reiterate that children should probably skip this one, unless you think they’d enjoy seeing a Walrus with its eyes pried open, a bunny and otter with robot limbs, or a crying racoon with it’s skull cap cracked open.
Riot’s Rating: 7.8/10: Vol. 3 is not Gunn’s best, but it was a solid film effort. It was a tough watch at moments, but I think it provided a satisfying conclusion to the Guardian’s arc and left room to allow the characters we love to get involved if needed. We already know Dave Bautista will not be returning and as I see it, he will be sorely missed.
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