Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) Review

 "You're lying on a floor, so your name is Floor?"
-Lylla



When Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is seriously injured in an attack by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), the rest of the Guardians attempt to save their friend.  But to do that, they have to delve into Rocket's past and they uncover the horrifying nightmare that Rocket endured at the hands of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwjui).


What Works:

The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie is my favorite film in the MCU and I love the second movie as well.  I enjoy the MCU the most when it gets weird and the Guardians movies do that the best.  That holds true with the 3rd film as well.  Director James Gunn made this movie strange and gross and I love it.  The characters are strange, the locations are strange, the movie as a whole is strange, and certainly interesting.  This movie does have some problems, but I'll take the flawed, weird entries in the MCU over the standard superhero movies every single time.

The best part of this movie is Rocket's backstory.  We are given lots of flashbacks that show what Rocket went through and how he ended up being the way he is.  It's heartbreaking and horrifying.  This is the darkest the MCU has ever gotten and it's legitimately hard to watch.  This movie will make you very angry, but it's effective storytelling.

The High Evolutionary is a top tier-villain.  He may not have as much depth as Loki, Thanos, or Kilmonger, but I would say he is the most evil villain we've ever had.  There is no redeeming qualities to this guy.  He's a cruel narcissist and and easy to hate.  Every time he is on screen, you'll find yourself wanting jump into the movie and beat him to a pulp yourself.  

Finally, I love this cast.  Everyone does a great job at giving us funny, but complex characters in this weird world.  Their performances ground the movie and give us something to attach ourselves to emotionally.  Everyone gets their time to shine and it's a solid ending for the characters that we aren't going to see again.


What Sucks:

I don't love how the Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) storyline is handled.  I get that this version of Gamora is not the original Gamora.  That's fine, but we saw this version prominently in Avengers: Endgame.  She feels very different from that character as well.  I just don't think the changes in her personality were believable enough.  I think the movie would have been stronger if Gamora wasn't in it at all.

Finally, the 3rd act of the movie is bloated.  There are a lot of characters in this movie and the finale has to wrap up all of their storylines.  We have characters that need to be setup for future appearances and characters that end their stories here.  It's a lot of ground to cover and you can feel it.  There's too much going on.  I think if the movie had focused more on Rocket and less on some of the other characters here, it would have been more effective.  


Verdict:

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Vol. 3 is the weakest of the trilogy due to having too many characters and being somewhat unfocused.  That said, it's still a solid movie and shines when it focuses on Rocket and the High Evolutionary.  We get a horrifying backstory for Rocket and an utterly, nasty villain, plus the movie isn't afraid to be weird.  It has definitely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 

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