Nerdly » ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Review

01st May2023

‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Review

by Matthew Turner

Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper (voice), Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Will Poulter, Sylvester Stallone, Linda Cardellini, Chukwudi Iwuji, Michael Rosenbaum, Sean Gunn, Maria Bakalova, Daniela Melchior | Written and Directed by James Gunn

Marvel’s band of loveable space rogues return for a third and possibly final galactic adventure, courtesy of writer-director James Gunn. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable, action-packed fantasy thriller that provides a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

The story begins on the Guardians home base Knowhere, where Peter Quill / StarLord (Chris Pratt) is still drowning his sorrows about the -sort of- loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). However, he’s quickly snapped out of his alcoholic haze when the team are suddenly attacked by powerful being Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), which leaves Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) mortally wounded.

Desperate to save their friend, the Guardians embark on a heist, to retrieve a security code from the company that experimented on Rocket in the first place. This brings them face to face with the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a god-like figure obsessed with creating the perfect society from his own rapidly evolved creations, who needs Rocket’s brain for his own purposes.

Part of the appeal of the Guardians movies lies in the series’ eclectic cast of colourful characters and the obvious affection they have for each other, despite their constant bickering interactions. Consequently, there’s a strong theme of family – both genetic, and the family you make for yourself – running through the movie, which pays off in a number of powerfully emotional moments.

On a related note, the film’s lengthy running time (it clocks in at exactly two and a half hours) allows for that already emotive theme to be echoed in Rocket’s heart-breaking backstory, which plays out in flashback as he’s lying on life-support. There we meet his friends in captivity: Lylla the Otter (voiced by MCU regular Linda Cardellini), Teefs the Walrus (Asim Chaudhry) and Floor the Rabbit (Mikaela Hoover), and learn his connection with the High Evolutionary.

The performances are terrific across the board, with the main actors all generating an appealingly lived-in comic rapport as an ensemble. That familiarity with the characters, borne over three movies and various other Marvel appearances, allows for moments of both rich character humour and strong emotion, as well as the deepening of existing relationships – the interaction between Drax and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) is especially good this time round, for example.

On top of that, Chukwudi Iwuji is excellent as the High Evolutionary, making him one of Marvel’s best villains to date, and improving significantly on the comics version of the character. There are also fun supporting turns from Nathan Fillion (as the main guard at the facility) and Maria Bakalova (continuing her voice role as Cosmo the psionic space dog), while Will Poulter has fun with the child-like Adam Warlock, though Elizabeth Debicki is decidedly under-used as The Sovereign, to the point where you suspect some of her scenes have ended up on the cutting room floor.

Gunn has proven with his previous movies that he knows his way around a decent set-piece, and he orchestrates some thrilling action sequences here, the highlight of which is an inventive, beautifully staged multi-character, relatively close quarters fight scene that seemingly takes place in a single shot (give or take some digital trickery), with the camera constantly swooping up, down and around the action. Having said that, there is a notable moment in the big climactic action sequence where it’s impossible to tell what’s actually happening (it’s missing a key establishing shot), but that’s a minor quibble overall.

Another key factor in the Guardians movies, as indicated by the “Vol. 3” subtitle, is their use of soundtracks, with characters often playing their own tracks from Peter’s iPod playlists (the contents of which were significantly boosted in the second movie) during action scenes. Consequently, there are some fabulous musical choices this time round (shout out to The The’s This Is The Day), and there’s a lovely little nod to the iPod’s permanence in their lives, in the way that Rocket knows all the words to the songs, without even being aware that he’s singing along to them.

Throughout the film, Gunn maintains a snappy pace, despite the lengthy running time, and he achieves an effective balance between action, character humour and strong emotion, essentially the perfect iteration of the tried-and-tested Marvel formula. He also peppers the film with delightful little moments, whether it’s the interaction between Cosmo and Kraglin (Sean Gunn), an off-the-wall fight detail (e.g. the way Karen Gillan’s Nebula can self-repair mid-fight) or a frankly adorable encounter between Rocket and some familiar-looking creatures.

In short, this is one of the MCU’s best movies for a while, delivering thrills, humour and emotion in the mighty Marvel manner. And if it really is the last Guardians of the Galaxy movie (particularly with this specific line-up, or under Gunn’s direction), then at least they’re going out on a high.