Mild spoiler: Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 appears to be the final chapter of this configuration of the Guardians in the Marcel Cinematic Universe. One reason is that Director James Gunn, who both wrote and directed this film (and the other two Guardians of the Galaxy movies), is now the co-CEO of DC studios over at Warner Brothers so this is his Marvel swan song.
The focus of the film is on Rocket Raccoon, the snide genius rodent voiced by Bradley Cooper. It tells Rocket’s origin story as a cruel lab experiment conducted by High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Isuji) whose quest for “Perfection” leads to a lot of death and destruction.
Chris Pratt returns as Peter Quill (aka, Star Lord) and Zoe Saldana returns in a different format as Peter’s love interest, Gamora. Like the previous two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the music playlist fills the action with mostly songs from the 1990s and a few from the 1980s and 2000s.
Along with Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Gunn introduces a new superhero, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). My favorite character is Nebula (Karen Gillian) who deserves her own movie.
If you’re looking for plenty of action, wacky plotting, and irreverent humor you’ll enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3. GRADE: B
Good news for DC films, that. The less they depend on overrated clods such as Christopher Nolan and particularly Zack Snyder, the fewer wasted megabytes in the world.
Todd, you’re right. James Gunn has a proven track record which DC badly needs after so many of their movies sucked.
The reviews of this were so harsh in terms of nearly every aspect of the film. But my grandson is going as a budding completest.
Patti, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will grumble about the flaws of the Marvel movies…but go see them multiple times!
The first one was great, the second not so much. I’ll wait until it’s streaming.
Jeff, a movie critic, Katie Walsh, wrote in her review of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOLUME 3 that James Gunn threw spaghetti against the wall to see what would stick. I think that’s an apt description of this movie!
I first saw a group of positive reviews, then a slew of negative ones, then a bunch of raves. Currently @ 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ll see it, but probably not until it’s streaming. The only movie we’ve seen in the theater since the pandemic has been DUNE.
I’ve enjoyed all of these so far, including the Holiday Special.
(By the way, raccoons are not rodents.)
Jeff, I’m sure GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 3 will be a Box Office hit. Disney+ will be streaming it in a couple of months. We did see the DUNE, PART 2 trailer before the movie. Looks good!