Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Spoiler-free Review

 

SAN ANGELO— Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is hilarious and heartfelt and grotesque and melancholy and incredibly powerful as James Gunn and Marvel could bring to the big screen.

“Let’s give the galaxy something to remember us by.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is James Gunn’s last entry into the Guardians franchise, which started in 2014 with “Guardians of the Galaxy”, a story about a ragtag bunch of a-holes led by Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill, better known as Star-Lord.

Quill meets up with the rest of the Guardians early on. Rocket Raccoon, who will be very important later on, Gamora, who is a daughter of Thanos, the big bad guy of Marvel’s Infinity Saga. Drax the Destroyer, a lovable doofus who you can’t see if he stands incredible still. Groot, who can only say “I”, and “am” and “Groot” in that order.

In Vol. 2, Mantis, a being who can influence one’s emotions, is introduced to the team and Gamora’s sister, Nebula, joins the squad as well.

When Vol. 3 begins, the Guardians of the Galaxy are building a life after Avengers: Endgame. They are interrupted by Adam Warlock. The end credit sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 showed Elizabeth Debicki’s Ayesha, the leader of the golden-skinned Sovereign, has been beaten by the Guardians and is sending the next step in their evolution, Adam Warlock, after the heroes.

Warlock, played by Will Poulter, the kid from “We’re the Miller’s” who was bitten on his ball sack by a spider, is sent after the Guardians, who have rebuilt Knowhere into a city. This encounter kicks off the adventure where the Guardians won’t let anything come between them and their family.

That’s what this installment is all about, family. Be it the family of misfits’ fans have watched for the past nine years, or a family kept in a cage that consists of an otter, a walrus, a rabbit, and a raccoon.

The character trying to keep this family apart? The High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji, who played in Gunn’s “Peacemaker” series on HBOMax. The High Evolutionary is a refreshing bad guy who is awful all the way down to the bone. While most recent movies try and make their villains sympathetic or understandable, you will hate the High Evolutionary within the first minute of the film and hate him more throughout the movie.

All sorts of characters show up in this one and most of them play a role in the fight against the High Evolutionary. Characters such as Cosmo the Spacedog, Kraglin Obfonteri, and even Sylvester Stallone’s Stakar Ogord and all the other Ravengers from the past two films.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 does have some disturbing imagery, but it is all offset very nicely by a beautiful story about fighting for the people you love the most and is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is directed by James Gunn, the same guy who helmed the first two installments of the Guardians franchise and is produced by Marvel’s top dog Kevin Feige. While there is some disturbing imagery in this film, it is still a Marvel movie and there aren’t scenes any worse than what Marvel has put out already. So yes, kids should be okay when watching.

The Guardians cast includes:

  • Chris Pratt- Peter Quill/Star-Lord
  • Zoe Saldana- Gamora
  • Dave Bautista- Drax the Destroyer
  • Karen Gillan- Nebula
  • Bradley Cooper- Rocket Raccoon (voice)
  • Vin Diesel- Groot (voice)
  • Pom Klementieff- Mantis
  • Sean Gunn- Kraglin Obfonteri
  • Chukwudi Iwuji- Dr. Herbert Wyndham/ The High Evolutionary
  • Will Poulter- Adam Warlock
  • Elizabeth Debicki- Ayesha
  • Maria Bakalova- Cosmo the Spacedog
  • Sylvester Stallone- Stakar Ogord
  • Michael Rosenbaum- Martinex
  • Linda Cardellini- Lylla
  • Asim Chaudhry- Teefs
  • Mikaela Hoover- Floor
  • Daniela Melchior- Ura
  • Jennifer Holland- Administrator Kwol
  • Nathan Fillion- Master Karja
  • Gregg Henry- Grandpa Quill

You can watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in theaters now!

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