Credit: Marvel StudiosThe Guardians are back. After exploding into the MCU as the unlikeliest heroes the galaxy’s ever seen, they’re now on their third movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (2023), with James Gunn back for one final ride. But is this entry worth returning for?
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 picks up after the events of the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022): the team, now including telekinetic Russian space hound Cosmo (Maria Bakalova), has made Knowhere their base. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is drinking himself into a stupor in mourning for the loss of his love Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), kept in check by best friend Rocket (Bradley Cooper voice, Sean Gunn mocap). Karen Gillan’s Nebula is as acerbic as ever but with a hint of learned empathy and fierce loyalty to her found family. Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) have developed their double act. Groot (Vin Diesel) is… Groot. All seems at the Guardians’ own dysfunctional idea of peace…
Until their lives are interrupted by golden god Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), dispatched by Rocket’s ‘creator’ the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), to retrieve him for research. It’s a devastating attack and one which sets the Guardians on a collision course with the High Evolutionary in an effort to save their family.
Gunn’s closing chapter in the saga firmly places Rocket at its core, and the raccoon has a series of moving flashbacks that reveal the mystery surrounding his youth and how he came to be the way he is. If there have been quibbles with some of the MCU’s VFX of late, as well as frustrations of superhero fatigue overall, Vol. 3 dispels them. Not only are the visuals used to incredibly moving effects for the scenes featuring Rocket’s family of fellow mistreated animals, but they allow Gunn to tell a story filled with visual splendor.
There’s not a moment that isn’t elevated by either visual invention or a fun (sometimes horrific) twist. Space station made of organic matter? As gross as you might imagine. And when it comes to the High Evolutionary’s creations, the creature design walks a line of being at once pulp sci-fi horror and unbearable empathy for the villain’s abused captives.
Iwuji’s High Evolutionary is a potent blend of mad scientist and mad god, driven wild with the possibility of creation and in pursuit of an impossible standard of perfection. Marvel has a history of difficulty building truly despicable villains. Still, by tying this one so tightly to the fate of one of our favorite heroes — and giving him such an evil line in motivation and execution — they’ve hit a winner.
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Rocket’s story might be the core of this tale, but this is firmly one about the team as a whole, with each character gaining development and, in some cases, significant closure to arcs that first began almost a decade ago. Gunn is clearly in love with these characters and has given them the closing chapter — at least with his involvement — they deserve.