Review -- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (stylized as Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3) is a 2023 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the third and final installment in the Guardians of the Galaxy film trilogy, the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), and the 32nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was written and directed by James Gunn, and stars an ensemble cast featuring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, and Sylvester Stallone. In the film, the Guardians embark on a mission to protect Rocket (Cooper) from the High Evolutionary (Iwuji).

Gunn said in November 2014 that he had initial ideas for a third film in the series, and announced his return to write and direct in April 2017. Disney fired him from the film in July 2018 following the resurfacing of controversial posts on Twitter, but the studio reversed course by that October and reinstated Gunn as director. Gunn's return was publicly revealed in March 2019, with production resuming after Gunn completed work on his film The Suicide Squad (2021) and the first season of its spin-off series Peacemaker (2022). Filming began in November 2021 at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and lasted until early in May 2022.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had its world premiere at Disneyland Paris on April 22, 2023, and was released in the United States on May 5, 2023, as part of Phase Five of the MCU.

Plot

The Guardians of the Galaxy have established their headquarters on a rebuilt Knowhere.[a] The night after settling in, they are attacked by Adam, a superpowered being created out of revenge by his "mother" and the empress of the Sovereign, Ayesha, for previously stealing from her and in order to bring Rocket to his creator, the High Evolutionary.

During the fight, Rocket is seriously injured, leaving the Guardians unable to tend to his wounds due to a kill switch embedded in him. The team resolve to travel to the Orgoscope, headquarters of the High Evolutionary's company Orgocorp, in the hopes of finding an override code. Meanwhile, the High Evolutionary becomes obsessed with retrieving his subject. With the assistance of the Ravagers and a reluctant Gamora,[b] the Guardians infiltrate Orgosphere and retrieve Rocket's file.

However, they are attacked by Orgosphere's guards, barely escaping after Peter Quill remotely activates the guards' suit jetpacks. They deduce that Theel, one of the High Evolutionary's scientists, may have the override code stored in his memory, and decide to track him down. The team next visits Counter-Earth against Gamora's advice, who angrily bails out on them after calling out not only the Guardians, as a whole for them constantly making up separate plans because they feel like it, but Quill for his need to make her like the Gamora he once knew.

Ayesha and Adam intercept a communication from Gamora via a Ravager that Adam killed during an interrogation and follow her coordinates to Counter-Earth. With help from a family of bat-like humanoids, Quill, Nebula and Groot trace Theel to the High Evolutionary's ship, while Drax and Mantis remain with Gamora and Rocket. Quill and Groot board the High Evolutionary's ship, leaving Nebula behind. Mantis unwillingly accompanies Drax to the High Evolutionary's ship, which begins to launch with Quill and Groot captured onboard, a process that also destroys Counter-Earth.

Gamora stays with Rocket, but is attacked by a pig warrior sent by the High Evolutionary, who, herself, is killed when Warlock arrives looking for Rocket. Gamora overpowers Adam and launches the Guardians' ship. Quill and Groot successfully defeat the High Evolutionary's men and capture Theel, jumping off with him and retrieving his memory before Gamora meets them. Meanwhile, thinking Quill and Groot are still onboard, Nebula, Mantis, and Drax board the High Evolutionary's ship to rescue them, and a weakened Adam senses that his mother is in danger but is too late to save her. On the Guardians' ship, Rocket flatlines and has a near death experience, where he is met by his former childhood friends, Lylla, Teefs and Floor, who tell him that his time has not yet come before Quill successfully implements the override code and revives him.

Mantis, Nebula, and Drax come across hordes of imprisoned children on the High Evolutionary's ship before being captured themselves, and placed in a chamber with Abilisks. Mantis is able to persuade the Abilisks to side with them, and the three escape the chamber before reuniting with the Guardians and overpowering the High Evolutionary's army. Kraglin and Cosmo arrive in Knowhere, where Cosmo connects to the High Evolutionary's ship with the help of Nebula and Kraglin, through her powers of telekinesis allowing them to free the captured children. Rocket discovers a litter of baby raccoons and other test subject animals, but is attacked by a deranged High Evolutionary while attempting to free them before being rescued by the Guardians.

The High Evolutionary is left to perish on his ship while the animals are rescued and board Kraglin's ship along with most of the Guardians. After Cosmo is unable to hold the ships together for long enough for him to board, Quill barely escapes, beginning to freeze in space before being rescued by Adam. The Guardians, in their current form, decide to disband upon returning to Knowhere. Quill bestows the rank of Captain of the Guardians upon Rocket before leaving for Earth. Mantis embarks on a journey of self-discovery with the Abilisks, while Gamora reunites with the Ravagers and Nebula and Drax remain on Knowhere to raise the rescued children.

In a mid-credits scene, the new Guardians—Rocket, a fully-grown Groot, Cosmo, Kraglin, Warlock, Phyla, and Blurp—are shown undergoing a new mission while a post-credits scene features Quill rekindling with his grandfather.

Cast

• Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord

• Zoe Saldaña as Gamora

• Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer

• Karen Gillan as Nebula

• Pom Klementieff as Mantis

• Vin Diesel as Groot

• Bradley Cooper as Rocket
  Sean Gunn once again provided on set motion capture for the character, while also voicing young Rocket. Cooper also voiced adolescent Rocket while Noah Raskin voiced baby Rocket.

• Sean Gunn as Kraglin Obfonteri

• Chukwudi Iwuji as The High Evolutionary

• Will Poulter as Adam Warlock

• Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha

• Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the Spacedog
  In addition to voice acting, Bakalova provided motion capture for the character. Cosmo was physically portrayed by dog actor Slate,[31] after also doing so for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), and was previously portrayed by dog actor Fred in the first two Guardians films.

• Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord

Additionally, Linda Cardellini, who played Laura Barton in previous MCU media, voices and provides motion capture for Lylla, an anthropomorphic otter who is an associate and love interest of Rocket; Asim Chaudhry voices Teefs the Walrus; Mikaela Hoover, who played Nova Prime's assistant in the first film, voices Floor the Rabbit; Nathan Fillion appears as Master Karja, an orgosentry; Daniela Melchior appears as Ura, the receptionist of Orgocorp; Nico Santos appears as Theel, a henchman of the High Evolutionary; Miriam Shor appears as Recorder Vim, a scientifically-minded henchman of the High Evolutionary; and Michael Rosenbaum reprises his role as Martinex, a high-ranking Ravager.

Jennifer Holland appears as Administrator Kwol; Kai Zen appears as Phyla, one of the High Evolutionary's alien child prisoners; Judy Greer, who played Maggie Lang in the first two Ant-Man films, voices War Pig, an intergalactic creature working for the High Evolutionary; Tara Strong, who voiced Miss Minutes in Loki, voices Mainframe, who was previously voiced by Miley Cyrus in Vol. 2; Stephen Blackehart reprises his Holiday Special role as Steemie, a denizen of Knowhere; Christopher Fairbank returns as The Broker; Rhett Miller returns as Bzermikitokolok; Dee Bradley Baker voices Blurp, a furry F'saki that is a Ravager's pet; Callie Brand appears as an alien; Gregg Henry appears as Jason Quill, Peter's grandfather; and Dane DiLiegro appears as an octopus drug dealer. Michael Rooker briefly reprises his role as Yondu Ugonta in a cameo, while Seth Green once again cameos as the voice of Howard the Duck, and Pete Davidson cameos as the voice of Phlektik, a creation of the High Evolutionary.

The VERDICT:

I think this film is best described as a fetch quest that is easily comparable to sidequests in RPG (roleplaying games) themed video games. The film kickstarts with a dilemma that sees the Guardians racing against time to attempt to save one of their own. It's a simple enough of a premise to keep things moving, but this is a film that toys and manipulates viewers' emotions from start to finish. It starts with that imagery of Peter Quill being carried out of the bar in a drunken stupor to almost foreshadow the character's end by the end of this film's runtime. This is the same feeling of doom coming to the team that is felt throughout the trailers leading up to this release. Like I said before, this "final" film in this trilogy has a manipulative tone to it before people even walked into the theater. 

This film starts off with Adam Warlock bursting into Knowhere and starting a fight with the Guardians that simply looks absolutely brutal from how it's depicted. I get that director James Gunn wanted to protray how powerful this character is (he's on par with many other cosmic beings in the comics continuity) but holy cow did this character feel overpowered at first glance. We watch him make short work of Nebula's fancy cybernetic upgrades (including her Mega Man-esque arm cannon and flight pack), tear Groot apart until his head only remained, and beat the holy hell out of Drax the Destroyer after he blasts Rocket in the chest. It's after this ordeal is where our fetch quest that drives this film for most of it's runtime begins as it is revealed that Rocket only has less than 48 hours to live unless the Guardians can obtain the means to "hack" into his augmented body and disable the self-destruct parameters/protocols in place for they properly treat his injuries from this battle. 

The time-displaced Gamora from Avengers: Endgame is dragged into this ordeal after being revealed to be the contact that Nebula summons to assist the Guardians into Orgocorp, which is the company owned by the High Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary created Rocket as one of his many horrible experiments in his fanatical quest to create the "perfect" society. If you are an animal lover of any kind, then you have my warning to be on pins and needles throughout most of this film's runtime from Rocket's heart-wrenching backstory and flashbacks. 

Once more people see this film after the opening weekend, I'm curious to see/hear the reactions to the Guardians' fight with the High Evolutionary (a being who has held his own against Galactus no less in the comics canon) from the sheer amount of people who complained about Ant-Man defeating Kang the Conqueror in Quantumania. (Laughs) As a comic book nerd, I was borderline offended by the Guardians' fight here. 

It should be noted that this is a film that toys and manipulates viewers' emotions from start to finish. I predict a LOT of people will give this film a pass just for Rocket's emotional backstory and ignore a lot of the stupid points (read: plot holes) in this film's story. There's moments in this that I had to shake my head at when there's absolutely NO excuse when the same director worked on this trilogy. DC Comics fanboys, have fun with more comedy injected into your serious heroes and villains with that upcoming DC Universe film reboot. I would be VERY concerned after seeing this film.

The manner how this film essentially "writes off" the GOTG (not a spoiler as everyone knows that most of the cast's MCU contracts are up following this film and most have either openly expressed working with him in DC Studios or getting out of the superhero genre altogether) comes off EXTREMELY lazy in the end. On top of that, I was very disappointed with how they used the Ravagers (i.e. the original GOTG from the comics canon) in this film. That was such a waste of tease at the end of GOTG Vol. 2. I dare say that was a bigger waste than the GOTG's cameo in Thor: Love & Thunder but I digress.

Adam Warlock's appearance in this film was just as much of a waste for the most part, especially after the MCU essentially gave most of his noteworthy qualities to Vision in the Infinity Saga. Too little, too late in my eyes.

Characters

Shooting from the hip here, so hear me out... What if this Gamora was working with the High Evolutionary (as a villain) to reclaim the Soul Stone since it still housed the memories of her (future) self that was sacrificed by Thanos since she has been haunted by visions of her future self since settling in present day following the events of Avengers: Endgame. The High Evolutionary would agree to this alliance solely on the promise that he would have more control over the souls of his creations' docile nature for his perfect society. This brings her in conflict with Star-Lord who she is forced to kill to get her memories back, due to the catch that you have to sacrifice the thing that you love the most for the Soul Stone. Before she could land the fatal blow, Nebula is the one who talks sense into Gamora, reminding her that killing Peter would be all for nothing as he was the love of the future Gamora and not her. Gamora offers Nebula a different choice: kill Peter herself since he's obviously the person she loves the most now. It would put Nebula in a tough spot in terms of having to choose between getting her sister back or losing the one man she had learned to love. 

Of course, this plot would have to borrow themes and ideas from the Infinity Wars series of Marvel Comics and the marketing would identify her as a hooded, fully armored woman working with the High Evolutionary simply known as "Requiem" to get comic book fans excited. 

Unfortunately for this storyline to be given the proper time that it needs and deserves, I think most of Rocket's backstory and flashbacks would have to be scrapped/pulled from this film, unless you still wanted go with the rescue Rocket plot but change it to where Rocket is wounded when the Guardians are called in to protect the Nova Corps when Requiem is taking the Power Stone from them in a scene that would play out similar to the deleted scene from Avengers: Infinity War of Thanos taking it from them. Requiem wants to kill Star-Lord right then and there but is called off by the High Evolutionary since they got what they wanted. From there, we could still scatter Rocket's backstory and flashbacks with the High Evolutionary throughout the story while Star-Lord's trying to figure out who Requiem is. Nebula recognizes her instantly from Gamora's fighting style but chooses to keep the information from Star-Lord to protect him, playing into her mixed feelings about him after her extended time with the Guardians. Rocket's not knocking on death's door but his health is declining as the film rolls on until they find the means the treat him with the High Evolutionary's advanced technology. Rocket would offer his recounts about who this guy is and what he's after, playing out with the similar flashbacks in this film. 

I think Adam Warlock would fit in better with my "Requiem" idea that I pitched earlier. Ayesha unleashes Adam Warlock at the command of the High Evolutionary, but he resists their commands once he comes in contact with the Soul Stone. He is then christened as its champion and protect as he aids the Guardians in repelling a Power Stone-enhanced Gamora and High Evolutionary in the film's climax. A character that powerful needs a good reason to be a part of one of these films and just being comic relief wasn't doing it for me at all. 

The Ravagers

I thought it was strange that the Ravagers were teased at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as Yondu's old teammates, but barely get any screen time in this film when marketing made it a big deal that Gamora would be the leader of this new edition of Ravagers. The Ravagers were a homage to the original Guardians of the Galaxy in Marvel Comics, consisting of Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone), Martinex (Michael Rosenbaum), Charlie-27 (Ving Rhames), Aleta Ogord (Michelle Yeoh), Krugarr (voiced by Jared Gore), and Mainframe (voiced by Miley Cyrus in Vol. 2, but recast as Tara Strong for this film) that reunited in a mid-credits scene at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. We did get to see Ogord in armor designed to reflect his appearance from the original comics and Rosenbaum returned to portray Martinex. We don't see much more of the Ravagers outside of their minor assistance in helping the Guardians break into Orgosphere and their small scene where they reunited with Gamora at the end of the film. I can't complain in that regard when it was better than nothing, especially when James Gunn had absolutely no obligation to bring those characters back for the final film in this trilogy. I just thought it was a little misleading marketing from Marvel Studios to get comic book fans excited that they would have a bigger role here since Gamora was appointed as their new leader. 

It wouldn't have hurt to have a little more muscle to back the Guardians up on the rescue effort at the end of this film to get the captives and children off of the High Evolutionary's ship, especially since Gamora made the call for back-up while they were on the way to Counter-Earth that the Ravagers never responded to. I guess we can chuck that up to the transmission being intercepted by the High Evolutionary, but that's an easy pass/omission for most people I'm sure. 

Counter-Earth & Residents

(Laughs) When the Guardians landed on Counter-Earth, I knew that I couldn't have been the only one who thought back to Counter-Earth in Spider-Man Unlimited, especially after I covered that series in a recent Series Retrospective article for this very same blog. Too bad that the High Evolutionary's subordinates in this film weren't the Knights of Wundagore like in that animated series. Sir Ram would have been completely onboard with these types of horrifying experiments. It would have been a clever Easter Egg for fans of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness since the final battle of that film took place at Wundagore Mountain. That would tie back to the High Evolutionary's comment about visiting Earth in the past. The Knights of Wundagore would have made for some cool looking underlings for the Guardians to face in this film. 

I honestly wished that they spent more time in this location than a look at a single neighborhood for Counter-Earth. It was the same complaint/gripe I had about the alternate realities in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. You want viewers to care about these new worlds and locations, then give audiences more time to invest time and care about said worlds. They tried to do that with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the only thing most viewers came away from that film was how uninteresting, bland, and fake (read: green-screened) the environments looked outside of the one lavish upscale metropolis-style city looked. In comparison, this film had a wealth of great looking locations and visuals overall, but it felt like we were rushing away to the next location just as soon as we were sinking our teeth into the juicy bits of these environments. 

I found it rather odd that people don't talk much about the bat family that invited the Guardians into their home without much resistance and made them feel welcome. They even offered information on where to find the High Evolutionary in this "perfect society" that he has created. Another thing that irked me here in terms of logistics is why wasn't Star-Lord wearing his helmet? And I thought that him and the other communication devices that Rocket created (such as the same one that allows Cosmo to speak with the rest of the Guardians freely) serve as universal translators? It just felt like a stupid and silly reason to inject comedy into a scene that didn't need it. Whether people like it or not, but those "people" or rather Bestials on Counter-Earth were all victims too and deserved every right to be saved from the High Evolutionary's villainy just like the children and animals that the Guardians rescue in the film's climax. The fact that the Guardians watch the High Evolutionary destroy this entire planet without batting an eye is pretty tone deaf in terms of the message this film was conveying in terms of animal cruelty. Sure, it gave viewers more reasons to hate the High Evolutionary, but the Guardians don't even take a moment to even acknowledge this in the least. 

Closing Thoughts

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marks the end of an era, not just for the end of James Gunn's tenure as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for these characters that we have spent three films and several appearances with getting to know and bond with this lovable group of losers that somehow still find ways to win at life in the only way that they know how. Bringing the Guardians of the Galaxy to life in live-action was a massive undertaking and overall gamble on not just director James Gunn but for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. The first film proved to be a surprising hit for all audiences, marking the first major gamble for the MCU paying off. It's ironic too in hindsight, especially given how many new ideas that the MCU has presented in Phase Four following the end of the Infinity Saga and absolutely none of those projects were accepted as warmly and with open arms as the Guardians were welcomed into the MCU. Sadly, the MCU is in a hard place right now, where moviegoers - both casual and hardcore fans of the MCU - have cited "superhero fatigue" and overexposure leading to underwhelming returns in the box office and lackluster reviews and feedback to their streaming endeavors. I thought that the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was one of the better streaming projects to arrive on Disney+ from Marvel Studios and thought a lot of that charm carried over into this film as well. 

This film has a lot of strong points, especially when it comes across conveying the powerful bond of family that the Guardians have for each other across this film as they race to move heaven and earth to save Rocket's life. This was a film that was nearly closing in at almost three hours for its total runtime, but it didn't drag at all in the least. There was always something going on or something new and fresh to keep the plot moving - something that I can easily admit that most other superhero films have a knack for doing. This film features one of the MCU's only "truly" evil villain in the High Evolutionary without any redeeming qualities, unlike Erik Killmonger, Thanos, or Loki. This film gives viewers plenty of reasons to hate the guy and by the end of the film, everyone can't deny that they wanted to see the High Evolutionary get his ass-kicked. I just wanted more out of that fight than what we got there, but I digress. I think this film has one of the best "hallway scenes" since the Daredevil Netflix series, even though the one on the bus in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings wasn't bad either. (Laughs) That one from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law still gets mad props from me too. 

From all of my gripes and issues from this film, one would be safe to assume that I absolutely hated this film, but in reality, I actually didn't. There's just a lot of rough edges to this film's plot and storytelling that prevents it from receiving the same amount of high praise that I see people giving this film across the board in a lot of media outlets and on social media. I honestly can't condone calling this the "best" trilogy out of the MCU to date either. It's the best one with a sense of finality to it if you're looking for that in terms of qualifications to what rounds out a good trilogy, but Captain America gets the best trilogy for me for high quality from start to finish, despite the final film in that trilogy merely setting the stage for the events of Avengers: Infinity War, which left the Avengers scattered and divided. 

I have to give director James Gunn his props on this trilogy that it was his vision from start to finish without too many hands in the pot. He took these characters throughout the journey that he envisioned for them with minimal meddling and/or interference from Marvel Studios nor Disney higher-ups. In contrast to the Captain America trilogy in that regard, everyone (myself included) always sing the praises of the two sequels more than the original film since that wasn't even written by the Russo Brothers. That was a rare case where changing around directors worked out for the better, but the Guardians of the Galaxy was a gamble that Disney and Marvel Studios laid their faith in Gunn to execute with his own vision from start to finish. Outside of these characters appearing in both Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder, I don't think that these characters have strayed far away from Gunn's takes on them in those appearances that they were to the point of being unrecognizable. 

I noticed that director James Gunn cited in an interview that he wouldn't have had Peter Quill cause the Avengers to lose the battle against Thanos on Titan in Avengers: Infinity War due to his overreaction to the news of Gamora's death, claiming that would have been out of character for him. What else was Peter going to do? Snatch off the Infinity Gauntlet and use it to try to bring her back? Star-Lord was still regarded as a bubbling goof at that point of the MCU and if anyone was going to shit the bed in that fight against Thanos, it was going to be him. Let's not forget this is the guy that tried to beat Ronan the Accuser, who was armed with the Power Stone no less, by suggesting a dance off. Let's get real here... If there's anything to criticize, I think both him and the Russo Brothers are at fault for their mismanagement for what they did with Gamora in both Avengers: Endgame and in this film. Bringing her back from the past in Endgame cheapens her death (along with Black Widow's in that film as well, especially when her death couldn't be fixed/remedied in a similar manner) in Infinity War and turning her lack of a relationship and an identity in this film pretty much made her appearance in this film meaningless to an extent. Sure, the Guardians gave this "new" Gamora a taste of the good times of hanging out with them on one of their adventures, but she still didn't remain with the team by the time it was all said and done. 

I see a lot of DC fans singing James Gunn's praises after the reception of this film as if he can't do anything wrong and I can't say that I'm enamored to see him as the head over DC Studios going forward. That "adult comedy" vibe isn't going to work every superhero story. I'm dreading to see him take that approach with Superman, a much more well-known superhero and recognized name above most lesser known (bordering on irrelevant) characters he tends to jump at the opportunity to work with, especially when his work is spotty at best with those lesser known characters. The Guardians got largely a pass in the MCU since that team were vastly unknowns to most comic book fans, unless you were hardcore readers of Marvel Comics. On top of that, Gunn with a modern take of that team that gave him even more creative freedom. The second Suicide Squad film that was set in the DCEU, The Suicide Squad, was received more favorably than the original Suicide Squad film, but that's nothing to be proud of when the first film did so bad. That second was barely an improvement outside of some remarkable moments from the cast involved if we can stop kidding ourselves for a moment. The Peacemaker TV series for HBO Max that served as a spin-off of that film, was largely well-received for more of the "adult comedy" vibe that DC Comics seems to be leaning more into, especially after the success of the Harley Quinn adult animated series, but anyone who said that they were fans of that character (Peacemaker) prior to that show becoming a reality is a goddamn liar. This was another character with essentially a blank slate/canvas for Gunn to do whatever the hell he wanted with. So yeah, I really don't see any evidence in this film that James Gunn will fare better with DC Comics' cast of characters when his track record has been hit or miss thus far. Sure, if you want every other character to turn into a bumbling goof, man-child, or doofus for the sake of adult (read: juvenile) comedy then go for it. 

Where could I see Star-Lord popping again in the future? (Shrugs) I don't know, maybe he hooks up with Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat on Earth whenever the X-Men and mutants are introduced and they both decide to rejoin the Guardians down the road in this continuity. Or maybe they find a use for him in Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty among all of this Multiverse Saga shenanigans. Who knows at this point. As long as he keeps his religious beliefs out of my superhero films, then I don't mind seeing Chris Pratt back to reprise the character again. Maybe the time on Earth will mellow Peter out and let him grow up and mature a bit before he rejoins the Guardians down the road. I would love to see him and an elderly Steve Rogers sitting together and sharing war stories. That would make for a good cameo. 

This film is a blessing and a curse for the MCU going forward. It's a blessing in terms of the fact that it was the first film in quite some time (at least not since Spider-Man: No Way Home) that the majority of moviegoers have been overly positive about it, largely due to James Gunn's vision and direction for these characters hasn't been tampered in the least. This film's success creates a problem for future Marvel Studios projects in which fans are expecting the showrunners, directors, and writers to be well-versed in these characters (not just the Guardians but any existing characters in the MCU going forward) and not to stray away from what made fans love them in the first place. On top of that, this is a film that has been on ice for a VERY long time in terms of development, largely in due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, so that allowed for an excessive amount of time for reshoots and edits where necessary, along with providing the SFX teams to have all of the appropriate time needed for polishing up the CGI and special effects. As a result, we have one of the rare few newer Marvel Studios projects that this simply jaw-droppingly stunning to look at in action. This film is going to be a tough act to follow. 

I'm sure a lot of casual viewers (and possibly hardcore fans too) will love this film largely in part since it is its own contained affair without a single thing tied to nor alluding to Kang the Conqueror and the rest of the Multiverse Saga, whereas you don't need to do any extended "homework" and legwork to understand what is going on, outside of watching the previous two Guardians of the Galaxy films, the Holiday Special (which is largely insignificant outside of the reveal that Mantis is Star-Lord's sister; which is also something that she blurts out at random at the start of the film), and both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. And even if you didn't see those two Avengers films, this film does a great job of getting viewers up to speed with the spoken dialogue. This film could have released as part of Phase Four as it was originally intended and no one would have batted an eye. Fortunately for Marvel Studios, it's the first positive thing to come out for Phase Five. 

Watch It or Don't Bother?

Definitely check this out. In the words of "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes, "Finish the story." That's exactly what director James Gunn did here. Whether you are enamored with the wild ride that he has taken these characters throughout their tenure in the MCU, then you deserve to see how most of these characters' stories end as he and most of this cast formally bow out in this last film of this Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. This is a film that clocks in just shy of three hours and never feels any shred of its runtime. It's an entertaining experience from start to finish, especially when you know what to expect from these characters and how they interact with each other. It's an emotional ride, in more ways than one and not in the ways that you may expect, but one that's well worth watching. Despite the film being a little rough around the edges, I can still easily recommend Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, especially to those who weren't particularly fond of the start of Phase Five with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.