It’s been a long time coming! Through firings and rehirings and making DC movies instead, James Gunn has finally finished the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy he kicked off for the MCU way back in 2014. But in an Era where Marvel fatigue is setting in and projects are dipping in quality, has he managed to keep the franchise at the high standard he set for it or has it come to a whimpering end?
Plot
After an attack by Adam Warlock (sent by the evil genetic scientist The High Evolutionary) leaves Rocket close to death, the guardians must find the key to his mysterious genetics to save his life. We also discover Rocket’s origins as a creation by The High Evolutionary during his quest to create a more perfect world filled with perfect beings.
Whereas the previous two Guardians films focused on Peter Quill’s backstory and character development, I like that they decided to branch out and focus on one of the other guardians this time (even though Quill is very much still the main character). This was especially exciting because Rocket’s life had really been a mystery up until this point, so it gave us something to build from while keeping things feeling new and fresh. We also get a few revelations that tie this new story back up to the previous entries as well as new character choices that together serve to bring the trilogy to a satisfying close.
Characters
All the characters are consistent with how we came to know them in the previous 2 movies, so there are no real major changes in characterization abate from one character who I’ll get to.
As problematic as Chris Pratt may be to some people with his ultra-religious and conservative private life, I cannot deny that he continues to just be really good at movies, with both this and Super Mario back-to-back and Jurassic World last year, being super enjoyable for me. As I said, despite this being a movie about Rockets, Quill/ Star Lord is still the main character as Rocket does spend a lot of the movie unconscious. And rightfully so because as a lead he brings such charisma and humanity to the team. I also didn’t like the way that they kind of made fun of Star Lord and infantilised him a bit in the last Avengers, movie so it was nice to see him as a more 3-dimensional character once more.
The big change in character was with Gamora, as she was technically a different character. After the original Gamora was killed in Avengers: Infinity War and an alternative timeline brought in a new Gamora that never joined the Guardians in Avengers: Endgame, we have to follow this new Gamora as she finds her place in a team that remembers her in a way she doesn’t know herself. I’ve always loved Zoe Saldana in this role, and while I loved her as the old Gamora, I really appreciated what she brought to this new, more aggressive version of the character, and she managed to differentiate the two with her performance. They also could have very easily found a way to just reboot her memories and bring back the old version but I appreciate that they didn’t do that and committed to her new journey as this character.
Everyone else was just as entertaining as ever. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the new design of Groot. While I eventually got used to it, I still don’t like how cartoony he looked, almost an action figure, which I think is a particular creative choice, but not one I personally liked.
Villains
The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) was horrible! But I mean that in a good way. He was a character with not an ounce of empathy or goodness in him, who committed unspeakable acts through the course of this film. I think in a time where most movie villains have a little bit of empathy or relatable (which does usually make them interesting), it’s good to also have one that is just truly awful, because that makes him scary. He was also wildly emotional, which made his reactions and therefore his actions escalate, which upped the tension as the movie progressed.
One of the secondary villains of the film was Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a character that people have been wanting to see in the MCU for years. As a character, I think he was well done. He had basically just been born, as he was just created by Ayesha and the High Evolutionary, so he had this childlike naivety that created great comedy that really fits in with Guardians’ sensibilities. But he was also really powerful and a genuine threat. I think he was sadly underutilized here though. He really didn’t serve a purpose outside of inciting the initial conflict, and then he just kind of stuck around for the rest of the movie doing not much. It felt like he was there because he’s supposed to be an important character, rather than actually being important to this story. But the silver lining is this is Marvel, where everyone comes back in other projects. So I’m sure there’ll be more time to get to know him properly and have him be a part of his own story later on.
Tone
This movie was very dark! While the last two Guardians films had deep emotional moments, they were overall very light hearted and fun; so I think it will come as a surprise to people just how dark it is. Now don’t get me wrong there is a lot of comedy and silly moments, it’s not a complete 180, but it goes very heavy on some quite harrowing imagery, particularly around the theme of animal cruelty. There’s one scene in particular that left me thoroughly shaken.
After Thor: Love and Thunder and other recent comedies like She-Hulk left me feeling disinterested in an MCU that wasn’t taking itself seriously, I obviously much prefer this approach. Because James Gunn managed to balance out his more typical silly comedy stylings with a more deep meaningful story, something Taika Waititi did not manage to do with Thor. The only issue I see is rewatchability, as I already see people saying it was too sad for them to go back and sit through it again, no matter how good they thought the film was.
Soundtrack
I’m the previous 2 Guardians films, the soundtrack has been a huge selling point and was sort of a character in its own right. The soundtracks stuck rigidly to 70s music played through cassette that the characters themselves were hearing along with the audience, which gave a unique twist to the sci-fi genre. I think it’s safe to say that it’s a key ingredient of what made this brand so popular in the first place.
In this movie however, they switch to a Zune mp3 player which played songs spanning up to the 2000s. While a lot of the songs are great, I think having that range did lose a little bit of the franchise’s identity and I didn’t feel like they all blended in as seamlessly with the action on screen as previous films had, apart from a couple of exceptions.
This was of course James Gunn’s last Guardians of the Galaxy movie, so it was very much set up to be an ending, which it ends up being, quite satisfyingly so. Despite this, the door is very much left open for the Guardians to return, as everything is always left with Marvel. Of course, if they do return it will be with a new lineup as a lot of this cast have stated that they don’t want to come back.
I would like to see the Guardians come back in some capacity in the future, but I think they should hit pause a bit to give this film some time to breathe as a conclusion to the trilogy. Then they can come back with a fresh creative team behind them to take them in a new direction.
Jeremy Greer 