Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 Review – An Unexpected Emotional Space-Adventure

Beware, this movie review will contain spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.

Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own – a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.

Overview

Honestly, when the trailers and everything started the promotion for this movie, I won’t lie, I wasn’t invested. I stayed away from all trailers, I watched each one once and was done, whereas typically with a Marvel trailer I was multiple times.

I think this is why this movie was such a shock for me when I watched it. I think me staying away from everything simply helped my viewing of the movie and affected the overall rating of the movie. I feel like this movie did a great job of introducing Adam Warlock to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as did a great job at setting up the “new” Guardians.

The movie left off with the team essentially going different ways with Rocket and Groot being the remaining members of the Guardians while Mantis went off to do what she wanted to do, Drax stayed with Nebula to help some kids, Gamora went back with the Ravengers, and Quill returning to Earth to spend time with his family.

The Guardians leaving essentially wasn’t a goodbye for good but more like a “See you later”, especially for the rest of the team as the movie did tease that Star-Lord would return.

Story

I went into the not knowing a single thing about the story, pretty much everything I know about the movie was simply from the trailers and even then I watched the trailers one time and was done with it. So going into this story and immediately getting thrown into the backstory of Rocket was such a unique and unexpected emotional punch to the gut.

I absolutely loved how the story was set, with everything going on in the present day and we got flashbacks when Rocket was dying. IT honestly made the movie so much better and more meaningful. The story set the tone of the Guardians and their status within the open galaxy.

While the story was amazing and meaningful, it was very basic. Which isn’t a bad thing but it was. The story was very much centered around Rocket, which for a third movie was a risky move but it pulled it off in my opinion.

Characters

The characters in this movie were absolutely fantastic and every single member of the Guardians team delivered possibly my favorite performances as the characters. Star-Lord was hilarious and showed his growth as a leader and friend to Rocket. The backstory for Rocket absolutely made Rocket have some incredible development, dare I say he is the Lebron James of the Guardians.

Draz and Mantis were their typical hilarious selves with Mantis just edging it over Drax simply because of her standing up to Nebula more than once in this movie. Karen Gillan as Nebula is absolutely hilarious and you see it throughout this movie.

Newly introduced to the Marvel Universe is Will Poulter as Adam Warlock who could potentially be my favorite character introduced in recent times. Will’s performance was absolutely hilarious.

For the full cast list, you can visit IMDB by clicking here.

Hype

The hype around this movie has been a weird one. While many critics and people have seen the movie, I’ve heard mixed things online. The movie was projected to make around $250 million in the opening weekend and I can see why now.

The critics have said that this is one of the best MCU movies in recent times and I fully agree. The hype was definitely worth it.

Favorite Moments

1. All of the backstory for Rocket, his origins, and his growth as a character. Honestly, going into this movie I did not expect to be emotional at the Rocket scenes. They were so well done, well written and acted.

2. Adam Warlock. Simply Adam Warlock. Will Poulter as Adam was such a unique and fantastic choice. In every single scene he’s in he steals with his enthusiasm, his acting ability is unmatched. Such a fantastic character and I hope this isn’t the last we see of him.

3. Honestly, I’m finally glad we have some sort of closure for Gamora and Star-Lord. The little scene they shared at the end was really well done. It’s not the same Gamora Star-lord new but it’s in the beginning stages of becoming her.

4. When the Guardians land on “Counter-Earth” they get greeted by the creatures and aliens that the High Evolutionary has created. A little girl drops her ball and it rolls to Drax who picks it up and absolutely smashes her in the face with it causing the Guardians to get attacked.

5. The opening scene with Rocket walking around getting ready to go to his bedroom when he looks out the window to see an incoming Adam Warlock who absolutely ruins the Guardians, mangling Nebula and destroying Drax and wounding Rocket to the point he flatlines.

Dislikes

Honestly, I didn’t have many dislikes but the major dislike I had was simply that no Guardian died. The actors themselves promoted the movie by implying that this is people’s last movie hinting at some either dying or just being done. This would have been more impactful if at least one of them died.

Recommend?

100% yes. This movie is amazing, fun, hilarious, emotional, and just insanely wild. It is completely different from any of the previous Guardians movies.

Verdict

Overall, a fantastic movie from start to finish. I thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of the movie. The movie was a wild, action-packed rollercoaster that delivered some emotional punches to the core with the backstory on Rocket. Each character was perfect.

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Rating: 9.4/10

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is available in cinemas worldwide. You can visit here for more information on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.