Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review: Best Marvel film since No Way Home

James Gunn saves his best for last. Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is an emotionally satisfying conclusion and the best of the trilogy. Gunn focuses more on character arcs and horror than comedy. There are funny moments in Vol. 3, but Gunn’s MCU finale is the most serious of the Guardians films.

After one of their own is gravely injured, the guardians race across the galaxy in an attempt to save their family teammate. However, in order to save their teammate, they must face off with a formidable enemy who is on a quest to create the perfect society.

The cast is terrific across the board. Gunn has an incredible ability to bring out the best in Chris Pratt and Vol. 3 is the best performance of Pratt’s career. Pratt excels at showing Quill’s desperation and desire for purpose. Zoe Saldaña shines in this more aggressive incarnation of Gamora. Karen Gillan as Nebula and Pom Klementieff as Mantis trade stealing scenes in Vol. 3. Nebula, Mantis and Drax (Dave Bautista) as a group are comedy gold. Bradley Cooper is also tremendous as Rocket.

Vol. 3 is without a doubt the saddest MCU film to date. The High Evolutionary is the vilest character in the MCU. Chukwudi Iwuji is phenomenal and easily the best villain in the trilogy. His dedication to creating a perfect society while having little regard for actual living beings is an interesting dichotomy. Scenes involving animal torture are frequent and all of them are tough to stomach. For every laugh in the film, Gunn follows it up with abject terror or pathos.

Overall, Gunn does an excellent job ending the series. However, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) only works in spurts. Quill’s struggle with abandonment is well done. However, the opportunity to reconnect with his grandfather on Earth which is brought up by Mantis early in the film, doesn’t receive enough focus given Quill’s decision at the end of the film.

These are small nitpicks in what is easily the best MCU film since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

With the overview out of the way, let’s take a deeper look at Gunn’s MCU swan song. There may be some minor spoilers. Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is in theaters now while the other films are available to stream on Disney Plus.

Rocket’s origin revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Gunn traces Rocket’s origin from when he was captured as an innocent, young raccoon to the gun-toting, loyal guardian he is today. Rocket’s story is heartbreaking.

Vol. 3 begins with Adam Warlock attacking the guardians on Knowhere. During the fight, Rocket is injured. When Quill and Nebula attempt to save him, they discover Rocket has a kill switch preventing them from intervening. Quill and the crew head out to find the people who originally experimented on Rocket. Gunn uses Rocket’s unconscious state to flashback to his torture at the hands of The High Evolutionary.

The High Evolutionary captured various animals and conducted experiments on all of them with Rocket being one of them. After the adjustments, Rocket is introduced to his first crew of sorts. All of them have been modified in horrific ways. Even in the most inhospitable place, these creatures find hope and kinship.

Eventually, Rocket appears to connect with The High Evolutionary due to Rocket’s impressive intellect. However, The High Evolutionary’s initial admiration turns to jealousy. He reveals that Rocket and his friends are nothing more than links to creating a bigger world. Rocket will help create the world but will not be able to live in that world.

Rocket attempts to break him and his friends. What starts as an initial success with hope for the future, quickly turns tragic.

Rocket’s story is the most depressing origin in the MCU. In spite of everything that has happened to Nebula, even she recognizes The High Evolutionary did far worse things to Rocket than Thanos did to her.

Quill’s desperation

Rocket’s injury at the hands of Adam Warlock showcases another side of Quill, desperation. Every person in Quill’s orbit has abandoned him Prior to Vol. 3. In those situations, Quill wasn’t in a position to prevent those people from leaving. Yondu kidnapped Quill from Earth. Gamora was killed by Thanos. Then when a different Gamora shows up, she leaves Quill too.

When Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 begins, the abandonment issues are weighing heavily on Quill. He’s a drunken wreck over not having Gamora. Although his sister, Mantis, believes it’s more than just Gamora that haunts Quill.

However, once Knowhere is attacked and Rocket is injured, Quill springs into action. For the first time, Quill is in a position to prevent someone from leaving him and stops at nothing to save him.

His desperation is also evident in his interactions with Gamora. His constant reminders to Gamora about who they were as a couple has little effect at first. Even when Gamora begrudgingly does go beyond her initial arrangement to help save Rocket, it’s clear a rekindled romance isn’t on the table.

I was pleasantly surprised with how Gunn handled the Gamora-Quill relationship. Quill does faun over her repeatedly. However, Gamora’s steadfast resolve in being a different person from the Gamora Quill knew eventually gets through. Gamora only softens when she’s left alone on Quill’s ship and can see mementos of Quill’s past. Gamora’s evolution goes from outright rejecting her doppelganger’s relationship with Quill to appreciating the relationship this other version of herself forged with Quill.

Meanwhile, Quill also grows. He eventually realizes this Gamora will never be the same as the woman he loved and he doesn’t even try to prevent Gamora from returning to The Ravagers.

The way things are

The High Evolutionary’s goal is to create the perfect society. In their quest to save Rocket, The Guardians visit The High Evolutionary’s planet, Counter-Earth.

The Guardians discover a planet that is very much like Earth in ways both good and bad. There are suburbs, happy families and even delicious sodas. However, there’s also inner-city violence and drug activity.

The High Evolutionary responds to his unobtainable pursuit for perfection with deplorable actions. He may in fact be seeking to make a perfect society. In reality, he just hates things the way they are.

Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3 final thoughts

Gunn has crafted a remarkable film that ends this iteration of Guardians of the Galaxy in an emotionally satisfying way.