The Doctor’s Diagnosis: A-
I had pretty much given up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since Avengers: Endgame, these movies have ranged from mediocre to awful, with the majority of them leaning closer to the latter. Even though the original Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite MCU movie, I was completely indifferent toward this latest installment as I headed into the theater because I simply didn’t care anymore and expected the latest Guardians to be the latest stop on Marvel’s slide into creative oblivion. I was wrong. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is easily the best Marvel movie since Endgame and maybe my favorite MCU movie after the first Guardians.
While resting in their headquarters, the Guardians of the Galaxy are attacked by Adam Warlock and Rocket is critically injured. While unconscious, Rocket has flashbacks to when he was young and held captive by a maniac called the High Evolutionary. Rocket, along with many other animals, were the subject of experiments as the High Evolutionary sought to enhance animal lifeforms in an effort to build the ideal society. Meanwhile, the Guardians are trying to resuscitate Rocket but discover that his heart is attached to a kill switch device installed by the High Evolutionary. As we learn more about Rocket’s past, the other Guardians race to find a way to save him in the present.
I saw Fast X last night (review forthcoming on that piece of shit) and I’m glad that I saw that dumpster fire before I reviewed Guardians 3 because the two films collectively present a great case study of showing vs. telling. In Fast X (and that entire goddamn series), we are constantly being told that the characters think of each other as family. However, aside from eating BBQ together at the end of every movie, there is nothing to their relationships. They are just a bunch of awful, obnoxious people bonded together by their inability to function as productive members of society. I only know that they supposedly care about each other because the scripts keep telling me that they do. I don’t care about them. Actually, I fucking hate them. In case you haven’t picked up on it, my review of Fast X will not be positive.
This is the complete opposite. For a movie starring a raccoon and a talking tree, Guardians 3 has a shocking amount of heart. These characters feel like a family, not because a bald idiot keeps telling us that they are family, but because the script and performances show them as such. We see how much the Guardians mean to each other and how devastated they are when one of them goes down. Even Star Lord, usually the most jovial one of the bunch, has to (literally) sober up when he learns that Rocket is hurt. Juxtaposed with these events, Rocket’s origin story is absolutely gut-wrenching as we learn what happened to his first family of friends when they were all locked up in cages and subjected to animal experimentation. This movie has easily the saddest, most somber moments in any MCU movie. Yeah, I remember everyone dying at the end of Infinity War, but we knew they were coming back. Not in this movie. This movie punches you in the balls with the saddest animal deaths since Bambi’s mother got shot. It’s a reminder that, although the Guardians are generally more light-hearted characters, they are all born of tragedy and that is perhaps what binds them together. That’s how you write shit, Vin Diesel. Fast X sucks.
At this time last year, people were talking about how Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was like Marvel’s horror film. Bullshit. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is closer to being Marvel’s horror film. The plot is basically the Guardians visit The Island of Dr. Moreau and it is surprisingly violent. Other than the gut-punching animal death, there is a brutal animal attack, an outright genocide and a man having his face peeled off. While the face-peeling is shown from behind to avoid an R-rating, we do then see the skinned face and its surprisingly graphic. This is a legitimate PG-13 movie, not something that would be rated G if it were released 40 years ago.
While this may have a lot of somber and oddly violent moments, it is still a lot of fun. As dark as things can get, these are still the Guardians and they are still the same collection of goofballs and castaways that we’ve been watching for the last nine years. There are a lot of funny moments here (including the first instance of a character saying “fuck” in an MCU movie) and, despite the ever-growing cast, each main character gets satisfying moments and varying degrees of closure. I won’t get into the whole cast, but the performances are all solid as these actors now slip back into these characters like they are putting on their favorite old coat. My favorite character (perhaps in the entire MCU) is Rocket and this is really his arc in an incredibly satisfying way, but the other characters (particularly Star Lord and Drax) all get their moments and resolve their decade-long arcs in surprising, but ultimately fitting, ways. Despite the oddly heavy and dark material, this always still feels like a Guardians movie.
I will quickly mention that we again get a Howard the Duck cameo, this time seen playing cards with Lloyd Kaufman at what must be the world’s most fun poker table. I still want my goddamn Howard the Duck movie, Marvel, but I now feel like that is a lost cause with James Gunn jumping ship to oversee the DC movies.
While most superhero movies (and big-budget movies in general) now feel like soulless corporate products, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 feels like a labor of love from everyone involved. The cast and writer/director James Gunn clearly care about these characters and wanted to tell one final story while the gang is still all together. While I’m sure that we will get another version of the Guardians someday, this is a funny, heartfelt and fitting sendoff to this team. While I do have some minor issues with the film (particularly with the length, which results in some pacing issues), they are just that: minor issues. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 resurrected my interest in Marvel movies and that’s no small feat. Unfortunately, I got the trailer for The Marvels in front of this movie, so I’ve already gone back to not giving a shit. But, still, I cared again for a couple of hours there.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_Vol._3#/media/File:Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_Vol._3_poster.jpg
