‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’ Review

Writer/director James Gunn completes his Guardians trilogy with the same heart and soul of the previous two. The usual humor and gags remain, this time however there’s some darkness and that is with Rocket’s origin story, his past is somewhat disturbing.

The film opens with Rocket using Quill’s vintage Walkman to which the device plays a nice part in the films soundtrack. Quill in bad shape, struggling with the loss of Gamora, is unable to defend his friend. When The High Evolutionary sends Adam Warlock to capture Rocket.

This time the peril is not an existential threat to the known universe, but a personal one for the team as they try to save their injured friend. The heart of the film is wrapped around the life of the cyber enhanced Rocket and it works, it’s emotional for the Guardians as well as us the audience.

Our villain is The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) to say he has a God complex is an understatement. He has an obsession to make all things perfect, he executes his twisted science on living things and in flashbacks the most brutal of these experiments are performed on a young Rocket and his friends.

The High Evolutionary is manic in his determination to create a perfect world, brutal and unforgiving. He is incredibly cruel to the subjects of his experiments which makes him easy to hate. There is not an ounce of sympathy with this villain.

Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) aides The High Evolutionary in his attempts to capture Rocket (Bradley Cooper) Warlock has a child like persona which Poulter does well with, he gets some good laughs. He is also incredibly brutish with great power but he is criminally underused, I was expecting much more.

The same can be said for Elizabeth Debicki she is also very funny as the frustrated Ayesha, Adams creator, she also deserved more screen time.

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) who is pining for Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who was killed in Avengers Infinity War. Has to now team up with a past version of Gamora who is with the Ravagers led by Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone).

This version of Gamora with no memory of Quill, is far more ruthless and cold, she regularly gets angry and impatient with the love sick Quill, who on numerous occasions reminds her of their lost love.

The rest of the Guardians are as strong as always, their chemistry forever bonded. Nebula (Karen Gillan) with her new robotic arm takes a headstrong role in the group. Drax (Dave Bautista) continues his fine form, Bautista with another great comedic turn.

This time around with Drax and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) there is less of the idiocy and a more grown up assertiveness and of course Groot (Vin Diesel) is always there as the brutish defender.

This is likely the last time we see the Guardians is this form, it may return in a different aspect, but it’s a satisfying ending to the trilogy. It’s action packed with wonderful visuals and through Rocket’s dark backstory and the Guardians personal investment we get an emotional connection to the group as a family.

Go see ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3′ in Theaters.