Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The weekend, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was released in theaters. This movie follows Peter, Drax, Rocket, Groot, Mantis, and Nebula as they go on one final adventure to save one of their own. This film also marks the end of James Gunn making MCU movies before becoming the head of the new DCU. The original Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorite MCU movies with the second film also being quite enjoyable so naturally I was very excited about this film and was interested to see how they were going to close off the trilogy.

This is a very special movie. The story itself is much more personal than the previous two films. Instead of a huge galaxy-saving mission, this story has much smaller stakes and is all about banding together to save the life of a member of the Guardians. Because of this, the movie has a lot more emotional moments and really allows the characters to grow more. The movie also gives a great backstory on Rocket. We get to see his tragic origins and the true horrors of how he became what he is today. After seeing the story, you will have a completely different viewpoint of Rocket and see all of his actions in a different way. The story also does a great job of making sure every character gets an arc. Even Cosmo the Space Dog gets a little mini-arc through the story. I really enjoyed Nebula's arc throughout these movies, as she grows from being a henchman of Ronan to being a full-blown member of the Guardians. The movie also allows Peter to grow as he slowly learns to move on from the loss of Gamora and learn how to cope with life moving forward. As with the other Guardians films, James Gunn does a good job of balancing the humor with the drama. None of the jokes undercut any of the tense scenes or feel out of place. The story feels very tonally consistent through its 2.5 hours. Finally, I think this film did a great job of concluding the story of our Guardians. Every character gets a natural ending that feels very complete. If we were to never see the Guardians again, this movie would be a perfect ending for them.

There is one thing to address that isn't something good or bad, just something to be aware of. A major plot point in this movie involves animal cruelty so if that is something that bothers you, you may not want to watch this movie.

There isn't much of anything wrong with this movie. The only big issue that I have with the film is that I wasn't a fan of the handling of Adam Warlock. In the comics, he is this big formidable force. However, in the movie, he is treated as more of a henchman and a joke. I just wish they would have given his character more to do.

Overall, this is a great conclusion to the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy that closes out everyone's stories and provides an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Score: 8.5/10 Grade: A- Recommendation: Check this film out