Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
MarvelGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the latest MCU film to strut its way to the big screen. With that being said, it is a miracle that this film works as beautifully as it does due to the overwhelmingly negative aspects that have plagued most of Phase 4 and the beginning of Phase 5, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The tonal inconsistencies, bad CGI, and strange character work that have become all too common within the MCU are all absent within Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due to the absolute talent of James Gunn.
Now, to address the elephant in the room in regards to how these Marvel movies have looked recently. Poor CGI mixed with bad direction and overuse of the Volume have caused several of the last few efforts of the MCU to look quite rough around the edges. These issues and any others surrounding them are no longer here. This looks and feels like a real movie, like the trilogy capper that the audience deserves. With some standout CGI being used to bring Rocket, voiced once again by Bradley Cooper, and his past to life.
Also, this can't be a Guardians of the Galaxy film without having a beautifully planned soundtrack backing up the runtime. The movie's first major song choice was Creep by Radiohead and its purpose was to place the movie squarely on Rocket from the start. Starting with placing the audience right where the heart of the film is was a smart choice from Gunn in order to place expectations clearly where they needed to be.
This is a thrilling conclusion for these characters with little to no emphasis being put on the larger universe at hand. It is through and through a character study more than anything else with a dash of sci-fi fun. And, it most certainly is fun. The action set pieces are tangible, well shot, and earn their place among the best Marvel has to offer.
This ultimately leaves the performances. This is top-of-line stuff from most parties. With Karen Gillan continuing her show-stopping act that she has silently perfected over the course of the last decade. Also, of course, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, and the rest of the crew are as good as they've ever been with Bradley Cooper being given the biggest upgrade in terms of material to work with and he absolutely shines.
The conclusions for each character were fitting with Gunn doing what he could with the status quo he was left following Avengers: Endgame. Star-Lord and Gamora received a fair amount of play due to the budding relationship Gunn was building being struck down early for the sake of building grander stakes. With that being said, it was a bit jarring to see the conclusion of this relationship between two characters with no actual background. Still, Gunn lands it and he lands it very well. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best piece of work that Marvel has released in years. By allowing a real director the time to craft relationships and character arcs Marvel brought about something that is much more important than getting you ready for the next film. Gunn gave them emotion, he gave them real stakes, and he gave them the best movie they've had in a long time.