guardians of the galaxy three movie review

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

James Gunn loves his outcasts. One of the most interesting things about his “ Guardians of the Galaxy ” movies has been watching the tug-of-war between Gunn’s outsider instincts and a franchise-generating machine that’s as insider as it gets. He’s one of the few filmmakers who has operated in the massive system of the biggest movie money-making factory in the world without sacrificing his voice. Watching his “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is to see a director who knows how to balance corporate needs with personal blockbuster filmmaking. Mostly. This sci-fi/action/comedy still succumbs to a few of the MCU issues of late—bloated runtime, things-go-boom finale, too many characters—but there’s a creativity to the filmmaking, dialogue, and performances that modern superhero movies often lack. Much of the recent talk has been about the potential for AI-generated blockbusters , and I like when “GoTG 3” is at its messiest. Gunn is like that kid who is not only playing with his action figures; he’s pulling them apart and smashing them back together to make them into new creations. He doesn’t just love these losers, he wants to see them save the universe again. You will too.

“Vol. 3” opens with Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper ) listening to “Creep” by Radiohead. In another film filled with clever needle drops, it’s a tone-setter. Rocket sees himself as the weirdo, the creep, but the movie will teach him that he’s so f-ing special, of course.

It all starts with an attack. The golden-hued Adam Warlock ( Will Poulter ) comes speeding into Knowhere, pummeling everything in sight with strength that would impress Superman. Rocket takes the worst beating and hovers near death for most of the movie, putting the film on two tracks—a flashback to Rocket’s origin story and the present-day tale of the Guardians trying to save him. The mission leads them to the High Evolutionary ( Chukwudi Iwuji ), a mad scientist who tried to speed up the evolutionary process for a utopia called Counter-Earth and created Rocket all those years ago.

Of course, the Guardians bring baggage on their quest. Peter ( Chris Pratt ) is emotionally unstable over what happened with Gamora ( Zoe Saldaña ), who was killed by Thanos but has returned as an alternate timeline version of the character who doesn’t remember her time with the GotG. Gamora gets involved with the Rocket mission, but the love story between her and Star-Lord doesn’t drive the narrative like the first two. Many filmmakers would have made “Vol. 3” about reuniting Peter and Gamora, but it’s more about a background to Rocket’s story, which allows for different chemistry between Pratt and Saldaña. She’s particularly good here, looking at the rest of the Guardians skeptically, especially the one who claims to love a different version of her.

As for the rest of the gang, it’s gotten a little too big for one movie to hold. Dave Bautista is fun again, but Drax has little to do. Same with Karen Gillan as Nebula, who has become a functional part of the team but lacks actual development. Mantis ( Pom Klementieff ) is back for comic relief, and Groot ( Vin Diesel ) does his thing, but it’s hard to shake how this “Guardians” is overcrowded. I didn’t even mention the talking dog (voiced by Maria Bakalova ), Elizabeth Debicki as Adam’s creator Ayesha, or Sylvester Stallone ’s return.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is most appealing when it defies a “product over art” aesthetic by being clunky and weird. It might sound silly to say a film is at its best when it’s less refined, but many recent blockbusters lack the human touch. It’s thrilling to see Gunn push through some of his genuinely unsettling creature designs, or settings that feel like they’re taking place in actual physical spaces instead of the bland CGI that makes superhero movies look like watching someone else playing a video game. There’s a version of “Vol. 3” that’s even more chaotic and personal—the final act especially feels like it’s knocking off prerequisites on an MCU checklist—but every time this blockbuster felt like it was edging more to content than art, it won me back.

It’s in the small choices made by Gunn and an ensemble that would clearly follow him into battle at this point. Pratt has been phoning in some of his lead film roles lately, but he’s always clicked best on-screen as Peter Quill, equal parts hero and chump. Giving him a broken heart allows Pratt to push away some of the cocky smarm that has derailed him in other projects and allows us to like Quill again. Saldaña is having fun returning to the basics of a warrior like Gamora, convincing us she could carry a movie like this alone. But, most of all, this is Rocket’s film, a story of how he overcomes trauma to be the hero he was always meant to be.

While the villain is a bit underwritten—most characters are simply due to the cast’s sheer size—something interesting here unfolds on a thematic level beyond the basic hero/villain narrative. Without spoiling all the details of Rocket’s origin, his arc shifted when he solved a problem in the High Evolutionary’s experiments on his own, sending the villain off into a spiral of insecurity and sociopathology. In a sense, this is a story of a vengeful God, someone who lashes out when his creation not only proves himself independent but arguably more intelligent than its creator. Tales of creations who turn on their wicked creators are as old as myth, but Gunn weaves that idea through a Marvel vision with just enough clever subtlety to give his film more depth than a lot of its peers. Gunn reckons with the idea of a wicked God, one who sees his creations as experiments more than actual beings. It’s a story that fits Gunn perfectly as he tries to defy the Hollywood machine by bringing his imagination to life. He’s the creator who wants his creations to outshine him.

The flashback/mission structure of “Vol. 3” sometimes drains the film of momentum, and everyone who has seen a Marvel movie knows that this will end with many team-ups and explosions. And yet even when the film is checking those items off the list, it does so with Gunn’s personality intact, whether it’s in his music choices or intense imagery that could startle younger viewers. So much of the recent MCU has felt cravenly desperate to do just enough to turn a profit. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is a reminder that the best blockbusters don’t just sing along to a well-known tune like “Creep”; they make the song their own. After all, we’re all the weirdos. And Gunn would say that makes us all pretty f-ing special too.

In theaters on May 5 th .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill / Star-Lord
Zoe Saldaña as Gamora
Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer
Karen Gillan as Nebula
Pom Klementieff as Mantis
Vin Diesel as Groot (voice)
Bradley Cooper as Rocket (voice)
Sean Gunn as Kraglin / On-Set Rocket
Chukwudi Iwuji as The High Evolutionary
Will Poulter as Adam Warlock
Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha
Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the Dog (voice)
Sylvester Stallone as Stakar Ogord
Daniela Melchior as Ura

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Fred Raskin
Greg D’Auria
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'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' sends off its heroes with a mawkish mixtape

Glen Weldon

L to R: Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), Quill (Chris Pratt) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) go for a walk in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Marvel Studios hide caption

L to R: Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), Quill (Chris Pratt) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) go for a walk in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

What, in your mind, is the Marvel Cinematic Universe still missing?

We're neck-deep into Phase 5 now, after all; we've had dozens of movies and streaming series and one-off specials. And while critics can and do bemoan the surface similarities these disparate properties tend to share, the strength of the MCU remains how much variation it manages to offer up in tone, scope, stakes and subject matter. Looking for street-level angst ? Cosmic sweep ? Paranoid thrillers ? Mystic mumbo-jumbo ? Sitcom satires ? Gods and monsters ? Coming-of-age dramas ? Subatomic shenanigans ? Afro-futurist utopias ? Whatever the hell Eternals was supposed to be ? The MCU has something for you.

But maybe, after all these years, you find that your own very particular Marvel itch remains somehow unscratched. So I say this to a vanishingly small subset of you: If you've ever found yourself walking out of an Marvel movie and said to yourself, "I liked it. It was fine. But I don't know. I can't help thinking it could have used...just you know a lot more vivisection," then rest assured your tastes have finally been catered to, you sicko freak.

The gang's all here, sort of

But first: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is pitched as a sendoff to the rag-tag gang of misfits first introduced in James Gunn's 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy , who've since cropped up in several corners of the MCU. As a team, they've always leaned more into mercenary violence and bro-ish banter than anything so hopelessly quaint as heroism, though they do tend to wind up saving the day, despite themselves. They've added some new faces to their roster, one of which is technically an old face. (Zoe Saldana here plays an alternate-timeline version of her character Gamora, whom we met back in the first film; long story.)

There's dim but headstrong Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), dim but strong-strong Drax (Dave Bautista), gruff Nebula (Karen Gillan), empathic Mantis (Pom Klementieff), laconic space-Ent Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and tough but fuzzy raccoon Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper).

Also along for the ride: Kraglin (Sean Gunn) a space-pirate struggling with performance issues, Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) a telekinetic space-dog, and a brand new antagonist, Will Poulter's Adam Warlock, a genetically-engineered super-being with the mind of a petulant child in the body of an Instagram fitness influencer.

They're all up against a powerful being known as The High Evolutionary, played with gratifyingly over-the-top, scenery-devouring brio by Chukwudi Iwuji.

The High Evolutionary's nefarious plan? To engineer a perfect species to live in a perfect society of his creation. Which, alas, is where All! That! Vivisection! TM comes in.

Doing Moreau with less

Look, if you're trying to come up with a villain for audiences to dutifully, even reflexively hiss, eugenicists are a pretty good place to start; I get that. And if said eugenicist should also happen to go about their evil business by conducting unholy cybernetic experimentations on cute fuzzy animals like Rocket (in flashbacks) and innocent, adorable, wet-eyed toddlers (in the present day)? Sure. Fair enough. Bad guys do bad things, after all. It's in the job description.

The problem at the core of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn't the mere depiction of said animal experimentation, which created not only Rocket but a cadre of twee furry cyborg pals we get to (briefly) meet. It's the fact that writer/director James Gunn approaches those scenes without trusting his audience to naturally recoil at the idea of animal cruelty.

There is violent imagery, yes. But what makes those scenes profoundly unpleasant to sit through is not their violence itself, but Gunn's mawkish, maudlin, manipulative approach to it. Using every cinematic tool at his disposal, he so feverishly attempts to crank up the horror of those scenes that he only succeeds in exposing their cynical, plot-driven artifice. And by juxtaposing them with moments in which the experiments' animal subjects spout platitudes about the joy of friendship and their dreams of escape, Gunn's unbearable, ham-handed execution aims for pathos but achieves only bathos, its laughably inept evil twin.

Baby Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), one of the film's subtle, understated appeals to emotion. Marvel Studios hide caption

Baby Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), one of the film's subtle, understated appeals to emotion.

You can only tug on the audience's heartstrings for so long before they start to snap off in your hands. To watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is to watch a filmmaker under the wildly mistaken belief that the best way to get you to absorb what he's saying is by screaming it directly into your ear.

There's more to the film than Rocket's trauma narrative (in those flashbacks, Sean Gunn attempts to personify a younger Rocket by pitching Bradley Cooper's dese-and-dose Brooklyn accent up an octave or two, so we the audience get to experience some trauma ourselves).

Game, cassette and match

The central metaphor of Gunn's Guardians films has been the mixtape. Peter Quill's beloved, long-lost mother made him one filled with classic rock jams that supplied the soundtrack to his life (and to the first Guardians film).

Nowadays, Peter's updated his old cassette with a playlist that provides this third film with a more eclectic collection of needle drops (Beastie Boys, The The, The Replacements, Florence + the Machine).

And like any mixtape/playlist, Guardians Vol. 3 includes some real gems. At one point the team visits a space station that's entirely organic, and the production designers go to town creating doorways like heart valves and airlocks like open wounds. There's an extended slow-motion fight in a corridor featuring digital camerawork that swoops around the characters as they trade punches and kicks and laser blasts in a physics-defying manner. It's visually stunning if viscerally inert, like an extended videogame cutscene.

But some of the other songs in this cinematic mix don't hit as hard as they could. Poulter's Adam Warlock feels shoehorned into the overstuffed proceedings, and while Klementieff's Mantis gets more to do than she ever has, both the character and actor still feel underused.

The Guardians, as a team, have never adopted the usual superhero admonitions against the taking of lives. Even so, a scene in which one of our heroes casually instructs another one of our heroes to "Kill them all," still can't help but rankle.

Barbs and insults get well and truly traded — a Gunn hallmark — and most of them land. Mostly, though, a weirdly somber mood pervades the film. Maybe it's that the scenes of animal abuse linger longer, and cast a deeper pall, than the filmmaker has accounted for. If Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a mixtape, it's the one that your ex sends you after you break up with him, full of syrupy, sentimental tunes meant to reignite any last lingering sparks of feeling you may have once shared. It's "Seasons in the Sun" followed by "Alone Again (Naturally)" followed by "Everybody Hurts" followed by "The Christmas Shoes," and it serves only to remind you how right you were to dump the sappy chump when you did.

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‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Review: Raccoon Tears and a Final Mixtape

This dour, visually off-putting two-and-a-half-hour A.S.P.C.A. nightmare of a film may only be for completionist fans.

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A raccoon in a uniform sits at the controls of a spaceship.

By Maya Phillips

Animal lovers, comic book fans and unofficial adjudicators of narrative continuity, action and style in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Lend me your ears. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is not the movie for you.

Perhaps this dour, visually off-putting two-and-a-half-hour A.S.P.C.A. nightmare of a film is only for completionist fans like myself, arriving at the theater armed with overpriced popcorn and the hope that the director James Gunn’s latest could replicate the romp and anti-gravity gambol of the first .

For those who need help getting their multiversal timeline untangled, “Guardians” is the second film of the so far ecstatically bad Phase Five of the M.C.U., after the, to quote my colleague, “thoroughly uninspired” “ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. ” We last caught our whole team of lovable riffraff together in “ Avengers: Infinity War ,” when Thanos (Josh Brolin) threw his adopted daughter and galaxy guardian, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), into an abyss to get one of the Infinity Stones, which he used to snap away half of the universe. (There were some dancing Groots and a cute holiday special about abducting Kevin Bacon, but — sorry, Kev — they were irrelevant.)

Now the Guardians are settling in at Knowhere, a community in the severed head of a celestial that serves as their home base. With Gamora gone, Peter (Chris Pratt), a.k.a. Star-Lord, is still grieving, unaware of the fact that somehow Gamora — or, rather, a variant — is alive, sans her memories of him and the Guardians. When, a few minutes into the film, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) becomes victim to a deadly attack, the team is reunited with a hostile, partially amnesiac Gamora, who is reluctantly dragged into their plot to save him.

While Rocket is in critical condition, Peter and company do some risky snooping through Rocket’s traumatic back story to figure out how to save his life and stop the man pursuing him, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). A powerful god-figure, the High Evolutionary has genetically altered Rocket, other animals and even children to create a perfect race to inhabit his imagined utopia. (Yes, that’s another Nazi-coded villain for your Bingo card.)

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‘guardians of the galaxy vol. 3’ review: james gunn’s overstuffed but satisfying trilogy capper.

The interstellar gang is back in the third installment of the hugely popular Marvel franchise starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldaña.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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Chris Pratt in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.'

Cinematic superheroes have been going through a rough patch lately. Already this year, both Shazam and Ant-Man proved a bit at sea in their latest adventures. So it comes as a relief to report the trilogy-capping Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. achieves what it sets out to do, which is provide a stirring and audience-pleasing finale for a franchise that has proven to be one of Marvel ’s biggest and most unlikely success stories. Well, at least until the next iteration of the Guardians comes along.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 review: The best Marvel movie in years

Writer-director james gunn has since jumped ship to dc, and the mcu will miss him dearly, article bookmarked.

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When the Guardians of the Galaxy first debuted in 2014, they were a band of relatively obscure heroes served up as an amuse-bouche between the snappy spectacles of Iron Man and pals. Writer-director James Gunn had done a few splattery horror movies, an ultra-violent, indie comic book adaptation, and two Scooby Doo s. And leading man Chris Pratt was known primarily as the goofball from Parks and Recreation . But here’s the thing about being an outlier: you have nothing and everything to prove, and Guardians of the Galaxy taught every future comic book movie that there was no limit to how funny and dorky but still deeply sincere you could be with your heroes.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is a farewell to the franchise (at least from Gunn’s perspective, as he’s since hopped over to DC), that’s really a reminder that they always represented some of the very best Marvel has to offer. What Gunn’s done here isn’t even rocket (raccoon) science – he’s just crafted well-drawn, textured characters in a story told with care and commitment. And it’s a story told in a world that continues to feel distinct and almost entirely self-contained, something safely quarantined away from the wider narrative of the MCU. Vol 3 contains both Marvel’s very first f-bomb (landed with perfect timing) and a heist on a fleshy satellite in which the Guardians bounce around in primary-coloured, 2001: A Space Odyssey -style space suits.

Gunn, who also wrote the film’s script, had repeatedly said that his trilogy finale would focus on one member of this intergalactic crew – the Bradley Cooper-voiced, eternally cranky Rocket Raccoon. That’s certainly true in one sense. Here, the majority of the action revolves around the Guardians’ quest to uncover Rocket’s true origins, which are linked to experiments conducted by galactic eugenicist the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji, who makes for an exquisitely grandiose but sinister villain). We get flashbacks a-plenty to baby Rocket – watch out Grogu, your merchandise empire is about to fall – and the de facto family he finds amongst his naive, severely traumatised fellow experiments, voiced by Linda Cardellini, Asim Chaudhry, and Mikaela Hoover. It is, as you might be able to guess, sob-inducingly moving.

However – and this is frustratingly rare in comic book films – Vol 3 is fully invested not only in how its core characters have evolved so far, but how they can continue to evolve. No one is sidelined. No one is wasted. It is, on top of its main plot, a break-up movie about the hollow feeling of bumping into an ex and realising they’ve moved on. Although in this case Star-Lord (Pratt, reminding us that he can be extremely charming when the role calls for it) is having to deal with the fact that his ex, Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora, is actually an alternate-universe version with no memory of him.

Vol 3 is also about realising the friend that’s the butt of every joke is a complex person whose life still has worth and meaning (true in both cases when it comes to Pom Klementieff’s gremlin-souled Mantis and Dave Bautista’s overly literal Drax – their friendship is the funniest and sweetest element of the film). It’s also, finally, about the pressures of being covered in gold and absolutely shredded – Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock, created to be the perfect man, actually turns out to be the pouty toddler to Elizabeth Debicki’s flustered mum Ayesha.

Chris Pratt’s mother-in-law Maria Shriver responds to actor’s ‘hideous’ Instagram post

It doesn’t matter who these characters are, whether they’re aliens, psionic dogs (the Maria Bakalova-voiced Cosmo) or adult men who haven’t emotionally moved on from the Eighties. The Guardians films have always been about the fact that many of us are like putty – shaped not by where we’ve come from but where we are and could end up. Vol 3 should make audiences thrilled about what comes next for Gunn in his new position as co-head of DC Studios. As for Marvel – well, it’ll be their loss.

Dir: James Gunn. Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter. 12A, 150 minutes.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’ is out in theatres

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Movie Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a gorgeous spectacle that confuses schmaltz for sentimentality

James gunn’s third guardians movie is packed with stunning set pieces, but its saccharine attempts at sentimentality and a by-the-numbers plot keep it from ever reaching lift-off..

By Charles Pulliam-Moore , a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.

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Baby Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The appeal of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films has always been their ability to feel truly set apart and distinct from the rest of Marvel’s multigenre cinematic universe, all while sticking to the studio’s house style just enough for crossovers to make sense. The first Guardians humorously opened up the MCU on a cosmic scale , and the second solidified its ragtag team of space outcasts as both a family and an important part of Marvel’s plans for the end of Phase 3 . Though Phase 5 is just ramping up , almost everything about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is crafted to be a celebratory farewell to the movie’s characters and the recent era of Marvel’s films they helped define.

Narratively, that’s a fantastic place for the third film in a series to be working from, and Vol. 3 feels like Gunn is working hard to show you just how much these movies have meant to him as a director. But for all of its stunning set pieces, imaginative production design, and a fascinating villain, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gets bogged down by a morass of cringey jokes and a schmaltz so cloyingly “sweet,” it’s almost insulting.

Set some time after the Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special , Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 tells the action-packed, flashback-filled story of how Rocket Raccoon’s (Bradley Cooper) life being gravely endangered gives the rest of the Guardians a reason to come together and really start working on some of the emotional issues that’ve been haunting them since Endgame . With Thanos gone and the universe mostly restored, things have been going relatively well on Knowhere, the severed Celestial head out of which Rocket, Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (Vin Diesel), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), and Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova) operate as the newest incarnation of the Guardians.

An image of the Guardians from Guardians of the Galaxy. Nebula, a blue cyborg woman, stands in the foreground bridal carrying an unconscious Peter Quill, a large muscular white man.

Despite having become an angry drunk since we last saw him, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is still very much a part of the team as Vol. 3 opens on him mourning the death of the Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) he knew and loved before Thanos murdered her in Infinity War — a loss that hit all the Guardians heavily. But unlike Quill, who spends quite a bit of Vol. 3 lashing out with an unpleasant surliness that makes him difficult to sympathize with, pretty much everyone else on the team has made their peace with the fact that while their Gamora might be gone, there’s a different Gamora from the past (see: Endgame ) running around the galaxy now for them to love from a healthy distance.

Figuring out how to pick up narrative threads post- Endgame without feeling excessively stuck in the past is a challenge many of Marvel’s recent movies have struggled with, and Vol. 3 is no exception. There was no way for Vol. 3 to avoid addressing the Gamora paradox problem, and it’s actually a concept that’s always felt intriguing enough to warrant deeper exploration. But rather than unpacking that bit of existential time weirdness and all the ideas about grief baked into it, Guardians of the Galaxy focuses the bulk of its energy on revealing the secret, tragic backstory that led to Rocket’s creation and also conveniently frames him as the latest example of Marvel framing (animal) people as MacGuffins.

The specific reason the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) — an alien geneticist obsessed with engineering perfection into living beings — wants Rocket is far more interesting than the Scarlet Witch’s rationale for hunting down America Chavez in Multiverse of Madness and more unhinged than Namor’s plan to kill Riri Williams in Wakanda Forever. But whereas those films both tried to give their living MacGuffins active roles to play in the present, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 tries to tug on your heartstrings with a series of flashbacks to Rocket’s gruesome childhood of being experimented on alongside other sentient, talking animals like Lylla (Linda Cardellini), an otter with cybernetic arms, Floor the Rabbit (Mikaela Hoover), and Teefs the Walrus (Asim Chaudhry).

As it’s jumping between the past and the present, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 often feels like a film that’s overstuffed with ideas, both good and bad, and doing everything in its power to make them all work in too short a time, even though the movie clocks in at over two hours.

The Guardians’ battles with the High Evolutionary’s Sovereign underlings, High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), and her prematurely hatched failson Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) make for some of the movie’s most dazzling fight sequences and do a very solid job of presenting them as a team of cosmic superheroes. But the more time Vol. 3 spends in the past focused on young Rocket — an uncannily cute CGI procyonid Cooper voices like a man doing gruff, stilted baby talk — the more it feels like Gunn doesn’t exactly trust you to have emotional responses to things without being spoon-fed concentrated schmaltz beforehand.

What Gunn does seemingly (and rightfully) have faith in is his own ability to dream up brilliantly twisted, fanciful locations and production designer Beth Mickle’s ability to bring them to life in absolutely stunning detail. As tired as many of Vol. 3 ’s gags and emotional beats are, almost every single one of its transitions to a new locale is a delightful showcase of what all Marvel Studios is capable of, visually speaking, when it’s firing on all cylinders to realize the vision of a filmmaker whose ideas it trusts. It’s also clear that the film’s cast has faith in Gunn, and he in them, and the result is a set of performances that — Pratt aside — work surprisingly well when the movie’s script isn’t getting in the way by making them say unfunny things. Unfortunately, though, that tends to be the case more often than not.

The degree to which you’re going to enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will largely depend upon how personally invested you’ve become in these characters over the years. Because the movie really is meant to be a send-off rather than an adventure that will make you fall in love with the Guardians for the first time. To that end, Guardians of the Galaxy does manage to send its eponymous heroes off in a way that feels thematically “right” for a trilogy that’s always been about misfits finding themselves with the help of their found families and marching to the beat of their own weird drums.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 also stars Sylvester Stallone, Daniela Melchior, Nathan Fillion, Nico Santos, and Dee Bradley Baker. The movie hits theaters on May 5th.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 review: James Gunn bids an emotional goodbye to the MCU

The finale to this sci-fi superhero trilogy is a welcome pivot from a recent run of Marvel disappointments.

Christian Holub is a writer covering comics and other geeky pop culture. He's still mad about 'Firefly' getting canceled.

It's been almost a decade since the first Guardians of the Galaxy film debuted, and a lot has changed since then — both for viewers and for the characters. While we've watched Chris Pratt become a movie star and the MCU take chances on more colorful characters in the wake of Guardians ' success, these space-traveling heroes have run the emotional gamut: Pratt's Star-Lord killed his biological father and lost his surrogate one; Gamora ( Zoe Saldaña ) died and was replaced by a younger version of herself; Groot ( Vin Diesel ) has lived an entirely new life cycle as a baby, willful teenager, and now buff young man since his near-death at the end of the first film; Drax ( Dave Bautista ) has pivoted from seeking revenge for his lost wife and daughter to being an important emotional pillar of his found family; Nebula ( Karen Gillan ) has built a purpose for herself as a supportive teammate rather than her despotic father's custom-built weapon; and Mantis ( Pom Klementieff ) has learned that empathy is more about meeting people where they are than forcibly changing their mind.

That leaves Rocket ( Bradley Cooper ), who finally takes center stage in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for an emotional arc of his own. The previous films have only hinted at how an average raccoon became such a loud-mouthed pilot and skilled engineer, but now we are treated to flashbacks that show how he was a weapon experiment at the hands of an intergalactic geneticist called the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) who is trying to engineer the perfect species for a perfect society. Though Rocket was only meant as a test subject on the way to that greater plan, the little guy's cleverness surpassed even his creator, who will stop at nothing to get him back after so many years apart. Rocket, meanwhile, wants to ensure that no other innocent animals or children have to suffer the same horrors that he did.

(Note: These origin flashbacks are probably the most lively that CGI animals have ever looked; Disney's 2019 The Lion King remake pales in comparison. That could be a double-edged sword for younger viewers, though. Proceed with caution if you plan on bringing kids who might blanch at seeing pain inflicted on cute animal characters.)

In standing against the High Evolutionary's exclusionary eugenics and celebrating the unique humanity of every misfit and outcast, GotG 3 comes closer to being an X-Men movie than any other MCU installment to date, and that's a high compliment. It's always nice when superhero movies remember that they're supposed to be about saving lives rather than taking them, and GotG 3 often plays like a celebration of life — even for animals that can't talk or fly spaceships. Unfortunately, sometimes this morality feels inconsistent. In one early scene of banter, Star-Lord chides Drax for even considering killing people to accomplish their mission; later, in the film's centerpiece action sequence (which is indeed awesome), the heroes drop one body after another. Sure, those are "bad guys," but either stand behind your principles or don't espouse them so proudly.

This might not be the last time we see the Guardians on screen, but it is the last time we'll see them directed by James Gunn now that he's moved into a more powerful role at rival superhero studio DC Films. In addition to turning formerly C-list Marvel characters like Drax the Destroyer into global icons, Gunn is one of the few filmmakers who were able to imprint his own distinct style and tastes into this massive franchise that can too often feel (especially lately) a bit impersonal. That personal touch includes the rockin' mixtape soundtracks, the trippy cosmic flourishes, even Star-Lord's upbringing in Missouri…all of which, rest assured, come into play in this finale to Gunn's sci-fi trilogy.

But the new movie also introduces a few new elements into the mix. Adam Warlock ( Will Poulter ) finally arrives after he was first teased at the end of 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 . He comes off like a mix of the Zack Snyder/Henry Cavill Superman (an overwhelmingly powerful ubermensch who blasts across the screen and beats everyone else to a pulp) and Kid Miracleman (whose overwhelming power is fused to an adolescent naivete). Originally created by Marvel masterminds Stan Lee and Jack Kirby but most notably characterized by Jim Starlin, Adam Warlock is the reason we have Infinity Stones in the first place. He used to run around with the Soul Stone on his forehead, and the other five eventually followed.

Arriving as he does into a post-Infinity Saga MCU, Poulter's Adam still has an unexplained gem on his forehead but ends up feeling a little rudderless. His boyish innocence and try-hard quips are a far cry from the brooding, existentialist cosmic wanderer of Starlin's comics, and though it's fine for adaptations to riff on their source material, it doesn't seem like Gunn or producers knew exactly what they wanted from their version of the character. Adam is stuck grasping for screen time in the margins of bigger emotional arcs for characters we've known much longer, playing both antagonist and potential future hero from one scene to the next as if they were trying to squeeze the Rock's Fast Five arc into 15 minutes.

More successful is Iwuji's debut as the High Evolutionary, the intergalactic geneticist who originally experimented on Rocket to change him from a normal raccoon to the wise-cracking pilot and engineer we recognize. While so many Marvel villains are defined by their relatable motivation, the High Evolutionary is a straight-up megalomaniac willing to do anything to achieve his aims. Unlike Jonathan Majors ' Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania , Iwuji isn't burdened by the daunting task of having to be the MCU's main villain for the next decade. Instead, the Shakespearean actor focuses all his energy on showing us a character who refuses to recognize the futility of his own worldview and keeps raging through failure after failure in pursuit of an impossible goal.

What GotG 3 shares with Quantumania is a clear influence from Rick & Morty in its use of non-human alien characters with gibberish names. However, that kind of spacey wackiness plays better in the mini-franchise already known for out-there adventures rather than the one known for down-to-earth heists. Perhaps due to Gunn's mounting responsibilities, GotG 3 does lack some of the visual flair of the preceding films. There's a lot of walking-and-talking, and the main group of characters walk towards the viewer in slow-motion enough times that you can't help but get a little tired of it. Though nothing quite matches the sequence from GotG 2 where Yondu (Michael Rooker) massacred an entire mutinous spaceship crew with his handy red needle, the aforementioned battle scene does have to be seen.

GotG 3 definitely marks the end of an era, though viewers shouldn't necessarily expect a repeat of beats from 2019's similarly climactic Avengers: Endgame . The MCU has been stumbling a bit since it bid goodbye to Captain America and Iron Man, and by reuniting us with characters we've known and loved for years, GotG 3 marks a welcome pivot from a recent run of unimpressive experiments and disappointing debuts. It'll be a long time, if ever, before we feel this kind of emotional payoff from this franchise again. Grade: B+

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‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Review: James Gunn's Tearful Goodbye to the MCU and Marvel’s Scrappiest Heroes

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We rarely get to say goodbye at the movies anymore—especially in superhero films. In a world full of multiverses, quantum realms, and Infinity Stones that can make literally anything happen, anything is possible, everything is reversible, and goodbye is only temporary. If Deadpool wants to crack some jokes with Wolverine, despite a perfectly satisfying ending in Logan , there’s a way to make him come back from the dead, no problem. Almost immediately after Tony Stark snapped himself to death, the audience was wondering how Robert Downey Jr. could return to the MCU.

But the Guardians of the Galaxy have always stood out from the crowd and played by their own rules. While the MCU was still stuck on Earth, the Guardians, a little-known ragtag group of misfits that came together to create an odd but lovely family, were out patrolling the skies. James Gunn took a fringe Marvel team-up, and made them the most interesting segment of the Marvel universe, more often than not telling their own self-contained narrative, away from the larger MCU puzzle pieces, and was far better for it. Guardians of the Galaxy has always been Gunn’s baby, and so with Gunn heading out to run DC, it’s time for him to say goodbye to this crew, and he does so in a satisfying way with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 , which is full of heart, humor, and action that feels like a creation only Gunn could come up with. Will we likely see some of these characters again down the line? Almost definitely. But with Gunn gone as captain, Vol. 3 feels like the last time we’ll see these characters in this way again, and Gunn gives them a wonderful sendoff.

We pick back up with the Guardians on Knowhere, which they have made into their home base, and quite a comfy community. When the team is attacked by Adam Warlock ( Will Poulter ), the Guardians set out on a new mission that runs them into The High Evolutionary ( Chukwudi Iwuji ), a man with a god complex who experiments with living creatures to make a perfect society. The High Evolutionary is also the man behind Rocket Raccoon’s (voiced by Bradley Cooper ) evolution into what he is today—a past that Rocket has avoided throughout this entire series, and which Vol. 3 finally delves into.

guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-3-rocket-raccoon

RELATED: How the MCU Was Made: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and Marvel’s Big Gamble

Rocket is in many ways the star of the show in this third film, and his backstory is a heartbreaking tale that Gunn manages to make effective despite it being between a raccoon and his animal friends (voiced by Linda Cardellini , Asim Chaudhry , and Mikaela Hoover ). This is a story that Guardians has been hinting at for the past decade, and Gunn manages to make it one of the most emotional stories ever told in the MCU.

In addition to Rocket’s history, we also have the one-sided love story between Peter Quill ( Chris Pratt ) and Gamora ( Zoe Saldaña ), who still doesn’t remember her romantic past with the Star-Lord. Gunn’s handling of this dynamic is wonderfully tender, and a type of relationship we don’t see too often on screen, where a person loves another, but that person that they loved isn’t the same person anymore. While, yes, relationships often end this way over time, and not because one person’s power-hungry father knocked them off a magical mountain, but Gunn makes these emotions really resonate, and to his credit, Pratt plays these moments with honesty and deep pain that takes you by surprise.

As the culmination of this group’s story, and with the Guardians now larger than ever, James Gunn has to balance quite a bit, but for the most part handles this challenge well. While Vol. 3 focuses primarily on Rocket and Quill, the larger journey allows for each character to have their own big moments, even if there’s no time to give them their own individual arcs. But this structure works well, especially with such a large cast. Drax ( Dave Bautista ), Mantis ( Pom Klementieff ), and Nebula ( Karen Gillan ) are often put together in hilarious combinations that also speak to their greater gifts within the group, and we also get just the right amount of the newer additions in Kraglin ( Sean Gunn ) and the adorable good dog Cosmo (voiced by Maria Bakalova ). Gunn has to juggle a lot with this finale, but once again, he shows he’s a master at knowing exactly how to work with a large ensemble.

Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-Vol-3-Chris-Pratt-Zoe-Saldana-Dave-Bautista-and-Pom-Klementieff

Gunn finds the perfect way to end each of these character’s stories in a way that feels right in line with the direction they’ve been going this entire time. While the editing of Vol. 3 can often be a bit of a mess, with the film flying back-and-forth between Rocket’s history and the Guardians’ latest mission without any real rhyme or reason, it’s only a bit distracting and still manages to make for an overall successful combination of stories.

And yet, there still might be a bit too much on Gunn’s plate with this one. Even with a two-and-a-half hour runtime—which flies by—Poulter’s Adam Warlock gets a bit lost in the mix. Gunn has teased Warlock throughout this trilogy, and his inclusion here feels like a now-or-never scenario. Warlock largely sets the story in motion, and while he’s part of the journey throughout, he never quite meshes with the rest of the narrative in a practical way. Poulter is fun in a role that places him as powerful, but kind of a dummy (a dynamic which the film itself notes this universe already has plenty of), but considering how many spinning plates Gunn has going, it’s more impressive that this golden one is the only one that falters.

However, the same can’t be said about Iwuji’s High Evolutionary, a menacing villain that does away with Marvel’s recent trend of understandable antagonists, as Iwuji goes full-on monster here. The High Evolutionary’s goal is perfection, and the means to which he goes after that desire is often disturbing and strange, and fits right into the darker instincts of Gunn’s filmography—as The High Evolutionary has a face that seems stretched onto his scalp, and a penchant for making strange animal hybrid machines that look like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle rejects made by Toy Story ’s maniac child Sid Phillips.

Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-Vol-3-The-High-Evolutionary

But while it’s hard to say goodbye, it’s also refreshing to do so. Despite this crew having seemingly nothing in common, over the last decade, Gunn has written this group in a way that makes them truly feel like a family that loves and cares for each other. This isn’t cynical in the way the previous films could be at times, but rather, Vol. 3 really leans into the deep adoration each member of this team has for each other. No matter what combination of characters we get, that friendship flows through it, and we know that each of these teammates would risk their lives for any of the others. It’s that passion and devotion that makes the Guardians the best superhero team up in the MCU—and therefore, maybe ever?—and wonderful that this team gets to conclude their time together on their own terms with an ending as fitting and satisfying as this one is.

Yet even more of a loss than this team is Gunn, who Marvel took a chance with, allowing the writer-director who had only made weirdo films like Super and Slither , and allowed him to take a rarely-known team of characters and turn them into one of the most beloved segments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In many ways, Gunn brought humor to the MCU, a love between characters, and he actually cared about the music being used in these films—all elements that have permeated throughout the rest of the MCU. It’s nothing short of astonishing what he’s done with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, taking characters no one knew and turning them into the best part of this world.

Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-Vol-3-Vin-Diesel-Bradley-Cooper-Chris-Pratt-Zoe-Saldana-Dave-Bautista-Karen-Gillan-and-Pom-Klementieff

After a fairly disappointing Phase Four, and an underwhelming beginning to Phase Five with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania , Gunn leaves the MCU by showing Marvel what lessons they should learn from his work in this trilogy. These films should be led by the heart, not by the inevitable third-act fight sequence, or the attempts to set up the next decade of content. Vol. 3 shows how much better the MCU is when Marvel lets a creator see out their vision, instead of placing their vision on the creator. If anything, the most painful loss of Vol. 3 is of Gunn. Even after three films in this universe, he managed to make all of these films feel fresh and unique, never watering down our love for this group, and got out before he was left spinning his wheels. The MCU has had plenty of great directors in this universe, but no one has taken full advantage of the freedoms and potential of this universe quite like Gunn, and that ambition, vision, and sense of heart and humor will be missed in this world.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn’t just the ideal sendoff for this group, it’s the best MCU film in years, and a reminder of how much fun and moving the Marvel Cinematic Universe can actually be after film-after-film of recent disappointments. The Guardians of the Galaxy were the best corner of the MCU, and Gunn has created the perfect goodbye to this gang of misfits.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 comes to theaters on May 5.

Movie Reviews
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is, depressingly, the best Marvel movie since Endgame

Trilogy-ender breathes life into a wilting marvel cinematic universe.

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Marvel has a direction problem.

That's not to say it has a directors problem; the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has never hurt for big names behind the camera. But beyond the people at the helm, the biggest problem with Marvel's latest films hasn't been the films themselves: It's the direction they're all headed in.

After a series of increasingly interconnected releases managed to build a narrative arc that started all the way back in 2008's Iron Man and finished in that single snappy second of Avengers: Endgame in 2019, the franchise has been mostly unmoored.

Because the incredible achievement of the MCU has been creating what is essentially a gigantic crossover episode — varied enough that it can attract fans of multiple genres, and big enough that following along feels like a communal experience.

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However, every conflict eventually needs a resolution, and unfortunately, even Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige couldn't keep the same game going indefinitely. Eventually the bad guy had to go, the hammer had to be handed off, and the long intertwined threads that gave the MCU its allure had to, mostly, wrap themselves up. While that is satisfying, it's not good for the franchise's future, as these stories are much less compelling when it feels like they don't have a reason to exist.

So when I say Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best — and first actually good — Marvel entry since Endgame, maybe you can extend me some latitude.

It's one of the earliest MCU properties still putting out movies, and (though James Gunn is not the only director with writing credits) one of only two solely written and directed by the same person. That gave Guardians Vol. 2 a unique voice, even when its contemporaries were relatively strong.

Now that nearly every other cinematic release reads like a holding pattern until they finally get around to mutants, Guardians Vol. 3 is the first sign in a while that Marvel might actually have some genuine enjoyment left in the tank.

Finale of trilogy a dark departure

As to the plot, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 continues the friends-are-family ethos at the group's centre since the beginning. After the events of Endgame , Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) no longer remembers past love interest Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), and is instead employed as a Ravager — essentially a space pirate — under the guidance of the still confusingly underused Sylvester Stallone.

Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) bump up against one another in the compelling-enough friendship b-plot that already found its zenith in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Here, the journey is less about them finding strength in one another, and more about that relationship wilting on the vine.

Quill, meanwhile, is drowning himself in alcohol at the very start of a self-pitying character arc that develops into something more off-putting than humanizing. And taking care of him is Bradley Cooper's Rocket, perhaps the most depressed creature of the bunch.

Sean Gunn on playing Rocket Raccoon and his big Guardians moment

That very much not a raccoon (according to him) character is stuck in the past. We find him moping around their space-home Knowhere, listening to an overwrought acoustic recording of Creep , reminiscing about his soon-to-be-revealed animal-testy background while tears stream down his face.

It's all very slow and very sad — that is, until he's blown through about six buildings into a coma that requires the rest of the gang to race across the universe for a cure.

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If that sounds like a departure from the zany but shallow fun of previous Guardians installments (and virtually everything else on the Marvel big screen lately), that's because it is. In Gunn's closing of the trilogy, his writing and direction exhibits a barbed animosity for his characters; the aw-shucks millennial humour that's become the bane of virtually everyone's existence is replaced by a bitter — and surprisingly violent — undercurrent.

With it, you can pretty much throw all the messages the previous films built up out the window. While that might be the worst fate imaginable for some past fans ("Remember when these movies were fun? James Gunn doesn't," reads Mashable's review ), the mature take kick-starts Marvel out of its rut. The resentment developing between just about everyone on this team does more to serve the characters than any amount of weak comedic jabs or saccharine come-together moments ever did.

A man in a purple robe, and what appears to be skin artificially stitched onto his head, stands next to a pile of rubble in a futuristic room. To his right a figure wearing all white robes looks on.

Compelling villain, strong action

For example, Quill's painful attempts to argue Gamora into loving him again result in a series of explosive monologues — refreshingly original to those who found Adam Sandler's attempts to manipulate a trauma victim in 50 First Dates deeply unsettling.

Rocket's coma-flashbacks through his experimental upbringing do a surprisingly good (if sometimes mawkish) job of tying the story together, while cementing Cooper as one of the few genuinely talented live actor turned voice actors out there.

The Guardians' newest villain talks working with James Gunn and Chris Pratt

And our villain, Chukwudi Iwuji's High Evolutionary, pairs an impressive performance with a backstory good enough to actually warrant his existence — unlike Christian Bale's solidly acted but narratively one-note Gorr the God Butcher.

And even still, despite the somewhat dour turn, the comedy is still there. Will Poulter (who cut his teeth in the genre all the way back in his Son of Rambow and School of Comedy days) does well here, though he unfortunately adds even more to Marvel's glut of "too-dumb-to-live" comedic relief characters.

A man and a woman are seated in a futuristic spaceship. The interior of the spaceship is entirely gold-coloured. Both characters have golden skin and gold clothing. The woman seated in the front is looking back at the man seated behind her. Both have concerned looks on their faces.

Ignoring the cloying, doll-eyed cast of animals Rocket is given to draw obvious pathos from, the strength of Vol. 3 is undeniably in its action (the trilogy-ender has some of the most impressive fight scenes yet), multiple climactic moments and grown-up, but-not-too-grown-up tone.

For the first time in a long time, it's a Marvel movie made to tell a story, instead of dragging a story along as an excuse for bright colours and explosions. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is twice the excitement with half the fat, which may not be all that appetizing to those just here for the dessert.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Jackson Weaver is a reporter and film critic for CBC's entertainment news team in Toronto. You can reach him at [email protected].

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 First Reviews: A Satisfying Finale for Gunn and the Gang

Critics say the presumably final outing for the guardians packs an emotional punch, enhanced by dazzling visuals and wild set pieces, even if its villains don't quite hit the mark..

TAGGED AS: First Reviews , marvel cinematic universe , movies

Here’s what critics are saying about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 :

Does it live up to expectations?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has everything you would expect from James Gunn and Marvel Studios. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 achieves what it sets out to do, which is provide a stirring and audience-pleasing finale. – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 offers a rare thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: a satisfying ending to a trilogy. – Joshua Yehl, IGN Movies

I didn’t expect to feel so sad while watching this movie. – Mike Ryan, Uproxx

How does it compare to the first two Guardians movies?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the weirdest, grimmest, most emotional entry in Gunn’s MCU franchise, but it’s also the strongest. – Molly Freeman, Screen Rant

This edition largely succeeds like the other ones, thanks to the chemistry of the main ensemble. – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

Like its two predecessors, the film is refreshing in the context of its own cinematic universe. – Greg Nussen, Slant Magazine

Given how almost the entirety of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 feels like a superficial, snarky, and sarcastic deviation, Vol. 3 will evoke similar frustrations. – Patrick Cavanagh, ComicBook.com

Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, Rocket (voice: Bradley Cooper), Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Groot (voice: Vin Diesel), Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

(Photo by ©Marvel/©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Where does it fit in the MCU?

Leave it to James Gunn to rescue Marvel from its self-inflicted woes with the best MCU film since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame . – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

It’s the best MCU film in years, and a reminder of how much fun and moving the Marvel Cinematic Universe can actually be. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 feels ripped out of an older phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe… a return to form. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

A blockbuster that is perfectly suited to its time, and offers a much-needed win for the MCU. – Molly Freeman, Screen Rant

The impact of Rocket’s emotional arc is one of the most powerful we’ve seen in the entire MCU. – Patrick Cavanagh, ComicBook.com

James Gunn’s soulful style remain unlike anything else in the MCU. – Joshua Yehl, IGN Movies

In a funny way, it makes sense that Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 is more grounded than the other Phase Four movies. – William Bibbiani, The Wrap

Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax, Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Karen Gillan as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

How are the visuals?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has some of the most stunning visuals of any Marvel Studios film. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

So bizarrely trippy at times it’s as if Gunn is aiming to create a midnight cult classic rather than a blockbuster superhero film. – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

Gunn ushers us into uncharted new realms of wackadoo production design and outlandish costumes, reminding us that he’s never been shy about letting his stylistic freak flag fly. – Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

This insane adventure looks so good… Gunn and his team deliver a real sense of place to his various environments. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

A breath of fresh air following multiple MCU productions full of muted tones. – Patrick Cavanagh, ComicBook.com

One major aspect where Guardians 3 sets itself apart from Quantumania is the visual effects, which are vivid and spectacular. – Joshua Yehl, IGN Movies

Gunn’s preferred aesthetic is stomach-churning. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

What about the action?

The action sequences are also stunners, especially an epic climactic battle accompanied by the propulsive Beastie Boys classic “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

The action sequences feel experimental but never showy, as Gunn aimed to showcase these characters in new and compelling ways. – Patrick Cavanagh, ComicBook.com

Unlike many contemporary action films… [it] allows audiences to take in the fight choreography in all its glory. – Caitlin Chappell, CBR.com

There is a hallway fight scene that will no doubt wow audiences. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the Spacedog in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Is it funny?

Often funny… The scene stealer turns out to be the good-natured, beefy Drax, with Bautista showing us his comedy chops. – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

I’m still chuckling at the ridiculous exchange among the Guardians over which buttons to press on their spacesuits to properly communicate with each other. – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

The misfit team’s constant punchlines and I’m-just-busting-your-chops dynamic have grown exhausting. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

Is it also kind of dark?

Vol. 3 is perhaps also the darkest Marvel Studios has gone… There are some moments that are not for the faint of heart. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

The darkest contained MCU entry, Gunn’s examination of exploration, PTSD, and family bonds is fully engaging and tear-inducing. – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

At times, Vol. 3 can be unsettling… Abounds in intense depictions of animal torture. – Greg Nussen, Slant Magazine

This will be a difficult watch for some viewers. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

This is a movie that will probably traumatize some kids and maybe a few adults. – William Bibbiani, The Wrap

Baby Rocket (voice: Bradley Cooper) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

How is the soundtrack?

The soundtrack is once again top-notch. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Gunn, who might be the master of the needle drop for his perfect soundtracks, is at the top of his game here… His use of songs from Radiohead, Earth Wind & Fire, Rainbow, and The Beastie Boys creates a beautiful goodbye anthem. – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

Songs like The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” and Faith No More’s “We Care a Lot” feel more like an opportunity for Gunn to showcase his own musical taste than elevating a sequence. – Patrick Cavanagh, ComicBook.com

What about the villain?

One of the MCU’s most memorable and twisted villains. – Caitlin Chappell, CBR.com

Chukwudi Iwuji is great as the High Evolutionary… His outbursts are terrifying, and Iwuji wonderfully captures the ferocity and anger of a man who is committed to his beliefs. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

It is refreshing to face off with a Marvel villain whose existence doesn’t threaten literally every other being in the MCU. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

Iwuji is also perhaps the strongest of the Guardians movie villains, turning in a multifaceted performance as the High Evolutionary. – Molly Freeman, Screen Rant

The High Evolutionary is an especially effective villain during the flashbacks… but he feels far less threatening in the present. – Joshua Yehl, IGN Movies

The High Evolutionary’s machinations, despite an intense, shout-to-the-sky performance of the old school from Iwuji, are all extremely melodramatic and Iowa-flat. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

Iwuji bellows in a performance of Al Pacino-level over-the-top-itude. – Peter Debruge, Variety

The High Evolutionary’s inclusion is as forgettable as a majority of other Marvel villains. – Patrick Cavanagh, ComicBook.com

Chukwudi Iwuji as The High Evolutionary in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

How is the introduction of Adam Warlock?

Poulter is extremely funny as the character. – Kate Erbland, IndieWire

Poulter does a good job with the material he is given, but it isn’t much, unfortunately. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

He ultimately fails to make a lasting impression. – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

He never quite meshes with the rest of the narrative in a practical way. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

His scenes regularly grind the narrative momentum to a halt, and we can’t help but wish his entire plot was excised. – Patrick Cavanagh, ComicBook.com

Unfortunately, he feels like he’s only in this film out of obligation, and it’s sad to say Volume 3 wouldn’t have been much different if he were cut out. – Joshua Yehl, IGN Movies

Is the movie too long?

It’s wildly self-indulgent. – Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

At a jam-packed, planet-hopping 150 minutes, it also feels less like a conventional moviegoing experience than the endorphin rush that comes from waiting years for the next season of your favorite TV series, then binge-watching all the new episodes in a single sitting. – Peter Debruge, Variety

This one is too damn long — but I’ll confess you likely won’t notice the bloated runtime simply because Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 almost never slows down. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

Chris Pratt as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Is there too much going on?

Gunn has to juggle a lot with this finale, but once again, he shows he’s a master at knowing exactly how to work with a large ensemble. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

The story is a bit messy, though. Gunn has a lot of story he wants to tell and he tells every bit of it. – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

There are simply too many characters here, and while they all get their own mini-arcs, most of them feel hollow. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

How does it leave us feeling about the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The success of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 proves that it’s still possible for Marvel movies to hit and hit hard after more than 30 films. – William Bibbiani, The Wrap

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a reminder that with the right cast, crew, and story, superheroes can still deliver. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

When I think of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the MCU, I think of Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III , “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” – David Gonzalez, The Cinematic Reel

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters everywhere on May 5, 2023.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best Marvel movie in years

The last of James Gunn’s Marvel movies doesn’t get caught up in the multiverse.

by Alex Abad-Santos

Chris Pratt is believed by some to be the least-liked Chris among the Hollywood Chrises. He is the face of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Saying that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best Marvel movie since Avengers: Endgame feels like a loaded statement. Maybe one that should come with multiple asterisks.

Since Endgame , Marvel’s slate has included some uncharacteristically middling movies like Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness . Spider-Man: No Way Home is fantastic but it’s considered a Sony and Marvel collaboration. The studio has also released some extreme stinkers into the wild, like Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania . It’s all led to the feeling that Marvel is in a relative rut .

When I say that Guardians Vol. 3 is the best Marvel film since Endgame , however, I mean it as a genuine compliment: The movie is great and not just the best house on a bad block.

Director James Gunn’s final Guardians chapter rips and roars with the confidence and emotions that nine years and multiple movies featuring this band of space underdogs bring. It achieves all this by, thankfully, ignoring Marvel’s grand design.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 is about picking up the pieces and the evil of eugenics

The third Guardians movie, the first since 2017’s Vol 2. , begins with rebuilding. That’s the only option when half the universe’s living beings were zapped away in 2018’s Infinity War only to come back, five years having passed, in 2019’s Endgame . Marvel’s various movies and Disney+ shows have tackled “the snap” and “the snapback” in their own ways, showing us glimpses of how people in the MCU dealt with the blip. Clint Barton found an apprentice; Wanda Maximoff got way too deep into demonic paraphernalia; Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson became bros, and Wilson became Captain America.

The Guardians, who briefly appeared in the surprisingly dismal Thor: Love and Thunder , have started to build a headquarters on Knowhere — introduced in the first movie, Knowhere is the massive, cosmic skull of the celestial being that was mined for organic matter and then became a seedy intergalactic outpost. With Thanos defeated and trillions of beings snapped back and forth between existence, Nebula (Karen Gillan), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Drax (Dave Bautista) have created a home for anyone that needs one.

It’s a full-circle moment for the Guardians, who began this trilogy as individuals, homeless and alone. In each other, this cybernetic assassin, talking tree, raccoon with genius intellect, insectoid empath, and extremely literal destroyer have found a family. And together, they’ve taken it upon themselves to give fellow space weirdos a place for comfort and relief, the way this makeshift family has done for themselves.

Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is the focus of the third Guardians movie.

The two names noticeably absent in this rebuild project are Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Star-Lord is physically with the Guardians on Knowhere, but emotionally, he’s in a wasteland. He grieves over Gamora, the one who died in Infinity War and the currently alive time-displaced one who came back in Endgame. This new Gamora isn’t the one he loved, and she’s nowhere to be found. Quill drinks to numb the pain.

Star-Lord’s drinking and depression isn’t the main villain of the story though. The big bad is the entity known as the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a powerful mad scientist who dabbles in cosmic eugenics. The High E genetically tinkers with all kinds of beings — walruses, otters, orphan children — and possesses a grand vision of creating a perfect utopia. Each time these utopias fail, the High Evolutionary starts over, killing all his creations. He sees this as a kind of mercy for his imperfect creations.

It turns out that Rocket and the High Evolutionary have a connection, and for some nefarious reason, the High E now wants Rocket back. The bounty hunt on Rocket also introduces a superpowered himbo named Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) into the fray.

And as these pieces begin to lock into place, the third movie unfurls as part Rocket origin story and part heist. The Guardians are off to save their furry friend.

How will the team save Rocket in this infinite universe? Well, without giving too much away, in a galaxy where everyone is so insignificant, nothing is more powerful than family. It isn’t always perfect, and sometimes it hurts, but whether it’s the one you’re born into or the one you find, family is the only thing saving us in this cold, enormous expanse.

Thank god this isn’t the multiverse

As saccharine and as corny as that all sounds, it’s worth noting that Guardians Vol. 3 is a Marvel movie. Marvel’s films and the comic books they’re based on aren’t actually all that abstract, at least at their best. Marvel’s characters were created to tell stories about friendship and goodness, and teach children how to be better to one another. Gunn hasn’t shied away from that since the first Guardians movie in 2014, and now, the new movie is still tracing out these characters and the bonds they share some nine years later.

This is not only Gunn’s last Guardians movie, it’s his last for Marvel. He’s been named co-chairman and CEO of Warner Bros, which will see him become the DCU version of Marvel’s Kevin Feige. It’s not too hard to see why DC wanted to give him the reins; his Guardians franchise has been incredibly popular.

That popularity has given Gunn more freedom than other directors in the Marvel system. You can see that leeway in the way he plays with visuals.

In this film, we get genetically modified, freakishly adorable otters and walruses, a villain whose grafted skin is stretched sheerly thin over his robotic modifications, aliens chomping on skewered rodent street food, and a fleshy pink planet that’s purposely sphincter-like. The movie’s aesthetics often veer into incredibly gross and gooey, a deliberate choice each time. There’s a thoughtfulness to the physics, weight, and scale of every scene. The fight sequences, bright and bold, are choreographed with that same philosophy.

This is a planetary outpost that the Guardians (in spacesuits) land on. It’s supposed to be fleshy and gross.

There’s no mistaking Guardians for any other Marvel franchise.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania , which came out earlier this year, and Guardians Vol. 3 essentially take place in the same setting: a weird alien world that doesn’t look like Earth. Still, they look drastically different (derogatory). Quantumania ’s visuals had no defining qualities; they were aggressively generic. And based on the way it was shot, I’m not even sure if any of the film’s actors were ever in the same room at the same time. If Quantumania looked half as good as Guardians , it wouldn’t have been as awful as it was.

More importantly, though, Gunn’s freedom also affords Guardians Vol. 3 the benefit of not being bound to the MCU multiverse.

The multiverse , as established in MCU projects like Spider-Man: No Way Home , Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , Quantumania , and the Loki Disney+ series, is a concept derived from quantum physics in which there are infinite parallel worlds that contain parallel versions of ourselves. For the MCU, that means infinite versions of our superheroes and supervillains.

Now, imagine the burden of spelling that idea out every time.

Marvel itself isn’t even consistent with the multiverse rules. They seem to change from project to project — for instance, in No Way Home , Spider-Man is played by multiple actors; in Multiverse of Madness , all of the Doctors Strange are played by Benedict Cumberbatch. The studio has to deal with an off-screen controversy too: Jonathan Majors , who was arrested for domestic abuse in March, is playing multiple versions of the villain Kang.

The MCU’s timeline itself is also extremely confusing.

Loki establishes that there’s an entire agency that culls parallel timelines, and at the end of the series, Loki himself plays a part in its demise, which results in all these alternate universes sprouting up from nowhere. What’s unclear is how those events happened within the context of Multiverse of Madness , which establishes this multiple universe theory as something that Wanda Maximoff and Doctor Strange seem to have some knowledge about (despite no interactions with Loki). Nor do we know when the events of both those projects figure into Quantumania ’s timeline. The multiverse is supposed to connect this next batch of Marvel movies as a throughline, but Marvel hasn’t done a good job spelling out how.

A golden retriever wearing a CCCP spacesuit.

Aside from the time-displaced Gamora, which the entire movie waves off as fluke time-travel, Guardians Vol. 3 has no interest in the multiverse. It’s much better off for it.

Instead of getting deep into the (variable) scientific weeds, the Guardians are allowed to live in this world with one another. That often results in these sardonic, literal, naive, and brash characters bouncing off each other to comedic effect. But in this installment, Gunn pushes his cast into more somber territory, toying with the idea that if found families help us all to grow and heal, what happens when you grow enough to be on your own? What if you’re brave enough to find your own adventure? And what does that goodbye feel like?

It turns out that answering those questions makes for a pretty fantastic Marvel movie.

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Guardians of the galaxy vol. 3.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 71 Reviews
Kids Say 89 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Trauma, teamwork at heart of darker MCU threequel.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

Several upsetting scenes involving Rocket's past, which is revealed to be a trau

Includes the first use of "f--k" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: "Get in the f

In an early scene, Peter gets so drunk that he must be carried out of a tavern -

Flirting, intense eye contact, and a couple of compliments. Mantis makes a secur

Brands visible include Sony, Ford. Part of the broad MCU franchise with countles

Any Positive Content?

Like previous installments, focuses on teamwork, perseverance, and empathy. Demo

Guardians are brave (if at times impulsive), smart, thoughtful, strategic. They

Centered around a White male lead. Though people of color play several key roles

Violence & Scariness

Several upsetting scenes involving Rocket's past, which is revealed to be a traumatic story of grief and animal torture/death (hybrid creatures made through experiments may be alarming to young kids). Massive destruction. Many weapons (guns, bombs, blades, more) used to blast, threaten, harm, and kill. Characters are shot, incinerated, and decapitated, with gore and skeletal remains visible. One main character is near death for much of the movie. Other sympathetic characters are killed or appear to die. Children are held captive. Intense one-on-one fights and one choreographed battle sequence that's Kingsman -like in its violence. When Nebula is badly hurt, she can snap her body parts back into place, which can be jarring. Medical procedures shown. Alien creatures bleed in many colors. Large, intimidating monsters/hybrid creatures. A character pries something out of someone else's bloody head after that person dies a violent, revenge-fueled death. A character is attacked, and his face is left a bloody mess. A character's skin-covered mask is taken off, revealing a bloody face below. Many people die when a person made for killing terrorizes and kills others. A leader destroys an entire planet of inhabitants whom he views as expendable experiments; this same attitude affects his opinion of most other living creatures. A living space station has a lot of squishy, goopy features that may be unpleasant for some. Mantis sometimes makes creatures do things against their will. Arguments/yelling.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Includes the first use of "f--k" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: "Get in the f---ing car." Other strong language: "s--t," "d--k," "ass," "a--hole," "d--khead," "stupid," "douche bag," "bitch," "damn," "dammit," "screw you," "dang," "shut up," "idiot," "twit," "piss," "suck my --" (incomplete), "moron," "butt," "dumb," "freakin'," "friggin'," "oh my God," "hell." Groot's comments can sometimes be interpreted as cursing.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

In an early scene, Peter gets so drunk that he must be carried out of a tavern -- and it's clear that it's not the first time. A character witnesses a drug deal involving underage beings. The drug is later referenced as meth.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Flirting, intense eye contact, and a couple of compliments. Mantis makes a security guard fall in love with Drax.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Brands visible include Sony, Ford. Part of the broad MCU franchise with countless tie-in products available.

Positive Messages

Like previous installments, focuses on teamwork, perseverance, and empathy. Demonstrates power of friendship and found family, the reality of coming to terms with your past while also moving forward, the necessity of offering -- and accepting -- forgiveness and second chances. Lessons about believing in yourself, warnings about the evils of bigotry, eugenics, supremacy.

Positive Role Models

Guardians are brave (if at times impulsive), smart, thoughtful, strategic. They might have had shady pasts, but they stick by a code and are loyal to one another, acting heroically to save their families and friends. They are examples of how individuals form kinship bonds. Peter learns to accept that things won't always work out the way he wants them to. Some villains are outright evil, but at least one finds redemption, illustrating the franchise's belief in second chances.

Diverse Representations

Centered around a White male lead. Though people of color play several key roles, nearly all are hidden under makeup and VFX, including Zoe Saldana (Black Latina) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Greek-Filipino American) as Drax, Pom Klementieff (Korean) as Mantis, Vin Diesel (multiracial) as Groot, dulling any sense of ethnic diversity. The main visibly non-White character is The High Evolutionary, the central villain, who's played by Nigerian actor Chukwudi Iwuji. Women are more than sidekicks here and don't just exist to prop up the male characters. They have agency and contribute to the group, whether it's physical strength or super empathy/persuasion.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the third (and theoretically final) feature film in the massively popular MCU sub-franchise about the ragtag found-family group. This time around, Peter Quill ( Chris Pratt ), Drax ( Dave Bautista ), Groot ( Vin Diesel ), Nebula ( Karen Gillan ), and Mantis ( Pom Klementieff ) must enlist the help of "other timeline" Gamora ( Zoe Saldana ) to save Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper ) from a villain who believes he's working for the betterment of the galaxy by trying to create the perfect species. This is the darkest and goriest of the three Guardians films: It explores the deep-seated trauma that one of the characters experienced early in life and has upsetting scenes of animal torture and experimentation. There's also explosive sci-fi action violence, mass destruction, decapitations, weapons use, blood, skeletal remains, and a huge body count (some of them sympathetic characters). Expect a fair bit of strong language, including the MCU's first F-word (dropped by Quill in a moment of frustration), plus "a--hole," "s--t," "d--k," "bitch," and more. Characters flirt, and Quill gets extremely drunk. But he's also fiercely loyal to his crew, and the Guardians continue to demonstrate teamwork, perseverance, and courage. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

a raccoon is strapped to a metal table looking frightened

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (71)
Kids say (89)

Based on 71 parent reviews

Lots of Animal Abuse - Know before you go

Too sad and violent and not very good or funny., what's the story.

In GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, the Guardians, having (mostly) survived the events of the previous MCU films , are living in Knowhere in a state of low-key PTSD. That's particularly true for Peter Quill ( Chris Pratt ), who's still mourning the death of his Gamora ( Zoe Saldana ). Then Adam Warlock ( Will Poulter ) -- a killing machine genetically engineered and raised by Sovereign leader Ayesha ( Elizabeth Debicki ) to destroy the Guardians -- ends up surprising the gang and leaving Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper ) near death. Nebula ( Karen Gillan ) and Mantis ( Pom Klementieff ) discover that Rocket has a "kill switch" inside him that needs to be overridden if they want to save his life, so the whole gang -- including Groot ( Vin Diesel ) and Drax ( Dave Bautista ) -- head off to track down the code. Their search ultimately leads to the ultrapowerful High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), who's trying to create utopian societies throughout the universe. Rocket's past -- and his connection to The High Evolutionary -- reveal how he came to be, what kind of creature he really is, and even how he got his name. Meanwhile, Peter must come to terms with the reality that the Gamora who's from the other timeline introduced in Endgame never lived through the love story he shared with the Gamora who died in Infinity War .

Is It Any Good?

Surprisingly heartfelt, this movie is the darkest and most personal of the three Guardians films -- but also the most uneven. Writer-director James Gunn knows how to make this ragtag bunch work, but there's a layer of sadness that envelops the proceedings, despite the many laugh-out-loud moments. On the one hand, this mission has the established camaraderie of the second movie, one of the most ruthless villains in the entire MCU (The High Evolutionary is memorably terrifying with his perfection obsession), and a decades-spanning soundtrack that includes everything from Radiohead's "Creep" and the Beastie Boys' "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" to Bruce Springsteen's "Badlands" and Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over." On the other hand, the extensive flashbacks to Rocket's past, while illuminating, have such a different pace and character development that Vol. 3 sometimes feels like two stories smooshed together. The introduction of Adam Warlock is also uneven, and Poulter, who's a talented and funny actor, isn't given much to do except preen, kill, and whine for most of the movie.

Then there's the Gamora factor, which is necessarily complicated because she's not the same Gamora audiences have grown to love. It's difficult to feel invested in this Gamora, and her presence is sometimes more unpleasant than humorous. Like Peter, many viewers are likely to miss the old Gamora too much to enjoy Saldana's performance here. Pratt knows how to continue to make Star Lord lovable and messy and a bit of a wreck, and Cooper does a lovely job of conveying the trauma that Rocket experienced, as well as his core desire to belong to a found family. Bautista gets a great moment to shine when he forms a bond with a group of genetically engineered children, and Gillan's Nebula has her biggest role in the group to date, stepping up as a real leader. The visual effects focus on hybrid creatures created for potential utopias and sequences of violent whole-world destruction. The hybrids are purposefully uncanny and unsettling. It's unclear whether there will be more Guardians films in the future now that Gunn has left the MCU, so this is a good time to enjoy his final contribution to the franchise -- and be thankful for the questions he finally answered here.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 . How does it compare to the two previous movies? To other MCU movies? What's the impact of violence on kids?

Which characters do you consider role models? How do they demonstrate teamwork , perseverance , and courage ? Why are those important character strengths ?

Talk about The High Evolutionary's vision: What's wrong with his way of thinking? What does he lose by viewing Rocket and his friends as failed experiments? Can you think of parallels to real life?

What did you think of the soundtrack to Vol. 3 ? Kids/teens: Does the movie make you interested in music from the 1960s, '70s, '80s, and '90s?

What do you think happens next? Is the franchise done, will it continue as-is, or will it follow only a couple of the main characters?

Movie Details

In theaters : May 5, 2023
On DVD or streaming : August 2, 2023
Cast : Chris Pratt , Zoe Saldana , Karen Gillan , Dave Bautista , Bradley Cooper , Pom Klementieff
Director : James Gunn
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors, Latino actors, Asian actors
Studio : Disney/Marvel
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : Superheroes , Adventures , Friendship , Space and Aliens
Character Strengths : Courage , Empathy , Perseverance , Teamwork
Run time : 150 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : intense sequences of violence and action, strong language, suggestive/drug references and thematic elements
Last updated : July 18, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

05 May 2023

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

No one expected that the one about the tree and the raccoon would be a highlight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe , but so it proved with the first Guardians . After a weaker second instalment and a fun Christmas special, director James Gunn closes out his four-part trilogy with a triumph: a big, scrappy mix of humour and terror boasting a heart as big as Drax. The result may be a little too chaotic and sprawling to match the pace of the first film, but it’s packed with great moments and far more emotionally resonant.

This time, the danger is not some amorphous threat to life all across the galaxy but a personal crisis: one of the Guardians’ own is put into serious peril after a disastrous attack on their Knowhere home. The rest must find the key to saving Rocket ( Bradley Cooper ), with the clock ticking and their own emotions at the limit. The resulting quest involves teaming up once again with Gamora ( Zoë Saldaña ), who has no memory of their time together, and facing a new and terrifying adversary in Chukwudi Iwuji ’s High Evolutionary. To say he has a god complex undersells it; having found the universe lacking, he seeks to remake entire civilisations to his own design – including, it turns out, the Sovereign we saw last time, and their immature creation Adam Warlock ( Will Poulter , excellent despite limited screentime). The Evolutionary is also tied to Rocket’s origins, which it turns out are every bit as painful as Mantis ( Pom Klementieff ) once suggested.

Iwuji’s Evolutionary is not Marvel’s showiest villain, but he’s a great adversary for the Guardians, a gang of imperfect, damaged people driven by their own grief and pain to save others from both. What could be more at odds with their outlook on the world than someone obsessive about the perfection of all things? The strength of this cast has always been in their weaknesses, the failures and emotional scarring that meant they relied on one another just to get through the day, never mind guard the galaxy.

This film allows the Guardians of the Galaxy to face their fears and abandon the status quo, even if that means saying some painful goodbyes.

Having established that his heroes are in this surrogate family for a reason, Gunn smartly looks at what might happen if they dared to look beyond it and actually deal with their trauma rather than hiding from it in the acceptance of one another. So, we get flashbacks to Rocket’s genesis, witness Gamora’s anger as she struggles to reconcile the person she is with the stranger everyone else seems to remember, and see Star-Lord trying and mostly failing to imagine life without her. If Nebula ( Karen Gillan ), Mantis, Groot and Dave Bautista ’s superb Drax remain much as ever, that’s only because they were perfectly formed to begin with. But all their attempts to move forward result in a dramatically satisfying and remarkably grown-up approach to a comic book movie, especially one with this film’s wild visuals (giant organic space stations! Bat people! A Ravager merman who communicates with emojis!) and blinding colours.

This isn’t perfect. There’s bagginess around the middle, thanks to a welter of new characters and a laudable determination to give each member of the ensemble something worthy of their considerable talents, plus a couple of fight scenes are cut so fast as to be little more than brightly-coloured blurs. Then there’s the all-too-common superhero thing where monumentally horrible things happen only to be brushed aside for another quip, another scrap, another heart-to-heart. But the love that Gunn has for these characters is overwhelming, and that carries it through the rougher and slower patches. He successfully balances his tendency towards occasional snark by letting that love shine through every frame, to often heartbreaking effect.

That’s why it feels right that this film allows the Guardians of the Galaxy to face their fears and abandon the status quo, even if that means saying some painful goodbyes. The High Evolutionary succeeded better than he knew. He forced our favourite bunch of A-holes to grow, and become, perhaps, slightly better people, and that should give us all hope.

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Guardians Of The Galaxy – Quill and Gamora

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, and Maria Bakalova in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.

Jim Starlin
Chris Pratt
Chukwudi Iwuji
Bradley Cooper
1.5K User reviews
355 Critic reviews
64 Metascore
11 wins & 87 nominations total

Top cast 99+

Peter Quill …

The High Evolutionary

On-Set Groot …

Steemie Blueliver

Xlomo Smeth

Ssssaralami

Orloni Peddler

Adam Warlock

Recorder Theel

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Did you know

Trivia (at around 23 mins) In this film, Drax refuses to share his zarg nuts with Mantis. This is because in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) , she ate all of his without permission.
Goofs In the closing credits for Special Thanks, Bobcat Goldthwait 's last name is misspelled as "Goldthwaite."

Rocket : Someday I'm gonna make great machines that fly. And me and my friends are gonna go flying together, into the forever and beautiful sky.

Crazy credits SPOILER: There is a scene in the closing credits: a new roster of the Guardians of the Galaxy goes to work.
Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: One Giant Iago Ahead (2019)
Soundtracks Creep (Acoustic Version) Written by Jonny Greenwood (as Jonathan Greenwood), Ed O'Brien (as Edward John O'Brien), Colin Greenwood (as Colin Charles Greenwood), Thom Yorke (as Thomas Edward Yorke), Phil Selway (as Philip James Selway), Albert Hammond , and Mike Hazlewood Performed by Radiohead Courtesy of XL Recordings

User reviews 1.5K

rivercamp-19956
May 2, 2023
How long is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Powered by Alexa
Why is Gamora still alive in this film when her 'alternate self' should no longer exist with the death of Thanos and her present self sacrificed herself to ensure that. According to Bruce Banner and The Ancient one, these alternate selves should no longer exist. Other characters who died the same way have stayed dead.
The past version (2014) of Gamora should have turned to dust after the Endgame snap to reverse what Thanos had done in Infinity War - is (past) Gamora alive or dead? How?
May 5, 2023 (United States)
United States
New Zealand
Official Marvel
Guardianes De La Galaxia Vol. 3
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Marvel Studios
Film New Zealand
Marvel Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$250,000,000 (estimated)
$358,995,815
$118,414,021
May 7, 2023
$845,555,777

Technical specs

Runtime 2 hours 30 minutes
Dolby Surround 7.1
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Digital
IMAX 6-Track

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Reviews

Gunn really knows how to bring out the magic in this group of actors, and their charm and love of the material bring this movie home.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 19, 2024

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is probably the final triumph of Marvel Studios...There is vision and ambition behind the third film in the trilogy, a personal sincerity that these superhero movies have lost.

Full Review | Jul 7, 2024

An effects-laden spectacle propped up by an out-of-this-world ensemble whose charm carries the film through expository back story, narrative set-up, dizzying fight scenes and enough platitudes about friends and family to fill a “Fast and Furious” movie.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 7, 2024

If this is the end, I couldn’t wish for a better one. It’s everything I want from a Marvel film, but it’s also a reminder that very few of them have the heart and vision of Gunn’s trilogy.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 3, 2024

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is about Rocket finally getting to heal those wounds and do what he could never do before when he was just becoming aware—stopping this madman. This part of the MCU has always been about healing childhood trauma.

Full Review | May 25, 2024

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 manages to be more than honest-to-god entertainment, one that has the liberated weirdness of material (like a stealth We3 adaptation) that was never expected to find a mass audiences.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2023

This is the last time we see the beloved guardians. The film is laced with emotional and entertaining bits that make the swan song a thrilling ride at the movies this week.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 27, 2023

For me, it was an unsatisfying conclusion as the wear and tear had begun to be exposed, caused mostly by a scrambled storyline and wayward storytelling.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 27, 2023

Full Review | Oct 16, 2023

GotG3 has no real tie-in to the larger MCU. There are a few references to Thanos, the Snap, and the Infinity Stones, but that's about it. This tracks with the trilogy as a whole, which has always stood outside the larger Marvel narratives.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 8, 2023

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a surprisingly risky blend of dark tones and sinister villainy with great visuals, tasty music, and the emotionality we expect.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 7, 2023

While the fun, laughter, and quips, set to jukebox favourites that made this ragtag MCU family a joy to hang with are all present and correct, there are some problems with the Guardians’ third outing

Full Review | Aug 27, 2023

The strongest material is perhaps the most unexpected: the backstory of Rocket Raccoon, which is involving and even touching in ways that the rest of the picture is not.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 27, 2023

It’s hopeful and poignant, filled with moments of empathy and integrity. Equal time is given to spectacle, with lots of stunning action sequences and psychedelic space weirdness.

Full Review | Aug 23, 2023

While not as engaging or fresh as the first two films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 still had the usual James Gunn combination of dazzling CG environments, enjoyable action and great dialogue, so it was still a fun way to spend an evening.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 17, 2023

A gut punch of a film that had me in tears as much as it had me smiling.

Full Review | Aug 16, 2023

Gunn weaves a story with Rocket that is as horrifying as it is heartwarming.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 8, 2023

…all just feels like indulgence of foppish creatives who don’t have much in the way of new or relatable ideas….

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 5, 2023

Rocket's origin story is great and the only highlight of the movie. Tonally it's all over the place and the runtime is about 25 minutes too long. After the brilliance of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 we're left wondering what happened to this series.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Aug 2, 2023

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is an emotionally powerful, tear-inducing "farewell" to James Gunn and his Guardians. Rocket's bittersweet storyline is the soul, heart, and engine running the best MCU film since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 25, 2023

‘Guardians Of The Galaxy 3’ Review: Practically Perfect In Every Way

The Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best Marvel movie I’ve seen in years. I did enjoy Spider-Man: No Way Home quite a bit, but other than that, the MCU has felt a bit like a pale shadow of its former self. There’s fun to be had in bits and pieces in movies like Ant-Man 3 and Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, but it’s all gotten a little stale, like a fifth course at a meal I filled up on long ago. For every WandaVision, there’s a She-Hulk to remind us just how lousy the MCU has become compared to its glory days.

Thankfully, James Gunn sticks the landing with the third and final Guardians movie. It’s an emotionally powerful, wildly inventive, often hilarious tour de force farewell for our ragtag band of intergalactic space heroes.

I admit to a special fondness for Guardians of the Galaxy. The first film came out almost nine years ago in late 2014 and I had no idea what to expect when I went. I wasn’t a fan of the comics (having never read them) and had next to zero knowledge about any of the characters. Unlike better-known MCU heroes like Captain America, Thor and Iron Man, I went into the first Guardians movie completely blind other than a single trailer. I knew Chris Pratt from Parks & Rec where he’d played a chubby, rather dumb (but lovable) loser and that’s about it.

I fell in love. I fell in love with the characters, with the music, with the sense of humor that felt so different from other MCU gags. The writing was different, largely because this was James Gunn and he brought his own unique spin to the characters and stories. Star-Lord saves the day through a dance-off. The soundtrack is an integral part of the story. I dressed up as Star-Lord for Halloween that year, and bought an original Sony Walkman on eBay for several hundred dollars (which I sold around when Guardians 2 came out for a tidy profit).

Rocket Raccoon

Speaking of Guardians 2, it wasn’t as good as the original but it was still a fun movie that managed to preserve its own unique identity within the homogeneity of the wider MCU, something that still feels rare. Oddly, the MCU has been in a bit of an identity crisis lately. I think part of that is what worked for a unified movie universe starring Thor and Iron Man and Captain America and Black Widow doesn’t work as well when those stars are gone, and new ones have to fill their shoes.

Guardians 3, then, exists as something of an anomaly now. It is the final act to a story that began way back in 2014. Its second act landed in theaters six years ago almost to the day. We’ve seen Star-Lord and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Groot (Vin Diesel) and Drax (Dave Bautista) and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) between now and then, in Avengers movies and briefly in the latest Thor, but other than the fun holiday special, this is the first time the gang is back together.

It’s also the last, which is both sad and satisfying. Gunn does a wonderful job tying up these characters’ arcs and stories. Things get pretty emotional at times, but there’s always some comic relief around the next corner, which can feel a bit like whiplash at times, but in a good way.

I won’t spoil the story. Much focuses on Rocket’s backstory, which is pretty grim, and deals with the main villain of both that bleak past and this dire present: the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) an erratic, unhinged supervillain that embodies a classic sort of progressive thinking that’s led to noxious ideas such as eugenics: That the world can be made perfect if we just tinker with it mercilessly, without worrying too much about who gets hurt along the way. “He doesn’t want to make the world a better place,” Rocket says at one point. “He just doesn’t like it the way it is.”

Such is the nature of Utopia. Beneath every one is a dystopian reality curdling just under the surface. I can certainly think of plenty of people in today’s world who fit Rocket’s description.

Star-Lord and the High Evolutionary

I really only have one complaint.

Tthe 2.5 hour runtime might be just a tad long. For those of you who read my film reviews, this is me beating an old drum, thumpity-thumpity over and over again, but I intend to keep beating it until Hollywood listens. Movies do not need to be this long. Save something for the streaming and/or Blu-Ray release. I thought Gunn’s Suicide Squad was pretty good, but it also ran about 20 or 30 minutes too long and by its very bizarre end I was drifting. Even shaving fifteen from Guardians 3 would have made me feel a little less antsy while waiting around for the mid and post-credits scenes .

But this is honestly a fairly minor quibble. I enjoyed Guardians 3 from start to finish. I love how things wrapped up so nicely for all the different characters. Not everyone got what they wanted, but like the Rolling Stones remind us: Sometimes you get what you need.

It was a practically perfect ending to a practically perfect superhero movie that takes viewers along to weird alien worlds, through crazy action-packed fights, and into emotionally dark and redemptive places. Iwuji is terrific as the villain. Will Poulter, who plays Adam Warlock, was a nice addition if perhaps a little underused here. The whole cast is great. Cameos from Nathan Fillion and others are fun.

I laughed. I cried (more than I care to admit) and I bid farewell to some of my favorite of the MCU’s heroes. I’ll definitely see this one again, though probably not until it leaves theaters—not because it’s not great, but because it’s a little heavy to go back to. Not every movie can be as much fun as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

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Here’s my video review of Guardians 3 :

Have you seen Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 yet? Let me know what you thought of the film on Twitter or Facebook . I’ll have a follow-up post discussing some story points with spoilers later on here on this blog so please do give me a follow. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel and my Substack so you can stay up-to-date on all my TV, movie and video game reviews and coverage. Thanks!

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Review: A Rushed, Uneven, Sporadically Emotional End To The Trilogy

James Gunn's first two "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies are real standouts in the ubiquitous Marvel Cinematic Universe. Most MCU movies tend to blend together into one big, gray blob; it's an occasionally entertaining blob, but a blob all the same. More often than not, the MCU feels less like it's helmed by executives and committees rather than actual filmmakers. But Gunn's "Guardians" movies seem like the work of a singular director; someone who puts actual heart and soul into these digital-heavy, explosion-ridden extravaganzas. In Gunn's hands, the mostly unknown Guardians of the Galaxy became wonderful, vibrant characters; characters we actually cared about. Loading his films up with genuine stabs at emotion and killer pop soundtracks resulted in two pretty damn good movies; movies that are far superior to the majority of the MCU mishmash.

And now here comes Gunn's final trip of the MCU merry-go-round, at least for now. The filmmaker has moved on to Warner Bros. and DC, but not before closing out his "Guardians" trilogy. It wasn't a smooth ride to get here — Gunn was fired from Marvel and Disney in 2018 after the director's old, offensive tweets resurfaced. When that happened, there was talk that someone else would come in to helm the third "Guardians" film using Gunn's script — a prospect that didn't seem ideal to, well, anyone. The franchise's cast, loyal to Gunn, balked at the idea, and so did fans. Eventually, Disney came to its senses and brought Gunn back into the director's chair.

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" wants to be the grand finale of Gunn's trilogy. Will there be other "Guardians" movies after this? Knowing Disney and Marvel, the answer is probably yes. But this is definitely Gunn's final "Guardians" movie and is said to be the last film featuring this specific Guardians team. As such, Gunn packs in as many big, emotional swings as he can. He wants to send us off smiling, and he wants us to have fun in the process, while also engaging in a little pathos. Unfortunately, while many of the emotional beats are admittedly sweet and even sporadically charming, the film as a whole is rushed and surprisingly bland, with a shifting, unsuccessful tone that jumps from silly to sad at the drop of a hat and then back again. You're libel to get whiplash.

Rebelling against god

The Guardians are in a not-so-great place when we catch up with them. They're living on their home base Knowhere — which is not a planet, but actually the giant head of a dead god — and the team isn't what it used to be. Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), is a drunken mess, pining over his lost love Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). The Gamora that Quill knew and loved was killed by her father Thanos, but another Gamora from an alternate timeline is still alive and kicking. But since she's a different person she has no memory of Quill or being part of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Meanwhile, raccoon gunslinger Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) seems to be in his own brooding funk.

And then all hell breaks loose. A golden superman named Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) suddenly swoops into Knowhere, looking for Rocket and causing serious destruction. The Guardians try to fight him but find themselves easily overpowered. In the process, Rocket is badly injured, and the only way to save his life is for the Guardians to go on a new mission. (Side note: one of the film's frequent flaws is that it shows the characters getting badly, even nearly fatally injured ... only to have them instantly heal themselves with super space technology. But in true lazy plot device fashion, that tech doesn't work on poor Rocket.) Along the way, they pick up nu-Gamora, who continually has to remind Quill that she's not the same Gamora he knew and loved. And while all that's happening, a comatose Rocket dreams of his traumatic past.

We learn that Rocket became Rocket as a result of horrible experiments overseen by a mad scientist known as the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). This villainous character has built himself a Counter-Earth and plans to fill it with creatures of his own creation. He's playing god, in other words. There's something deeper and more fascinating here; the idea of Rocket, and his fellow experiments, rebelling against their creator — as if they were, in a way, fighting back against god. An unloving, cruel god who made them only to suffer. The High Evolutionary takes things a step further, ominously intoning, "There is no god , that's why I stepped in!" This is dark, interesting stuff! But Gunn can't linger on it for too long — he's trying to make a brightly colored blockbuster, not a Paul Schrader-esque reflection on god not answering us. Still, these faint glimmers keep "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" at least somewhat interesting. But not quite interesting enough.

Breakneck speed

Gunn and company rush through the film at a nearly breakneck speed. Like almost all superhero movies, this one is too damn long — but I'll confess you likely won't notice the bloated runtime simply because "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" almost never slows down. This is something akin to a magic trick, as if Gunn is rushing through everything to keep us from stopping and pondering it all. Because if you look too closely, you begin to notice the flaws in the design.

The filmmaker manages some genuinely touching, sweet moments, especially near the end. But they feel unearned. Yes, we've spent three movies with these characters, and therefore we should be emotionally invested in them. But as a film on its own, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" feels very much like a footnote; a quick summary of what happened to these characters you spent a few movies with. It's the film equivalent of someone saying "Oh, by the way, this happened ..."

Still, there are highlights. The film's brightly colored pop sensibilities keep it from looking like every other gray superhero flick, and Gunn stages an admittedly fun one-take action sequence, with the camera flipping and flying and tumbling around a long corridor as our heroes engage in a huge battle. And the cast is mostly up to the task of carrying the film — Pom Klementieff's Mantis is quite funny, and Chukwudi Iwuji is genuinely scary and loathsome as the demented High Evolutionary. But there are simply too many characters here, and while they all get their own mini-arcs, most of them feel hollow. Nothing here comes across as organic; it's merely happening. And Will Poulter's Adam Warlock, set up to be a big bad, might as well not be in the movie at all — he's an afterthought.

Once more with feeling

Am I being too hard on this movie? I don't think so. I also think I'm just completely burned out on superhero flicks. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" arrives at a time when talk of superhero fatigue is at an all-time high. Recent titles like "Black Adam," "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" have all underperformed at the box office. Box office is not a sign of quality, mind you — but this certainly seems to suggest that comic book movies, once a sure thing, are starting to lose their charm on the general public. We've been oversaturated with these movies for over a decade now. They overcrowd the cinematic landscape, and more often than not, they all feel the same.

And that, perhaps, is the real fatal flaw of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3." Gunn's first two movies felt different . They stood out from the pack and had their own unique personality. But "Vol. 3" feels like more of the same. I'm not suggesting Gunn and company are phoning it in this time around, but it certainly feels like the magic has faded. Whatever alchemy the filmmaker worked to make the first two "Guardians" movies memorable has evaporated into the ether. The film's tagline is "Once More With Feeling," but the feeling is gone. If this really is the end of the series it comes at not a moment too soon.

/Film Rating: 5 out of 10

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Review Thread

Rotten Tomatoes : 82 (93 reviews)

Metacritic: 68 (33 reviews)

Hollywood Reporter

The action sequences are also stunners, especially an epic climactic battle accompanied by the propulsive Beastie Boys classic “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” a typical example of the filmmaker’s uncanny knack for providing fantastic playlists. This one is no exception, straying from the first two installments’ nostalgic ‘70s-era soundtracks to encompass several decades worth of terrific cuts and featuring artists including Alice Cooper, Spacehog, The Flaming Lips, The The and The Replacements. It’s no wonder the Guardians love to danc

There’s a sense of an ending in part three of the Guardians trilogy, but not in the sense of the franchise actually, you know, coming to an end. Like almost Marvel movies these days, it presents a continuum, giving all the main players an out while leaving the door wide open to a fourth iteration should they have a change of heart. From the evidence here, that’s entirely possible — there’s no sign of burnout in the adventures of Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and co. However, there are signs of wear and tear in the conventions of the series: once its most refreshing aspect, the mixtape soundtrack seems more of a burden now, having long abandoned the conceit of the original C90.

IndieWire (B+)

Gunn has always managed to bring his own flavor to the MCU — an outlier in a franchise that continues to flatten its stories and characters in hopes of fitting them all in one big box, over and over again — and his final entry in this space offers the kind of send-off only he could craft. And while it, inevitably, opens the door for more adventures for this wild band of unlikely heroes (the appetite of the franchise world is, of course, never fully satiated), it does so on its own terms. And, really, it does something wild, something increasingly rare along the way: it makes you feel , as messy and strange and unexpected as that might be. Now that’s a super story.

Variety (9/10):

The movie is such a mile-a-minute idea factory at times that Gunn will introduce a wonky high concept like this and dedicate just a short segment of the movie to exploring it. Fortunately, audiences have grown surprising comfortable with this strategy in a time of multiverse storytelling, which means the film can keep throwing fresh concepts at them every few minutes, and so long as Gunn takes a beat to show how this or that new alien species behaves, we get it.

The Wrap (B):

For all the emotional resonance and action-packed blockbuster mayhem in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, it’s still got a lot of impish nonsense, jarring tonal shifts, and enough morbidity and outright gore that it’s now abundantly clear that the PG-13 rating doesn’t mean anything more. This is a movie that will probably traumatize some kids and maybe a few adults.

The Guardians of the Galaxy deliver their swan song in Vol. 3 and it’s a rockin’ good time. Through Rocket’s tragic origin story we’re given a new appreciation for this whole family of lovable malcontents. And even though the plot has a bit too much going on, some of the humor feels stale, and Adam Warlock was woefully underused, the cast’s incredible chemistry and James Gunn’s soulful style remain unlike anything else in the MCU, and this movie sends them out on an emotional and action-packed high note.

Rolling Stone (2/5):

What was once an anything-goes sensibility now feels like it’s stuck in a nothing’s-sticking gear. Dark, wearisome and bombastic, along with an ensemble cast clearly radiating that they’d rather be someplace else, is not what we come to a Marvel movie for. We already have the DCEU for that

Empire (4/5)

A return to form for the MCU and for the Guardians, this is tear-jerking and heart-warming in equal measure, keeping its characters in focus despite all the chaos and colour swirling around them.

In Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 our beloved band of misfits are settling into life on Knowhere. But it isn't long before their lives are upended by the echoes of Rocket's turbulent past. Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him on a dangerous mission to save Rocket's life—a mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them

Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord

Zoe Saldana as Gamora

Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer

Karen Gillan as Nebula

Pom Klementieff as Mantis

Vin Diesel as Groot (voice)

Sean Gunn as Kraglin Obfonteri / Rocket Raccoon (motion capture)

Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon (voice)

Noah Raskin as Baby Rocket Raccoon (voice)

Chukwudi Iwuji as Herbert Wyndham/High Evolutionary

Will Poulter as Adam Warlock

Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha

Maria Bakalova as Cosmo (voice & motion capture)

Slate as Cosmo (on-set movement & behavior)

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Moon Knight's Marc Spector and Alters Explained

Echo: maya lopez’s powers & comic history explained, the perfect doctor strange 3 story has been set up by 5 mcu movies & shows.

There have been many huge moments in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that have dramatically changed characters' lives forever. Over the last 16 years, Marvel Studios has adapted dozens of complex and believable characters from Marvel Comics into live-action, and audiences have watched many of them grow and develop over several projects spanning years. This means there have been some major moments of character development in many of these characters' lives, changing them forever , but often for the better.

There are simply too many of these transformative moments to list, but some stick in the mind for months or even years after watching. These scenes are often poignant, and mark huge changes in these characters' lives and journeys in the MCU . Often, these moments make heroes even stronger, more resilient and more self-assured, though some are simply incredible moments in which they show off some of the best powers in the MCU . The likes of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and the Scarlet Witch have been through these changes, and many more will surely follow in the MCU's future.

Split image of Chris Evan's Captain America wielding Mjolnir in the Battle of Earth in Avengers Endgame (2019) on the left, Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff as the Scarlet Witch in WandaVision (2021) on the right

10 MCU Scenes Viewers Love To Rewatch Over And Over

With the sheer amount of MCU content to rewatch at all times, these memorable scenes are ones that fans can always reliably come back to.

12 Peter Parker Frees Himself From Beneath Rubble Without His Suit

Spider-man: homecoming (2017).

Following his debut in Captain America: Civil War , Tom Holland's Peter Parker embarked on his first solo mission as Spider-Man in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming . This pitted him against Adrian Toomes' Vulture , though he was urged by Tony Stark not to go after the villain. When he ignored Stark's advice and nearly caused a disaster, Parker was relieved of his Stark-designed Spider-Man suit, but went after the Vulture anyway in his original, casual costume . Caught under rubble after an attack by the Vulture, all hope seemed lost for the suitless Spider-Man.

MCU Spider-Man Movies	Year	Box Office
	2017	$880.9 Million
	2019	$1.133 Billion
	2021	$1.921 Billion

In an act of sheer strength, Peter Parker lifted the rubble off himself and got free, allowing him to go after the Vulture and stop him from stealing the equipment on the plane leaving the former Avengers Tower . This was a cathartic moment for Parker, proving that he indeed was something without the suit, and helping Tony Stark to see the value in mentoring Parker more directly , leading to his offer to officially join the Avengers. Parker's growth in Homecoming was monumental, and led to him being a better hero later on.

11 Gamora & Nebula Finally Hug Each Other

Guardians of the galaxy vol. 2 (2017).

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was a very emotional and intense journey for the whole Guardians team, who had inadvertently brought then-villain Nebula along for the ride after they crash-landed on Berhert. After being taken in by Ego, Gamora and Nebula fought each other on his planet, but this battle ended with Nebula claiming that, while Gamora only ever wanted to win, Nebula just wanted to have a sister . This declaration began to soften them both, and led to a beautiful moment where they hug after Yondu's funeral.

Karen Gillan has been rumored to be returning as Nebula in Phase 6's Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars , while Zoe Saldaña has stated that she is done as Gamora, but would love to see the character continue in the MCU without her somehow.

Nebula is obviously resistant to this hug at first, as she hadn't been raised in an affectionate environment, under the thumb of Thanos. However, this hug marked the start of a very close relationship between Gamora and Nebula , which would lead to Nebula joining the Avengers after Gamora's death in Infinity War , and would eventually culminate in Nebula becoming close with Gamora's variant, despite her not rejoining the Guardians of the Galaxy. Their hug in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was perhaps the biggest moment in either characters' life.

10 Steven Grant Learns About His Origins As Marc Spector’s Alter

Moon knight (2022).

When first introduced in Moon Knight on Disney+, Steven Grant thought he was going insane when Marc Spector, his alter, began to speak to him. However, Moon Knight episode 5, "Asylum" , revealed that Spector wasn't the alter at all, but that Steven Grant had actually been created by Marc . Steven learned this while watching back key moments in Marc Spector's childhood: the death of his brother, Randall, his mother's torment and abuse, and lonely birthday parties, before the Steven Grant alter emerged as a coping mechanism.

Marc Spector's DID played a key role in Marvel's MCU Moon Knight. Here's the difference between Moon Knight's five alters in both the comics and show.

This shocked Steven, realizing that he wasn't the original inhabitant of his own body. However, this enabled Steven to take more risks, and fostered a more caring attitude towards Marc Spector, his original form, which culminated in Steven sacrificing himself to the Duat to save Marc Spector and get him into the Field of Reeds. After Marc went back to save Steven, the pair had a much more symbiotic and understanding relationship, making them better fighters and tactical thinkers , which would be great to see continued in a possible Moon Knight season 2 .

9 Hawkeye Gives Wanda Maximoff A Pep Talk During The Battle Of Sokovia

Avengers: age of ultron (2015).

Avengers: Age of Ultron marked a tumultuous journey for Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, as they began as HYDRA experiment subjects, went on to become villains alongside Ultron, and later turned into heroes fighting with the Avengers against the tyrannical robot and his army. The intense Battle of Sokovia ended up being too much for Wanda, who wasn't sure what course of action to take next . However, a stern but caring pep talk by Clint Barton's Hawkeye gave her a clearer mind, and led to her eventually joining the Avengers officially.

It's been fantastic to see the close friendship between Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff continue in subsequent projects, as Barton freed her from Avengers HQ in Captain America: Civil War and the pair mourned together in Avengers: Endgame . This all started in Age of Ultron , the movie which saw audiences begin to fall in love with Hawkeye after considering him irrelevant in 2012's The Avengers . This pep talk sealed the deal, ensuring Wanda that if she joined in the fight against Ultron, she would be an Avenger, and join in she did .

8 Maya Lopez Defeated Kingpin With A Memory

Echo (2024).

Although there were some unfounded and ridiculous concerns about how necessary Echo , the MCU's first Marvel Spotlight series , actually was, the five-part series was actually a wonderful character study of Alaqua Cox's Maya Lopez. As she learned of her ancestral heritage as part of the Choctaw Nation, Maya Lopez realized more supernatural abilities, which eventually helped her defeat Vincent D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin . As her father figure, Maya didn't want to harm Kingpin, so defeated him with a childhood memory instead.

Echo MCU Powers and Marvel Comic Book Backstory With Daredevil

Maya Lopez a.k.a. Echo is a key street-level MCU character with a tragic past and several connections to major Marvel heroes and villains.

This memory is one audiences will know from Netflix's Daredevil series, as Wilson Fisk witnessed abuse from his father as a child, which led to him murdering his own father in cold blood. It was great to see this harked back to in Echo , establishing Kingpin's origin story in the MCU's canon to be one we're familiar with . This was also a fantastic display of Maya Lopez's new powers, and demonstrated that it was possible to shake Kingpin to his core, which could be important in upcoming projects such as Daredevil: Born Again .

7 Thor Realizes He Is Still Worthy

Avengers: endgame (2019).

Avengers: Endgame was so jam-packed full of game-changing scenes and huge moments of character development that it's hard to whittle down only a couple. One of the most satisfying and emotional moments in Endgame , however, was delivered by Chris Hemsworth's Thor during the Time Heist, which saw Thor and Rocket travel to Asgard in 2013 to acquire the Reality Stone from Jane Foster. Thor conversed with his mother, only hours before Malekith's attack on Asgard and her death, and then learned that, despite his troubles, he is still worthy .

Thor acquired Mjolnir from Asgard in 2013 during the Time Heist, and the hammer was later returned by Steve Rogers' Captain America when he also took the Infinity Stones back to their own universes, before retiring with Peggy Carter.

Thor had fallen into an intense depressive state after failing to stop Thanos from snapping his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War , ridding the universe of half its population. Weight gain and alcoholism had led to Thor becoming something of a liability, but he became much more energetic and motivated after Mjolnir found its way to his hand. This proved that Thor was still worthy, as despite feeling that he'd failed, Mjolnir had a different impression . Of course, Thor collecting Mjolnir from 2013 also allowed Captain America to wield it during the Battle of Earth, which was another huge moment.

6 Captain Marvel Unleashes Her Full Power

Captain marvel (2019).

Brie Larson was an inspired casting choice for Carol Danvers in 2019's Captain Marvel , as she was able to deliver the more vulnerable moments of the character, as well as some of her more badass and impressive feats. The most impressive came towards the end of the Phase 3 movie, however, as Carol Danvers realized her true strength after being captured by the Kree and brought before the Supreme Intelligence . Danvers broke free of the Supreme Intelligence's control and unleashed her full Tesseract-fueled power on her captors.

Captain Marvel's MCU Appearance	Year
	2019
	2019
	2021
	2022
	2023

Captain Marvel showing off her insane gifts was enough to strike fear into the heart of Kree warrior Ronan , and enough to easily defeat Yon-Rogg without a second thought. Danvers later went on to obliterate the Supreme Intelligence itself, which had a damning impact on Hala, the Kree homeworld, and led to Dar-Benn's rampage in The Marvels . However, it was still powerful to see Danvers access her incredible strength and cosmic abilities, proving just how limited she'd been by her Kree guardians.

5 Doctor Strange Goes On A Journey

Doctor strange (2016).

As a man of science and medicine, it was always going to be a hard sell trying to get Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange to believe in the Mystic Arts. However, the Ancient One seemed to find this relatively easy, as she just sent Doctor Strange on a journey across universes, dimensions and planes of existence, contributing to one of the MCU's most cinematic, beautiful and memorable scenes . Strange experienced space, spaghettification, turning into hands, and meeting Dormammu before being thrust back to Earth.

Doctor Strange, Loki, and Namor in the MCU

Recent rumors suggest Doctor Strange 3 may be adapting a major storyline from Marvel Comics, the seeds of which have already been planted in the MCU.

While he didn't believe the Ancient One before, after this journey, he begged her to train him in the Mystic Arts, hoping that this would allow him to heal his hands. As he trained, however, Strange forgot about the limits that his hands may have presented, and set out to learn all he could about magic and sorcery, eventually becoming one of the most powerful sorcerers in the MCU's history . This all started with his trippy journey in 2016's Doctor Strange , so this is perhaps one of the MCU's most transformative and important moments.

4 Scarlet Witch Frightens Her Variant’s Children On Earth-838

Doctor strange in the multiverse of madness (2022).

While 2016's Doctor Strange included a massive character development moment for Strange himself, its 2022 sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , marked a transformative journey for Wanda Maximoff's Scarlet Witch. Throughout the movie, the Scarlet Witch chased Strange and multiversal traveler Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez , hoping to steal the latter's power to reunite with her sons after WandaVision . To defeat her, however, Chavez gave Wanda exactly what she wanted, opening a portal to a universe where her sons were alive .

WandaVision's upcoming spinoff, Agatha All Along , is expected to continue the Scarlet Witch's story. Although Elizabeth Olsen isn't expected to appear in Agatha All Along , she has been heavily rumored to be returning to the MCU, despite the Scarlet Witch's demise.

Of course, Billy and Tommy Maximoff were terrified of the Scarlet Witch, as she had become a monster due to the Darkhold's corruption and her own desperation. She was unrecognizable, and hardly a good mother figure, though was comforted by her variant from Earth-838, who she'd possessed earlier. Wanda learned the error of her ways, and instead of continuing with her quest, she instead decided to destroy Mount Wundagore and every copy of the Darkhold across the multiverse, and take herself with it, sacrificing herself in an act of redemption .

3 Tony Stark Meets His Father In 1970

Thor wasn't the only recipient of a huge character development moment in Avengers: Endgame , as Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark also got one, moments before his sacrifice to save the universe. During the Time Heist, Stark and Steve Rogers traveled to Camp Lehigh in 1970 to acquire more Pym Particles and the Tesseract simultaneously. There, Stark crossed paths with SHIELD founder and his father, Howard Stark, and the pair exchanged a beautiful conversation about fatherhood , as Howard was expecting baby Tony, while Stark himself thought of his daughter, Morgan.

Tony Stark had never felt loved by his father, but seeing the worry that Howard had about becoming a father reassured Stark that his dad actually had cared about him this whole time. Tony Stark's parents were killed by the Winter Soldier in 1991, 21 years after this encounter, so they never saw the strong hero that their son grew up to be . Meeting his father in 1970 helped Stark come to peace with laying down his own life to defeat Thanos and save the universe, as he was doing for his daughter what his father had done for him.

2 T’Challa Tells His Ancestors They Were Wrong

Black panther (2018).

The late Chadwick Boseman's performance as T'Challa in Black Panther will go down in history as one of the strongest in the MCU, if not all of cinema. This was most notable during T'Challa's second scene in the Ancestral Plane, which he enters after Killmonger takes the throne of Wakanda and becomes the new Black Panther. T'Challa confronts his father and his other ancestors, and berates them, telling them they were wrong to hide Wakanda from the world and not share resources with those in need .

T'Challa lost his life to a mysterious illness in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever , written out of the project after Chadwick Boseman's tragic and sudden passing in 2020. Letita Wright's Shuri took his place as the Black Panther.

This moment proved that Killmonger, despite his methods, was right, and he had managed to change T'Challa's mind on how Wakanda should be run. This scene altered Wakanda's relationship with the rest of the world significantly, becoming one of the biggest changes in the MCU's history , all based on the fact that T'Challa thought his ancestors were wrong. The Blip and T'Challa's death convince Queen Ramonda to reverse these changes, however, but perhaps Shuri or whomever is Wakanda's new leader will have another way of doing things.

1 Loki Sees His Life & Death

Loki season 1 (2021).

It was shocking to see Tom Hiddleston's Loki die at the hands of Thanos in the opening moments of Avengers: Infinity War , but satisfying and confusing to see his variant escape in Avengers: Endgame . Loki seemingly also felt all of these emotions when he watched back what his life should have been while being held in the Time Variance Authority. Loki watched his mother's demise in Thor: The Dark World , him and his brother become closer in Thor: Ragnarok , and his own death in Infinity War , which had a profound effect on the God of Mischief .

Not only did watching these moments back ensure Loki that the Time Variance Authority is indeed the greatest power in the universe, but this kick-started his transformation into a bona fide hero in the MCU. Loki went on to face He Who Remains, take over the TVA, change the rules of the multiverse, and then become the guardian of the multiverse , becoming the most important and powerful figure in the MCU. Loki's story will surely be revisited in upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, which will catch up with a forever-changed version of the villain-turned-hero.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Upcoming mcu movies.

Captain America: Brave New World

Thunderbolts*

Fantastic Four 2025 Valentines Day Poster Featuring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn

The Fantastic Four (2025)

Blade (2025)

Avengers: Doomsday

Avengers: Secret Wars

IMAGES

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Disney Releases 7 Official New Posters for Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Disney Releases 7 Official New Posters for Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) Movie Review

VIDEO

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COMMENTS

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 movie review (2023)
So much of the recent MCU has felt cravenly desperate to do just enough to turn a profit. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is a reminder that the best blockbusters don't just sing along to a well-known tune like "Creep"; they make the song their own. After all, we're all the weirdos. And Gunn would say that makes us all pretty f-ing ...
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Rated PG-13 for some swearing and a zoo of horrors. Running time: 2 hour 30 minutes. Running time: 2 hour 30 minutes. In theaters.
'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' Review: Overstuffed but Enjoyable
The interstellar gang is back in the third installment of the hugely popular Marvel franchise starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldaña. Chris Pratt in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review
8. Review scoring. The Guardians of the Galaxy deliver their swan song in Vol. 3 and it's a rockin' good time. Rocket's tragic origins, great action and effects, and James Gunn's soulful style ...
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 review: The best Marvel movie in years
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is a farewell to the franchise (at least from Gunn's perspective, as he's since hopped over to DC), that's really a reminder that they always represented some ...
'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' review: Chris Pratt leads a great finale
1:06. Watching Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is like listening to your favorite band on their final tour: all killer, no filler (OK, maybe a little), the greatest hits mixed with ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 review: gorgeous spectacle and schmaltzy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a gorgeous spectacle that confuses schmaltz for sentimentality. James Gunn's third Guardians movie is packed with stunning set pieces, but its saccharine ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 review: James Gunn bids an emotional
'Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3' closes the book on James Gunn's sci-fi superhero trilogy, and is a welcome pivot from recent MCU disappointments. Read our full review ahead of its release next week.
'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' Review: James Gunn's ...
The Guardians of the Galaxy were the best corner of the MCU, and Gunn has created the perfect goodbye to this gang of misfits. Rating: B+. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 comes to theaters on May 5 ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 review: Chris Pratt stars in the ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. Director: James Gunn. Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan. Run-time: 2hr 30m. Release date: 5 May. The film's saving grace is that, just as ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is, depressingly, the best Marvel movie
From left, Karen Gillan (Nebula), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill) and Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer) star in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It's an impressive, if depressing finale to ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Director James Gunn finishes out his time at Marvel with the trilogy-capping Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and he apparently is going out with a bang.Initial reviews of the latest installment of the MCU show a huge improvement on the previous piece of the franchise (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) and other Marvel movies in recent years, even if it isn't quite as impressive as the first ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best Marvel movie in years
Prior to that, he worked at the Atlantic. Saying that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best Marvel movie since Avengers: Endgame feels like a loaded statement. Maybe one that should come with ...
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Review: James Gunn's Final MCU Movie Is
Beyond the story and the performances, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's greatest accomplishment is showcasing how Gunn's filmmaking has evolved and matured since the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie nearly a decade ago. This is evident in many aspects of the film, from the way Drax has evolved from a character who punches down on the female characters (calling Gamora a "whore" in the first ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Movie Review
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Movie Review
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Review
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. No one expected that the one about the tree and the raccoon would be a highlight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but so it proved with the first Guardians. After ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Directed by James Gunn. With Chukwudi Iwuji, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own - a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a surprisingly risky blend of dark tones and sinister villainy with great visuals, tasty music, and the emotionality we expect. Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 ...
'Guardians Of The Galaxy 3' Review: Practically Perfect In ...
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is the best Marvel movie I've seen in years. I did enjoy Spider-Man: No Way Home quite a bit, but other than that, the MCU has felt a bit like a pale shadow of its ...
Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 Review: A Rushed End To The Trilogy
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Review: A Rushed, Uneven, Sporadically Emotional End To The Trilogy. James Gunn's first two "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies are real standouts in the ubiquitous ...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn brings us his 3rd (and final) Guardians film before moving over to be DC's top dog. Is it a fitting exit? Here's my review of GUARDIANS OF THE GAL...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Review Thread Rotten Tomatoes: 82 (93 reviews) . Metacritic: 68 (33 reviews) Reviews: Hollywood Reporter The action sequences are also stunners, especially an epic climactic battle accompanied by the propulsive Beastie Boys classic "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," a typical example of the filmmaker's uncanny knack for providing fantastic playlists.
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Following his debut in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland's Peter Parker embarked on his first solo mission as Spider-Man in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming.This pitted him against Adrian Toomes' Vulture, though he was urged by Tony Stark not to go after the villain.When he ignored Stark's advice and nearly caused a disaster, Parker was relieved of his Stark-designed Spider-Man suit, but ...