Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2023)

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2023) written and directed by James Gunn

Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is grievously injured in a fight. As his friends try to fix him, they discover a bomb on his heart, part of the enhancements that changed him from a forest animal into an intelligent person. They need to remove the bomb to heal him which means finding the key code to disarm the bomb. The movie is intercut with Rocket's origin story as the rest of the Guardians embark on a mission to find his creator (The High Evolutionary played by Chukwudi Iwuji) and get what they need from him.

The very simple set up becomes very complicated by the addition of a lot of other characters. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is back from the dead, or back from the past, or from the past in an alternate timeline. She seems to be there to create tension with her former love interest Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) more than anything else. Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) is a minion of The High Evolutionary who gets in trouble with the boss and needs to capture Rocket to return to his boss's good graces. "Good graces" is not the best way to put it since the guy's main ambition is to create a perfect world by creating perfect beings. Anything that doesn't work out is disposable. Rocket is an exceptional case because of his mechanical brilliance, i.e. he can put together amazing tech from almost nothing and has an unbelievable understanding of how things work. The High Evolutionary wants to dissect Rocket's brain so his newest creations will be just as smart and creative. A bunch of second-tier Guardians (primarily Cosmo the Russian space dog (voiced by Maria Bakalova) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn)) take up a lot of narrative time. Even with its strong pacing, the movie feels a little long.

Many of these characters can be justified by the themes that people deserve second chances and that no one should be treated as disposable. The High Evolutionary clearly does not care about other people, just about crafting a perfect world (as villain, he's naturally anti-thematic). The world of the Guardians of the Galaxy is full of broken, difficult people who are trying their best, at which they don't always succeed. Often they bicker and can't agree on what to do in a given situation. They are very human characters, even the animals and the trees.

While not without a lot of humor, the tone of the movie is much more serious than the previous Guardians films. Rocket's backstory is especially tragic. The filmmakers occasionally get heavy-handed with operatic music at tragic moments. The action sequences have their pop soundtracks to lighten the mood. The special effects are amazing which is pretty standard for a Marvel movie.

Mildly recommended--this is a nice ending for a fun group of misfits, but viewers need to have seen the other films to understand what's going on with the characters.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) co-written and directed by James Gunn

On the day eight-year old Peter Quill's mom dies, he's abducted by aliens. Double bummer! Jump forward about twenty years and the boy has grown into a scavenging outlaw. At least he'd like to think he's a badass. His latest retrieval is from an abandoned temple on an abandoned planet. It's a small orb that a lot of other people in the galaxy are interested in. As he goes into the temple, he turns on his Sony Walkman (an old one that plays cassette tapes) and grooves his way through the ruins, kicking and squashing small rat creatures that try to attack him. He even grabs one and uses it as a pretend microphone. Just as he recovers the orb, one of the interested parties shows up and tries to take it from him. He leads a merry chase away and eventually escapes. When he gets to the pawn broker, he discovers he's gotten into a lot more than he bargained for.

The movie follows a standard plot line--an all-powerful McGuffin (the orb) must be kept out of the hands of evildoers who will use it for nefarious purposes. A misfit group of low- to mid-level criminals band together to keep the orb out of reach. They all have different motivations and are mistrustful of each other at first. They grow closer and more trustful and even become friends by the end of the show. It seems like the movie should be just another run-of-the-mill comic book action movie.

The movie really shines in two ways. First, the sense of humor is great. It isn't dark or brooding or cynical. It's based (1) on the silliness of people taking themselves too seriously and (2) on not communicating in the clearest way, leading to funny consequences and (3) on the sort of cultural references that most of the characters in the movie just don't get because they are not from Earth. The movie has lots of laughs in it.

Second, the main heroes are very likeable characters. Peter Quill has a fairly dramatic childhood trauma, but unlike other comic book characters (I'm looking at you, most recent Batman and Superman films), it hasn't made him an angry, brooding, self-doubting hero. Instead, he's embraced his new life with a wry sense of humor and honesty, even if he does have an over-inflated view of himself. He's more adept at talking his way out of a situation than shooting his way out, though he can do the later if he needs to. He's a well-written character well played by Chris Pratt. The other main characters are just as well written and realized (including the CGI raccoon and sentient tree).

Guardians of the Galaxy is a big, fun summer action comedy.