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.