Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) by Alphaandomega — 12 May 2023

TLDR: Solid MCU film, darker, with some filler characters but fun to watch. The GOOD.

Creep. That's the first song you hear in GOG vol. 3 and it is a fitting song for a group of characters that embraces weirdness, silliness and pure leaded rollercoaster fun. James Gunn perfected the summer comic-book formula and stuck to it. The tone is darker, which is unavoidable given that the origin story present focuses on animal experimentation, but it gives weight to the movie, which has been lacking in the MCU. The general opinion I heard was that this was the best MCU entry in a long time, because it was so fun to watch. The humor, the music, the over-the-top characters and settings. Is not a cinematic masterpiece but is a solid MCU film and definitely worth it if you are a fan of James Gunn style and the GOG characters in particular. In comparing the 3 volumes, I would say the 2nd is definitely the slowest paced and the least fun. I found 3 to not be that behind from no 1, perhaps the first being better just for its freshness and less worn-out humor. I found the villain in 3 to be better. The performance is over-the-top and pure evil with a solid motivation, lacking just a touch of depth. I don't remember the villain from nº1 at all. THE BAD.

Some elements are wasted, though, such as Adam Warlock and the sovereigns, which are used just as a segway for the main plot to unfold. Also, Contra-earth gets a lot of screen-time with the bat-characters, supposedly to give weight to its destruction, but lacks depth, since these characters didn't talk at all. I didn't care at all about contra-earth, it was just a filler for the villain evilness. Other characters that could been fleshed out were the villain's supporters, the betrayal in the end felt adequate, but quite hollow as well. CONTROVERSIES?

I can't imagine being able to find any controversy in a silly summer film, but since it's 2023, everything is political now. Animal experimentation seems to me to be the only theme that can rustle some feathers, but I felt the way the film presented it was correct, focusing on the characters’ emotions. We never hear any character commenting on the particularities of the hard topics other than "he is just evil". The topic is not the focus, just a connection between the protagonist and the antagonist. THE CONCLUSION.

A fun, silly and entertaining final(?) entry in the Guardians saga that's definitely worth a return to the cinema, if you have been away from MCU for some time. I reckon that fans of the Guardians (not counting trolls) that didn't enjoy particularly this entry is because they don't like Rocket that much, and the humor/formula is getting old to them.