Harry Situation Reviews: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the latest Marvel film in the MCU, serving as the final entry in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. James Gunn returns as writer and director, alongside Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, and Vin Diesel as Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Mantis, Nebula, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot respectively. Also joining the cast are Will Poulter as Adam Warlock and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary.

After a fight that leaves one of their own in critical condition, the Guardians must band together and steal information and tech that can potentially help them. However, that will require stealing from a powerful but maniacal geneticist known only as the High Evolutionary.

It's funny how Disney initially fired James Gunn years ago over some tasteless tweets in the man's early days. I'm glad they reconsidered their actions because I don't think Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would have been as amazing if it was done by somebody else.

Praise goes to each of the cast members. Pratt, Saldana, Klementieff, Gillan, Bautista everyone. They all delivered tremendous performances. I love all these actors and I'm happy to see them reprise their roles, even if it is likely this is the final time they'll be portraying these characters.

I also gotta praise the main antagonist in this film, the High Evolutionary. Obviously, Marvel (as well as other comic book movies) have had a habit of setting up lame and forgettable villains. The High Evolutionary is a standout villain in Phase 5, next to Kang the Conqueror. Chukwudi Iwuji did an amazing job portraying this narcissist with a major god complex. He also portrays him to be very unsettling at times. Sure, the actor does go a little over the top in his performance, in particular during his character's freakouts, but honestly that helps portray how unstable and unsettling the character is. There's one scene that highlights this during Rocket's flashback when the High Evolutionary screams at young Rocket for being able to solve one of his problems. Why? Because he cannot conceive or tolerate the idea that something he created, something he considers inferior and irrelevant, could actually be smarter than him, the creator.

Heck, one of the lines I liked in this movie came from the villain when one of his henchmen realizes how insane he's become and then mutters something along the lines of "Oh my god." But then the High Evolutionary just explodes at them like, "There is no God! That's why I stepped in!"

Which leads into a pretty dark stuff that was introduced into this film versus other entries in the MCU. Oh yeah, this movie gets dark in some areas, particularly with Rocket's backstory and how the character connects with the main antagonist. It shows scenes of animal experimentation and animal abuse and it's actually a little disturbing. But good on James Gunn for having balls to show this stuff.

Don't worry, the dark stuff balances out nicely with the good amount of comedy scattered throughout, and my god, there were a ton of funny lines in this movie. There were a lot of great jokes and great one-liners. Also, we finally got a full F-bomb in an MCU movie. After years of censoring themselves or implying it, they finally dropped it, and it worked, and it actually got a good laugh from me. Although, personally, I believe a certain character in the movie should have been the one to drop the F-bomb, but this works too.

But to go along with the great laughs are some great superhero action sequences. This is one action packed sequel, and I loved every second of it. My favorite action scene involved all of the guardians in a hallway fighting off a bunch of thugs and CGI monsters with Beastie Boys blasting in the background.

I will say, despite all the positives I just listed, there is one major problem and that's the inclusion of Adam Warlock. It's not Will Poulter's fault. I think he does a great job in this movie, and while I do like him in the movie, I just feel that the character is completely out of place. I mean, the film really doesn't do much with him, and he doesn't really have any real character motivation. He was hinted in one of the post credits in Vol. 2 but was mainly forgotten for the past five or six years since that film's release. It's like James Gunn finally remembered this character and tried to find some way of introducing him in this movie. Honestly, if they introduced him earlier in the MCU, say like in Infinity War or the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, we probably would have gotten a better idea of his character.

Overall, James Gunns gave us a solid conclusion to the Guardians of the Galaxy saga, and I really wish him luck now that he's given full control of the DCEU.

Positives:

-The whole cast

-The villain

-Dark elements

-Great laughs

-Great action

Negatives:

-Adam Warlock

Final Grade: A-

So those are my thoughts on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Have you seen it? What were your thoughts on it? Which Guardian has been your favorite? Please be kind, leave a like and comment, and check out more reviews to come, here on Prose!

Best Quote:

High Evolutionary: "All I wanted to do was make things... perfect."

Rocket Raccoon: "You didn't want to make things perfect. You just hated the way things are."

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