May 4, 2023
The Guardians' headquarters in Knowhere was suddenly attacked by a super being called Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), son of Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), the Sovereign empress. Rocket (Bradley Cooper) sustained a serious, untreatable injury which led Star Lord (Chris Pratt) to bring them all to seek a solution at the Orgosphere, where Rocket's creator, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), presided.
In 2014, the "Guardians of the Galaxy" were still an obscure group of heroes from the comics, a big risk for Marvel to bring to the big screen as a CG-effects-heavy outer space adventure. However, the first film turned out to be an unexpected success mainly because of the likability of the cast and their chemistry as a team. Its musical soundtrack, composed of catchy pop tunes like Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling," propelled its popularity.
In "GOTG Vol. 2" (2017), we met more of Peter Quill's family -- his ancient Celestial father Ego, and his delightful empath sister Mantis (Pom Klementieff). Between that and this new sequel, "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) happened, which led to the death of Gamora (Zoe Saldana), However, a younger version of her, Gamora-14, appeared in "Avengers: Endgame" (2019), and here as a Ravager under Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone).
This third installment was dedicated to Rocket, where he came from and where he is going next. We see how he developed from a cute raccoon kit picked from a cage, to a meek genetically-engineered genius, to the gruff gun-toting bounty hunter we knew him to be. We also meet his fellow genetically-engineered prototype mutants -- Lylla the otter (Linda Cardellini), Teefs the walrus (Asim Chaudry) and Floor the rabbit (Mikaela Hoover).
The other Guardians played support to Rocket's life and death ordeal here, including Peter Quill and Gamora-14. Nebula (Karen Gillan), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis discover new aspects of their personalities. Groot (Vin Diesel) has grown, showing off the extent of his powerful abilities. Back on Knowhere, Kraglin (Sean Gunn) worked to master the late Yondu's arrow, while his dog Cosmo (Maria Balakova) mastered her telekinesis.
Writer-director James Gunn still imbued "Vol. 3" with pretty much the same magical ingredients of adventure, humor, heart and catchy songs to sustain the audience appeal of the first two films. Opening with an acoustic version of Radiohead's "Creep" and dealing with the unsettling theme of animal cruelty, this one had a decidedly darker, downbeat mood than the first two, which it carried all the way through to its bittersweet ending. 8/10.
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