Guardians of the Galaxy is always going to be one of the most obscure and inventive leaps of faith that the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever took. Coming from a comic that not a lot of people were invested in, the initial hesitation people felt with the first film in 2014 was quickly dashed by the movie’s passion, its mixture of retro and modern elements, and its off-the-wall humor and characters. With the sequel in 2017 meeting mostly the same requirements, it seemed like most Marvel fans were eagerly waiting for the final film, Vol 3, to wrap up this trilogy in a neat bow. With promising trailers and many wishing to see a change of pace after being disappointed by Phase 4, many were pleasantly surprised and delighted by this final instalment. At their new headquarters in Knowhere, the Guardians, who consist of Star Lord (played again by Chris Pratt), Drax (played again by Dave Bautista), Mantis (played again by Pom Klementieff), Nebula (played again by Karen Gillian), Groot (voiced again by Vin Diesel) and Rocket (voiced again by Bradley Cooper), are attacked by a being known as Adam Warlock (played by Will Poulter) who leaves Rocket critically wounded. Discovering that he can’t be healed naturally due to the modifications on his body, the team travel to the source of Rocket’s origins in order to find a way to fix him. This puts them in the path of the High Evolutionary (played by Chukwudi Iwuji), the man responsible for anthropomorphising Rocket (as well as several other animals) and is using Adam Warlock and his mother, Ayesha (played again by Elizabeth Debicki) to retrieve Rocket and extract his brain in order to obtain his knowledge. With the threat of the High Evolutionary hurting billions of more lifeforms if he continues down his maniacal mission, the guardians are forced to work with the alternate version of Gamora (played again by Zoe Saldaña) in order to track him down, and with Rocket’s life on the line, the team will face one final adventure together to see this threat eliminated. Loved by critics and audiences upon release as well as being a bright spot at the box office when Marvel was struggling, Guardians Vol. 3 seemed to appease most who saw it, but it feels like people are ignoring the clear issues this film struggles with. It is undoubtedly a flawed film that, while still containing decent elements, doesn’t capture the same strengths as its previous two and if anything, feels like a shadow of its former glory.

A lot was riding on this movie even before it was originally advertised. Being in production for several years due to a conflict between Disney and director James Gunn, which involved him being fired for a period of time due to some controversial tweets made previously in his life, he was eventually given back the reigns over his film and completed production. Guardians Vol. 3 is a very different movie from its predecessors, containing a more mellow, gritty, and serious vibe against its more light-hearted, wacky and unnatural predecessors, and while this change isn’t a problem per say, the issue comes from how it dramatically changes the very nature of how this franchise operates. While the first two films were comedic films with dramatic elements, this film is a serious movie with comedic elements, and that altercation to the central heart of this franchise does start to twist certain things around, as it loses a good chunk of the humor, creativity and even passion that was felt previously in this universe, and instead replaces it with a more unpleasant atmosphere that doesn’t contain the same level of heartfelt nuance or zany personality. While it doesn’t feel completely alien from other Guardians films, it doesn’t feel like the same kind of environment. The initial outline for the story isn’t too bad and does combines characters and themes together in a fairly smart way, but the execution and delivery of the narrative results in several things feeling poorly paced, underdeveloped, and just out of place. With Gunn solely writing this movie this time around (which might explain a few things), the mood throughout doesn’t feel fun, inventive or even that engaging, while also managing to confuse harsh and brutal imagery with complex intelligence and clean execution. James Gunn is a good director with a unique eye for being creative, strange and handling dark material in a smart manner, but the material for this movie doesn’t feel that fresh anymore or as intelligent as it needs to be. The script in terms of the dramatic and even the comedic material feels several years old, containing plot lines and even comedic set ups that would’ve felt natural in a movie from the early 2010s, but certainly not nowadays. Character decisions and directions don’t feel earned or that fulfilling, several parts of the movie feel dragged out and like wasted time to pad out what is otherwise a small-scale narrative, and for a movie that is supposed to act as a finale for all of these characters, it seems like a very odd storyline to end things off on. The film, to be fair, is still capable of connecting with its audience through emotional beats that, while sometimes forced, do come from a genuine place that results in some of that familiar heart, but the film is so caught up in being important and meaningful that it ironically loses some of that appreciated honest nature.

Considering that this is seemingly the last Guardians film and one of the last times these characters will be in a movie together, it does have a bittersweet element to it, and it will be sad to see them go. However, the film doesn’t feel like it uses most of its cast very well, especially for a final entry. Most are left with only singular moments to work with, and the plot being so Rocket-centric and very ”fetch-quest” like, limits the number of stories that can be explored. Star Lord is a bit of a pain in this due to his obsessive nature about Gamora and despite the idea of falling back in love with a different version of your lost love being interesting, it isn’t made complex, and they just feel like a bickering 90s rom-com couple, it’s pretty annoying. Gamora feels so useless in this story outside of concluding a pre-established plotline from another film, that she could’ve been written out of this movie entirely and nothing would’ve changed. Characters like Drax, Mantis, Nebula and Groot kind of just exist because they’re required at this point, and some side characters are so secondary, they don’t even bother using them despite being advertised (Kraglin played by Sean Gunn and Cosmo voiced by Maria Bakalova have a few dumb throwaway scenes that weren’t even worth the time). Adam Warlock, despite being built up, also feels completely pointless, to the point that it’s easy to forget him entirely until he randomly pops back up. Will Poulter is surprisingly good and entertaining in the role, but it doesn’t take away from the character’s irrelevance and how it feels like he exists solely to wrap up an element that was hinted to previously rather than because he was intended for this story. The villain is also a massive blunder, with a portrayal that feels more pathetically whiny than intimidating. It very much feels like a role that is supposed to represent an idea rather than one that forms an identity, as he is clearly referencing truly terrible people in history who attempted to play god and meddled with affairs that endangered lives without remorse, but the role has no personality outside of one-note shouting and generic evil villain lines, so it’s not very engaging and only seems to exist just for people to hate him. Chukwudi Iwuji has a gravitas to his presence that shows he is talented, but his manner of carrying himself feels too self-indulgent in parts and his past experience in theatre more than likely explains the more loud and unsubtle way of acting (theatre performing is very different to film acting). The one character in the film who does feel well done is Rocket, and since the film is based around him, that is good to see.  Although he is out of commission for a good chunk of the film and his flashbacks aren’t the most original (the second they start, you know everything that’s going to happen to him and his friends), it’s still emotionally effective enough, it contains that element of tragic darkness that these films have usually gotten correct, and his arc actually feels like one that is established and properly resolved.

For a franchise that is known for being inventive and colorful, this film is surprisingly lacking in that department. It seems their idea of being a serious movie means taking away the creative scenarios and vibrant planets they previously went to, and instead occupy locations that are not very interesting to be around. There’s a section in the middle where they go to this hub of floating intestines that has some pretty creative things surrounding its set design (handled by Rosemary Brandenburg) and its costuming (handled by Judianna Makovsky), and even the planet of humanoid animals is appropriately off and weirdly composed whilst still feeling familiar thanks to the production design by Beth Mickle, but most of the film is overly lit, shot very awkwardly and doesn’t feel the least bit alien or special, it’s a bizarrely ugly movie. Most of the action is inconsequential and doesn’t leave too much of an impression, and for a story that seemed to promise a sense of consequence and true danger, that really isn’t the case. There is a very cool hallway fight near the end of the film that has some fun camera work, choreography and stunts which makes for a real stand-out moment, but there’s nothing else throughout the movie that comes close to it. The humor doesn’t work nearly as well as it did in the previous films, with comedic bits coming out of nowhere and being awkward, random, and sometimes even feeling out of character. Nothing is painful to sit through, but it almost feels like they exist out of obligation to the brand rather than because the movie required any. Even a majority of the music choices aren’t extremely engaging or memorable anymore with it also being another element that feels inserted in because of how these movies operate rather than it being necessary or integral to the story (although opening with Radio Head’s Creep is a very good choice).

Guardians of the Galaxy used to be the cornerstone for the oddball side of Marvel, coming around during a time when the Marvel universe (and even OUR universe in general) needed that zest of uniqueness, but then the rest of the MCU became so saturated with that type of stylisation, mood and tone that everyone grew sick of it, so much so that it feels like it is largely missing in the final entry of the one that started it all. Vol. 3 is at best a passable movie with enough effective scenes to make it worth a watch, but at worse, is a poorly constructed movie in many ways and is only held up as strongly as it is thanks to the brand’s past successes and people’s dislike of other recent Marvel projects. The story is fine on paper but bad in execution, the characters are still well acted but their roles feel poorly handled, the humor doesn’t work anymore, the visuals aren’t very imaginative and are strangely unappealing, and despite getting some good ideas on the table that could’ve been explored cleverly, they don’t come to fruition. Not an awful film, but nowhere near the same level as its predecessors, there’s sadly not a lot of joyful feelings to hook onto in this picture.

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