Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a lovable mess

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 leads with its heart. This series always has. That’s how you get a superhero action spectacular featuring prolonged sequences where adorable talking animals are tortured. That’s why a fleet-footed crowd-pleasing comedy drags on for two-and-a-half hours. That’s why James Gunn’s brother competes for screen time with a talking Russian dog who competes with Zoe Saldana. This is an ungainly homunculus of a movie serving at least five different masters, but boy is it lovable.

Guardians 3 is about…I mean, this isn’t the kind of movie where the plot matters very much. There’s some setup, and then the characters bounce around like numbered balls in a lottery terminal. The Guardians of the Galaxy, a team of space-faring superheroes, are setting down roots on a space station called Knowhere. They are attacked by a glowing magic space man named Adam Warlock (Will Poulter giving excellent blank-faced deadpan). Rocket, the series’ irascible talking war raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper, is injured. He will die if the other Guardians don’t get him help, so they do.

The movie spends most of its energy on Rocket, and yet it’s still not enough. While he lies comatose, we get flashbacks of his past; he’s a raccoon granted intelligence by the High Evolutionary, a nasty piece of work played with mouth-frothing viciousness by Chukwudi Iwuji. Young Rocket makes friends with his fellow test subjects, proves his worth to the High Evolutionary, and learns about loss in a way that had the whole theater tearing up. He and his friends are rendered with hand-crafted care by the talented special effects artists and Cooper brings a heartbreaking innocence to his vocal performance.

Rocket goes on a full arc. It’s fantastic, although I’d honestly think twice about bringing young children to see it; we have a Bambi situation here, so proceed with caution. Rocket’s story also feels more like a sidequest than it should. The flashbacks are the highlight of the film, but when Rocket inevitably comes out of his coma, there isn’t a lot of follow-through. His arc concludes with a fairly standard-issue team-up action scene, and while it was fun to watch the High Evolutionary get his (he’s gotta be among the most loathsome villains Marvel has produced; kudos to Iwuji for bringing it), I wanted more of a connection between Rocket’s past and present. He does at least get the last word, so to speak, which feels right.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 review

With so many characters to service, maybe it was inevitable that Rocket would feel shortchanged, even with all the attention the film gives him. Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), is at a loose end after the “death” of Gamora (Saldana), although there’s an alternate universe version of her knocking around tolerating Peter’s forlorn glances with increasing impatience. This is the kind of hopeless narrative knot you can only have when a franchise has gone on this long, and to its credit, Guardians 3 mostly makes sense of it. Of the non-Rocket characters, not-Gamora has the most interesting journey, as she goes from space pirate hardass who has no time for the Guardians to space pirate hardass who thinks they’re kinda cute. She has a refreshing lack of baggage. Too much of the time, the characters are either crying or screaming. She brings another mood.

Pom Klementieff also gets some good moments as the empath Mantis. Karen Gillan holds steady as the gruff, battle-ready Nebula. Of the principle Guardians cast, Dave Bautista as Drax probably gets the shortest end of the stick; he’s mostly reduced to busting down doors and some broad comedy mugging. And we can’t forget Groot. He’s a tree.

And then there’s James Gunn’s brother and the talking Russian dog, who might be two characters too many. (And I mentioned the magic space man, right? His mother’s involved too.) It’s a lot for a movie that’s supposed to be accessible first and meaningful second. But it’s hard to fault it too much, because it really does feel like writer-director James Gunn and his team are being sincere. There’s love behind every overreach, every self-indulgent reference, and every shouting match between the characters (and there are a lot).

When the movie works, it works as well or better than anything Marvel has put out. But it’s still a Marvel movie, which means it’s part of a greater whole. Guardians 3 has been sold as an ending to the trilogy, and it is…but when you’re part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “ending” may not mean what it usually means, you know?

Guardians of the Bullet Points

• Hey, it’s Sylvester Stallone taking about space heists in a Marvel movie. Neat. Guardians likes giving us little gifts like that.
• The movie plays fast and loose with the rules of How Space Works. One minute it’s paying attention to the particulars of gravity and the next people are being exposed to the vacuum of space none the worse for wear. I know it’s not the kind of movie where that matters, but it’s weird when it cares about science only sometimes.
• At one point there’s a quick cameo from a character who played an important part earlier in the trilogy. I didn’t really feel anything because it’s been years since I’ve seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but if you’re invested, it’s nice.
• Yes, there are post-credits scenes. Two of them. Enjoy.

Movie Grade: B+

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