Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) Review

"Let's give the galaxy something to remember us by,"

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

The Guardians of the Galaxy movies have always centred around family, and James Gunn has always done that effortlessly. This movie was no different.

Throughout the movie, Gunn takes these beloved characters and makes them go through all different types of turmoil by thinking they're going to lose nearly all members of the team at different points in the movie, just to really show how much they love each other, and it was done in the most beautiful way.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's main centre is Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) as it finally introduces the mystery of his backstory from before he met the Guardians, when he was experimented on and befriended three other animals who underwent the same torture: Lylla, Teefs and Floor. By showing us his backstory after so long, it provides a new light and insight into Rocket as a character that allows us to understand him and makes us love him even more, which makes it all the more painful when we nearly lose him. Not only does this allow the audience to feel closer to Rocket, but is also brings the Guardians closer together when they are emotionally separated due to Quill mourning his lost relationship with Gamora. The family love they all feel is really emphasised the moment Rocket is in critical condition, because they all stop what they're doing to save him without any hesitation. Not only does this backstory make the movie more emotional, but Cooper's voice acting brings so much more emotion and pain to the character that makes it feel like he is truly hurting, and his dedication to this role really brings the whole thing together.

Each guardian has their own unique backstory that provides them with so much depth, and it's one of the reasons the team has become a fan-favourite: none of them really belong, but despite everything they found each other and belong to each other. With this being their final movie as a team, and the last Guardians of the Galaxy movie, there was a lot of pressure for it to be perfect, and it was. It had such a bittersweet ending, where the Guardians separate to find their purpose and their own paths without each other, but they're still happy. Peter finally reuniting with his grandpa back on Earth brings the trilogy full circle, as it leads us back to where it all began in the first movie.

Furthermore, many movies that have more than one villain struggle not to neglect one and to make sure both of them have an impact on the overall plot of the movie. But it's clear that Gunn knew exactly what he was doing, because this movie didn't feel like there was any struggle at all. I'm a big fan of Adam Warlock from the comics, and have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about Will Poulter playing him as he isn't the type of actor I imagined to be playing Warlock, but regardless seeing him be brought onto the big screen was definitely something I looked forward to. The way this character was executed was a lot different to what I anticipated, with him being a bit more comedic than I expected since he is such a powerful character, but I didn't love it any less and have warmed up to the casting choice because of how well he played this iconic villain. In addition, I found that the High Evolutionary, a heartless man who views himself as a god and experiments on animals in order to create the perfect specimens for the perfect world, to be one of the best Marvel villains I have seen in a long time and Chukwudi Iwuji carried this role incredibly, and was probably one of the scariest villains in Marvel because of his psychopathic ideals.

Not only was the story of this movie so well written, but every single aspect complimented it. The camerawork (especially during the fight scenes), cinematography and soundtrack are all important to make a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and all of them were beyond perfect to fit the tone of this movie, making the experience everything it needed to be in order to feel like an MCU movie (which is refreshing, because I do feel like the MCU haven't been trying as hard with their movies in the last year - excluding Black Panther: Wakanda Forever).

There is absolutely nothing negative I could say about this movie. It was brilliant from start to finish. The perfect mix of comedy, action and grief all creating the perfect finale for the team we love so much.

Don't miss out on seeing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in cinemas, you won't regret it.