We almost never got Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Pre-production on the long-awaited threequel was thrown into serious question after James Gunn’s sudden firing from Disney in 2018, which came after a series of years-old tweets were “discovered” and circulated by right-wing commentators – including noted conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich (who once claimed that date rape was “liberal fiction”) – on Twitter. For Disney, it didn’t matter that Gunn, who began his career with the famously in-poor-taste Troma Entertainment in 1995, had already acknowledged and apologized for his off-color jokes in the past. “I am very, very different than I was a few years ago” Gunn said of the dismissal. “Today I try to root my work in love and connection and less in anger. My days saying something just because it’s shocking and trying to get a reaction are over.”
Of course, things did end up going a little differently. Disney rehired Gunn after a massive groundswell of support from the Guardians main cast, who drafted an official statement advocating for his reinstatement on the project. In the meantime, he helmed a reboot of The Suicide Squad for DC, and now spearheads the entire DCEU going forward as the Kevin Feige of his own universe. He’s ended up a lot better than he left off, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is all about that journey – from trauma to redemption.
The film’s tonal distinction from its predecessors is made obvious from the opening sequence, which follows Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) as he moodily traverses the drifting space settlement Knowhere, where the Guardians have set up home base. Floating wistfully through the ramshackle colony, Gunn’s camera non-verbally establishes where each of the characters stand, all set to an acoustic cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” Rocket, as per song choice, feels like an outcast (a “weirdo,” you might say), meanwhile Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) still drunkenly mourns the loss of his teammate and girlfriend Gamora (Zoe Saldana), whose alternate-dimensional version barely acknowledges his existence. Other Guardians, such as Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Kraglin (Sean Gunn), each wrestle with various issues surrounding anger, self-worth, and purpose. Only immortal tree-creature Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) seems to be content, and even he looks a little sad. The Guardians are kicked out of their stasis when they’re abruptly attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a gold-skinned space warrior who lethally wounds Rocket, sending the team on a frantic, high-risk mission to save their friend.
Much of Vol. 3’s dramatic thrust centers on Rocket. His traumatic backstory concerning the High Evolutionary (an absurdly over-the-top Chukwudi Iwuji) takes center stage through multiple extended flashbacks, especially in the first quarter, that reveal added depth to a character who’s always stealthily been the heart of Gunn’s series. The film’s editing between past and present can be clunky, cross-cutting with an awkward jolt that occasionally saps narrative tension. Still, these flashback sequences are shockingly unsettling for the MCU, delving into portrayals of animal testing, abuse, body horror and even torture that could be upsetting for younger audiences. Plenty of Vol. 3 is still appropriately silly, but Gunn treats this particular adventure with a sense of weight, as well as emotional and physical stakes, that makes even its most absurd digressions feel dramatically justified. Like the messy but compelling Vol. 2, this third entry is far more concerned with emotional development than creating world-ending stakes. The story is self-contained, and though long, never feels like its wasting time.
This is also the best-looking Marvel movie in years. As Disney has piled more and more products onto their seemingly endless slate, the quality of basic technical elements has fallen to the wayside. In contrast to the poorly rendered CG onslaught of recent franchise entries like Ant Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is built around real sets and impressive VFX. The story can move at a lightning pace, but Gunn provides plenty of diverse set pieces for viewers to latch onto. There’s the Orgoscope, for instance, a flesh-like research database outfitted with security guards whose outfits make them look like overinflated tardigrades. Later, the action takes us to Counter-Earth, a near copy of our own planet populated by strange animal humanoids. Gunn even pulls off a propulsive one-take action scene towards the film’s climax set to the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.” As fun as these outlandish situations are, there’s something pleasurable in the simplicity of watching Star-Lord struggle to drive a car, or a scene where Drax comforts a group of children by making strange monkey sounds. Gunn understands how to elicit feeling, which is why the action never overcomes the characters. It works because you care.
Vol. 3’s maximalist nature does occasionally falter. Despite Poulter’s charmingly “Himbo”-like portrayal of the pompous Warlock, the character feels like a waste. Also underwhelming is the High Evolutionary, a functional villain whose excessive scenery-chewing limits depth. Gunn’s melodrama can be a bit heavy-handed. Especially towards the climax, characters tend to yell their faults at one another in very blunt ways. But it’s hard not to be swept up in something this nakedly personal. A director who nearly lost his career to the impulsive PR decisions of a soulless corporation, only to be rescued by a found family of collaborators and friends, rounds out his trilogy with a film about a character who nearly loses his life to a soulless megalomaniac, only to be rescued by a found family of collaborators and friends. Gunn has never hidden the fact that Guardians films are personal to him, or that he identifies especially with Rocket Racoon. It’s just more explicit here. There will probably never be another Marvel film like this again, a film so expressly about empathy, pushing forward against the odds in the messy, unpredictable path towards renewal. Gunn managed to make three, and it’s something to be proud of.
Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
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