The Guardians must save their friend Rocket and seek out a villain who thinks he is a god in a strange parallel world – material for a funny and emotional finale.
The signs are pointing to farewell. Director and screenwriter James Gunn announced ahead of the release of “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” that the third part will be a finale.
Gunn was first fired by Disney because of tasteless but ancient tweets and then reinstated under pressure from the Marvel stars around Chris Pratt. According to Gunn, this is the last time Star-Lord (Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket the raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot the plant (voiced by Vin Diesel) will be together will be traveling in space. Gunn himself is said to be building a universe for Marvel competitor DC in the future.
Tailor-made comic heroes with humor
The 56-year-old doesn’t see his “Guardians” trilogy as superhero films. “It’s a space opera,” he says in an interview with the German Press Agency in London. “It’s sort of the genre at the core of these films.” Part one was sort of a surprise hit.
Gunn turned the little-known comic book heroes into some of the most popular characters in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He injected the MCU with a never-before-seen dose of humor and brought so much life to the quirky, imperfect heroes that their fate touched audiences. Part three is particularly emotional.
“These are his children, they came from his imagination,” emphasized Chris Pratt in a dpa interview. Pratt and his co-stars have championed the filmmaker and made it clear to the studio that without Gunn they wouldn’t be interested in a sequel.
“James gets along with all of us blindly. He tailored all of the characters to suit our strengths,” says Pratt. “It was his work from the beginning and I am very grateful that it was allowed to remain his work for all three parts.”
Part three with lengths
Although the “Guardians” films tie in with the overall plot of the MCU, they work independently. Part three is also largely independent of the other 31 Marvel blockbusters. He plays in his own crazy world with countless strange characters. Of course it’s an advantage to have seen the first two “Guardians” parts and the “Holiday Special”. It is not absolutely necessary.
The focus this time is Rocket and its tragic past, which the audience gets to see in a little too many and slightly cheesy flashbacks. As a result, “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3.” a few lengths that bloat the film to an unnecessary two and a half hour runtime. Nevertheless, the colorful spectacle is very entertaining, amused with many crazy ideas and hits the right nerve with a moving finale.
Lots of emotions
The outsiders set themselves up in their new home in the third “Guardians” part. Knowhere is a city in the mind of a dead Celestial, the cosmic super beings known from “Eternals”. Peter aka Star-Lord suffers from the loss of his beloved Gamora, who is not the same after the time travel chaos from “Avengers: Endgame”, has no memories of the relationship with him and is now part of Stakar Ogord’s (Sylvester Stallone) crime syndicate .
As Peter drowns his grief in alcohol yet again, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) suddenly attacks Knowhere. He fails in his attempt to kidnap Rocket, but the battle-hardened raccoon is critically injured.
The other Guardians – with the support of Gamora – make their way to the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), with whom Rocket connects very painful memories. The unscrupulous scientist believes he is a god and has created a world that is supposed to be the perfect counterpart to earth. The Guardians suspect a trap there, but they have no choice.
The supposed secondary characters Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) provide the most laughs and at the same time some of the most emotional and best scenes. The trained theater actor Chukwudi Iwuji, known in the cinema from “John Wick: Chapter 2”, is a really nasty villain. As Warlock, Will Poulter is a promising newcomer to the MCU that we’re sure to see a lot more of.
Conclusion
James Gunn once again underscored his film with a banging pop and rock soundtrack from the last few decades, which he says he has chosen very carefully. Because “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” is a bit darker than its predecessors, there are hardly any happy disco hits.
Instead, classics from Radiohead, Faith No More and Rainbow, as well as Earth, Wind & Fire, are shown. “I write all the songs into the script,” explains Gunn. “When you bake a cake, the butter is in the batter. You don’t spread it on top when the cake is done.”
In contrast to many superhero films, which ultimately always rely on the same formula, the third “Guardians Of The Galaxy” movie is a pleasant change. Industry insiders speak of an impending superhero fatigue among the audience.
With a good story and interesting characters, James Gunn shows that it doesn’t have to be that way. One can be curious about his planned “Superman” reboot. While everyone at DC rubs their hands in anticipation of Gunn’s signing, the 56-year-old will soon be missed at Marvel.