After almost a decade of action-filled mayhem, sparkling absurdist humour and interstellar shenanigans, time has finally come to bid farewell to one of the MCU’s most loved off-shoots. Back again with James Gun at the helm, the third and final chapter of what is admittedly, the most anarchic sibling in the great MCU family, Guardians of The Galaxy Volume 3 delivers more gags, a killer new soundtrack and an interestingly timed F bomb.
The latest instalment also sees the return of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff. In addition, there are a number of hugely exciting cameos throughout from the likes of Nathan Fillion, Sylvester Stallone and many more.
After the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Guardians of the Galaxy are adjusting to life on Knowhere. While Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) continues to pine for Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and the loss of the love they shared, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) comes face to face with his own past when he is targeted by an unknown assailant (Will Poulter).
As the Guardians fight to save Rocket from certain death, the group must defeat the High Evolutionary (a hilariously scenery-chewing turn from Chukwudi Iwujiit) and the plans he has for Rocket. Meanwhile, after being recruited by the Ravagers – a group of interstellar outlaws – Gamora is persuaded by her old friends to join them in their quest to defeat their new adversary.
Gunn and co-writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning deliver a big, silly and disarmingly big-hearted film which never takes itself too seriously. Capitalising on what made this film series one of the most loved in the franchise, Gunn and his cast appear to be having a whale of a time with this final chapter, and who can blame them?
While it’s true that Volume 3 lacks the outrageous freshness of the first film, one has to admit that this is a millions times more coherent and more engaging than the majority of Post-Endgame MCU offerings. One also has to salute Gunn and his team for finally branching out soundtrack wise thanks to the bright idea of providing Quill with a Microsoft Zune at the end of Guardians 2 and us with a wider range of indie Rock and pop anthems.
While not exactly without fault – the film’s 2 hours and 30 minutes running time feels a tad unnecessary – there is more than enough here to keep the fans happy and looking forward to what Gunn and his team might be cooking up as he transitioned into his new role at DC.
