The Marvel Cinematic Universe has rarely been a sanctuary for unfiltered creative freedom, with countless proven talents having been sucked up and spat out by the machine over the last 15 years. However, you get the distinct impression upon watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 that James Gunn was given almost complete carte blanche by Kevin Feige to bid farewell to the franchise in any way he saw fit, an approach that’s both the threequel’s biggest strength and most notable weakness.
As the first installment to arrive since Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the differences couldn’t be more stark. Whereas Peyton Reed’s recent caper felt as though it had been whipped into shape by a committee of decision-makers with both eyes firmly focused on the overarching arc of the Multiverse Saga and what comes next, Vol. 3 ignores the grand calculus of the MCU’s larger narrative in favor of a heartfelt goodbye.
In an era where no lucrative or marketable property is truly ever “over” in the strictest sense of the word, Gunn’s swansong stands out as a definitive goodbye to the MCU’s marquee band of intergalactic misfits, as well as that of a filmmaker who’s evolved in front of our very eyes in the last decade from low budget splatter merchant to the co-CEO of DC Studios, with the third and final Guardians drawing a line under Gunn’s time at the helm. Sure, at least a couple of the characters will return in other feature films or Disney Plus shows, but by the time the credits roll, it’s clear this is the end of an era.
While it does tick many of the boxes audiences have come to associate with the brand over its decade and a half as cinema’s most popular IP, the intergalactic escapade immediately stands out as perhaps the most auteur-driven MCU movie yet. Even though the comic book juggernaut is now 32 films deep, only Gunn’s previous contributions, Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther duology, Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok, and maybe one or two others at best feel as if they couldn’t have been made by anyone else, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 takes that sentiment to the extremes.
From the first to last minute, it never feels as if its writer and director has ever been given any instructions by the powers-that-be, never mind taken them on board. Feige and Gunn have a deep mutual respect and appreciation for each other, and it certainly comes across that the company’s chief creative officer has let his friend-turned-rival bow out by telling exactly the story he wants on his own terms.
Subverting the typical formula for spandex-clad sequels, Vol. 3 is pretty much Rocket’s story and nobody else’s. The entire narrative runs directly through Bradley Cooper’s renegade raccoon, which is subversive in and of itself when the actor is making his most minimal appearance yet in terms of dialogue.
Easing us back into the world – handy for those who don’t have a Disney Plus subscription and aren’t up to speed with the Holiday Special – Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock makes an instant splash when he descends upon Knowhere, having been tasked by Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary to recover Rocket, who the latter has deemed as little more than proprietary technology, and he’s using the threat of exterminating the Sovereign as leverage.
The aforementioned stars are the most important new additions to the sprawling ensemble, and they fare very differently. The hype surrounding Poulter’s golden-skinned godlike figure appears to have been entirely misplaced, with Warlock barely elevating himself above the realms of bumbling comic relief, something that’s no doubt going to sting for a lot of comic book purists.
On the other side of the coin, Iwuji is phenomenal, completely justifying Gunn’s decision to cast his Peacemaker compatriot as the big bad of his grand MCU finale. Measured, composed, but always burning with simmering rage, the High Evolutionary is irredeemable in the best sense of the word, in what’s proven to be another casting masterstroke in a trilogy largely defined by them from top to bottom.
That being said, the ensemble is perhaps a little too large in terms of sheer numbers, when you consider that Poulter and Iwuji need to compete for screentime with Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Cooper, Vin Diesel, Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Debicki, Sean Gunn, and Maria Bakalova, never mind Linda Cardellini’s heart-wrenching Lylla, Asim Chaudhry’s Teefs, and Mikaela Hoover’s Floor.
Then there’s the borderline eye-rolling extended cameos from Gunn’s close friend Nathan Fillion and wife Jennifer Holland, which underlines one of Vol. 3‘s most glaring issues. It’s a two and a half hour film that very much feels like one, and part of giving its creator a blank slate in order to go out on his sword is that it opens the door to familiar and frustrating indulgences to come to the fore. It’s an excellent MCU blockbuster and one of the best to come along in a while, but Gunn is both pushing it towards and pulling it back from greatness at the same time by throwing everything and the kitchen sink into mix in order to have his cake and eat it, too.
For a story that’s as straightforward as “the Guardians want to save Rocket, the person who created him wants him back, thus the two shall find themselves at odds,” it takes an awfully long time to get there. Thankfully, though, a string of exhilarating action sequences, character beats steeped in a decade of familiarity, and Gunn’s signature quip-happy banter make it a worthwhile endeavor to get to the end credits, even if there’s clearly some fat that would have been much better off trimmed.
Completely unburdened from connective tissue teasing future projects, blissfully ignorant towards the myriad of supplementary content coming down the pipeline, and entirely unbothered by the double-pronged Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars looming on the horizon, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 offers a throwback to simpler times when the primary focus of the MCU was to simply deliver the best movie possible without keeping one eye laser-focused on what’s happening several years in the future.
Many of the fan favorites integral to the dysfunctional family unit will be sorely missed in the years to come, but when the dust settles and the DCU explodes into life in the summer of 2025 with Gunn’s own Superman: Legacy, he may yet prove to be the most devastating loss of them all.
