As he departs for DC, James Gunn leaves the MCU and Guardians of the Galaxy with what may be the best MCU film since Endgame (2019), which is four years and approximately one and a half phases later. This says something about Gunn's prowess, as well as the relative weakness of MCU fare of late. As it is, this sequel comes about six years after Vol. 2, which itself was not one of the greats.
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| From left to right, Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), and Nebula (Karen Gillan) |
The gang is all here, so to speak, with Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) back in action, with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) reluctantly along for the adventure.
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| Zoe Saldana reprises Gamora, but she's not the Gamora Star-Lord remembers. |
This time around, the focus of the film is on Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), the altered raccoon who is best known up to now as being the sarcastic weapons expert of the Guardians. Not only do we find out more about his very disturbing backstory, but we learn that there is more to Rocket and that he's "human" after all. I had never seen an MCU film as poignant as this one and one that I actually cried at. No, the death of Iron Man wasn't as emotional as this film. And that's saying something, considering Rocket is a totally animated character.
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| Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is the focus of the third outing. |
This time around, the evil is supplied by the High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji, who is responsible for taking a raccoon and manipulating him into a sentient being with brain power that surpasses his own. If you're an animal lover, there are things done to animals that you definitley won't like, including Lylla (voiced by Linda Cardellini) an anthropomorphic otter; Teefs (voiced by Asim Chaudhry), an anthropomorphic walrus; and Floor (voiced by Mikaela Hoover), an anthropomorphic rabbit. They are experiments of the High Evolutionary, who, dissatisfied with how things are, decides to remake the universe, one planet at a time, and when things don't work out, raze it and start again. Iwuji is one of the best villains since Thanos.
The acting overall is very good, with Sean Gunn, the director's brother, getting more to do than in previous films as Kraglin, a former second-in-command of Yondu Udonta's (Michael Rooker) Ravagers now turned good guy. The old crew seem to effortlessly resume their characters from the previous films and last year's The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and add to them as well, making them each a little deeper. I also wanted to point out the good voice work done by Linda Cardellini as Lylla, as her performance goes a long way to the emotional punch of the film.
Vol. 3 seems to put a cap on the trilogy that started back in 2014 with Guardians of the Galaxy, which seemed to prove, at the time, that any Marvel characters were rife for success, something other deep dives into the MCU have since disproven. What made that film so good was the combination of humor and action, and for the most part that's true of this second sequel.
And things won't be the same after this film. Gunn will no longer be directing at Marvel and will devote his artistic efforts to bringing the DCEU up to snuff. That said, the Guardians themselves are in for a change and we're promised that Star-Lord will return in the best James Bond sense. But it remains to be seen when and whose vision the character will follow. I also wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some plans for another Guardians film, with or without Star-Lord.
No telling if the next outing will be as good, but this is one film that fans should love.
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