Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3

I feel like this movie was the perfect conclusion to the Guardians trilogy, while still allowing for more GotG movies. The team has grown together, and their arcs are perfectly completed. This movie has plenty of humor, but also some sad moments. And it can be a tad bit dark at times. The movie avoided the multiverse and trying to connect itself to the rest of the MCU, while still dealing with the fallout of the Infinity Saga. An impressive feat that James Gunn manages to pull off flawlessly. 

So from here there will be spoilers!

-The story focuses on Rocket’s origin. Animals being tortured is dark. When the High Evolutionary kills his friends, that was a rough moment. But I am not going to lie, as Rocket dies and heads to the light, seeing Lylla, then being told that it is not his time yet…yeah, a few tears may have streamed down my cheek.

-I imagine people are complaining about the High Evolutionary being rather weak as a villain. But it was rather nice to have a villain who was just bad. Not some deep reason behind his plans, not some kind of tortured soul just trying to fix the universe in a poor way. Nope, just an asshole. Honestly though, the High Evolutionary was not the real villain. As Mantis says at one point “we all hate ourselves” (okay, I think Mantis said something like that, but it could have been someone else). The true villain is each of their insecurity about themselves. They eventually have to overcome those things in order to come together as a team and save the day. 

-I loved how the movie handles Gamora and Peter. I was a bit worried when Endgame ends with Nebula telling Gamora that it was either Peter or the talking tree. I was going to be pissed if they were together, like nothing happened. So many time-travel/multiverse show & movies screw this stuff up. This Gamora did not experience all the things that Gamora1 did. Those are the things that led her to falling in love with Peter Quill. Gamora2 was barely able to betray Thanos. 

-Nebula realizing that Drax has value as a father, and telling him at the end that he is not the destroyer was a perfect moment. Nebula craps on everyone, particularly Drax and Mantis for being idiots. She screams at Drax that he brings no value to the team, but when he rescues the children, and then bonds with them, she sees him for who he is. Drax is reminded of why he went on his quest for vengeance, but Nebula also realizes that she does not see the good in people, only looks for the negatives.

-Adam Warlock. It was pretty obvious after Groot picked him up that it would be Adam who would save Quill. There was a moment though that I thought Star-Lord might be a goner. 

-Okay, something I wonder if people realized (I know my pal Jason picked up on it, but I have heard a few other people miss this completely). So at the end, Groot says “I love you guys” instead of I Am Groot. If you paid attention, Gamora could not understand Groot throughout the entire movie (she even thinks the team is messing with her by just pretending he is saying something). But as she becomes closer to the team, she is able to understand him. And thus, after three movies (and a few others if you include the Infinity Saga and holiday special), we–the audience–are now part of the team, and can totally understand Groot. It was a nice way of breaking the fourth wall and including all of us on this journey. So no, Groot did not learn English since the last movie. Also weirdly enough, I thought this was one of the only times I could truly hear Vin Diesel’s voice. 

-I definitely enjoyed the musical journey that Peter (as well as Rocket) go on through this entire series. “Creep” by Radiohead at the beginning…no wonder Jason loved it. But ending with Florence + the Machine was nice. Also, will Rocket continue his journey with Earth music? 

So what did you think of the movie?