Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3

        During the golden age of the MCU, heroes like Iron Man and Captain America saved earth all while delighting audiences everywhere. It was also during this time when James Gunn gave us Guardians of the Galaxy, a movie whose rag-tag group led by an orphan from earth with a love of classic tunes won us over immediately. Now here we are some nine years later with the MCU in what some might call a creative funk. Here’s hoping Gunn and co. can give us something to love again.

       The universe is a little less grand for Quill (Chris Pratt) ever since Gamora (Zoe Saldana) came back with a lack of memory of their time together. The rest of the Guardians, who now use Knowhere as their headquarters, are a little less guided with Quill often disappearing into a bottle to help him deal with his current emotions. Things though for this group never stay quiet for long, as their downtime is interrupted when Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) appears and after a lengthy battle leaves one of the guardians battling for their life. This it seems gets Quill re-focused, as he, Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel) , Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Rocket (Bradley Cooper)  all race to not save the galaxy this time, but to save a friend. In trying to do so they must break into a corporations HQ’s that is alive, then are led to a trail to Counter Earth, a planet that looks and feels like Earth, but with animals instead of humans. Needless to say things  become more involved than just saving their friend, as they now have to go up against The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), in order to save the day, and possibly the galaxy again.

Like the previous two volumes, number three is also written by James Gunn. Who delivers a script that avoids the misfires of the most recent MCU offerings, as it adds depth to characters we thought we knew so well. Gunn and company doesn’t just further develop our heroes, Guardians Vol. 3  also has the perfect mixture of action, comedy, and emotional punches that might have you feeling like this is the best volume yet. This is not just a story about an adventure in space, as this is a story of friendship and family and the things we will do for the ones we love.

               Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is definitely a more than worthy farewell to this slightly different hero team. It somehow does an incredible balancing act, as everyone gets a time to shine all while going down the final path of the character arcs that started with the first film. This though is not just an end of the Guardians as we know them, but also the end of Gunn in the MCU, as he takes his talents to the DCU. I for one will miss Gunn in the MCU, as he brought something original and often more fun.  That for sure will be hard to replace or replicate. That though is the future, as for the now, Gunn delivers a movie that runs the gambit on your emotions and ends his run with Marvel with a banger.