Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Guardians of the Galaxy 3) is the latest blockbuster of the Marvel giant to hit the market, and at the same time kick off Hollywood’s summer blockbuster season this year. The work is also considered the final part of the series about the sassy superhero team led by Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and is the farewell letter of personality director James Gunn to Marvel fans before packing. to join the rival company DC.
The script continues the story of the guard after the events of Thor: Love and Thunder. The party bids farewell to the Thunder God and returns to Knowhere headquarters to continue their missions. Suddenly, Adam Warlock appeared and attacked them, with the aim of capturing the raccoon Rocket for High Evolutionary – a mad scientist with a desire to create superior species on behalf of God.
Despite his superior strength, Adam Warlock was too subjective to despise the enemy, creating an opportunity for the guards to counterattack and had to accept retreat. However, the attack left Rocket in a critical condition, unable to be treated in the usual way. Star-Lord and his teammates find their way to meet the villain High Evolutionary to find a way to save you. The journey also takes them to learn about Rocket’s traumatic past.
A worthy ending for the superhero squad even though the content is a bit forced
With a duration of 150 minutes, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the longest part in the brand. Director James Gunn and the Marvel family have a lot to say in this episode that can be seen as the work that closes this hit franchise. And it can be said that they brought a worthy ending in terms of both content and images for the superhero squad.
The script this time does not have many breakthroughs but is well developed and streamlined. James Gunn continues to show that he is a master of humorous but also sinister episodes. This feature makes the American filmmaker extremely suitable for building characters with the motif of anti-hero or social outcast. When the first part came out, many people were skeptical Guardians of the Galaxy will flop because it revolves around superheroes that are not so popular with the mass audience. However, with James Gunn’s ingenious cooking, the brand achieved unexpected success at the box office and pushed the name of the director himself to new heights.
The third season opens with the detail that Star-Lord becomes depressed after losing the girl he loves most – Gamora. She now exists in his universe but is a version that comes from a different timeline and has no special memories or affection for the leader of the Guardians. However, Star-Lord must shake off the sadness when the life of his best friend Rocket is threatened.
Rocket’s predicament takes the team on a journey to encounter the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) – one of the revealed villains with immense cosmic power. At the same time, Star-Lord also enlisted to find a way to conquer another version of Gamora when she agreed to join the mission because of the huge profit that could be received if successful. This direction helps the team continue to retain one of the most beloved couples in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to bring to the screen. The conflict between them becomes the material for James Gunn to develop funny situations throughout the film, besides the main circuit is the confrontation with High Evolutionary.
Another story line cleverly integrated in the film is Rocket’s violent past – a raccoon who is a product of a genetic mutation experiment created by High Evolutionary. This name tricks innocent animals into a perfect world, only blue sky, white clouds and no social evils. However, the animals he dissected and grafted were merely experimental subjects to create more radical species.
Movie segments about Rocket have strong emotional effects, dealing with serious topics such as animal abuse or the value of friendship. The previous parts, the raccoon appeared quite humorously with a somewhat grumpy, rude personality. Director James Gunn cleverly gave an explanation for that bad habit and at the same time revealed the very human and noble features of Rocket in this episode. The character voiced by Bradley Cooper presents himself as a philanthropist, always ready to sacrifice for what he loves and has all the qualities of a leader.
If you are observant, the audience can easily recognize the main theme of the parts Guardians of the Galaxy which is not just a fantasy movie about superheroes defeating bad guys, searching for treasure. Borrowing the story of the outcasts, director James Gunn always cleverly integrates the message that anyone deserves to be loved, to find their own family. In this third part, that theme is shown most clearly in the detail that Star-Lord refuses to return to Earth to reunite with her own flesh and blood. For James, family is people who care and love each other unconditionally. That affection often comes from happy and sad experiences during their journey together. It is this factor that also helps the American director create a touching film for viewers.
The soundtrack and visuals continue to be the highlight
After a series of Hollywood blockbusters, James Gunn has proven himself to be extremely good at choosing soundtracks for movies. LIVE Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the director continues to show that he always finds songs that are super suitable for the content and mood of the character. The work opens with the Rocket segment while listening and mumbling to the tune of Radiohead’s immortal hit Creep. The details are built appropriately if the audience considers the lyrical content with the story of the raccoon shown in the film.
The film brings many eye-catching action segments of the superhero group. Their opponents this time are the heavily guarded company Orgocorp and a large team of the mysterious scientist High Evolutionary. Although the fighting part is praised, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 still follow the trend of “submerging” Marvel’s cosmic villains like many recent films. Perhaps, finding a way to balance the power between the old group of superheroes and the new villains is still a dilemma for the MCU.
An impressive part of the visual effects is the segment of the guardian group coming to the planet Counter-Earth – an Earth clone created by High Evolutionary. This place is the home of a series of strange individuals, half human and half animal. Their lives are somewhat peaceful, without superheroes, but also gradually appear bad habits. The film feels quite surreal for the audience with a lot of characters with strange appearances. At the same time, director James Gunn sent many philosophical messages around the question of the good and evil nature of man.
Scoring: 4/5
Can say, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 did a great job in developing the main characters of the film, giving them quite complete stories and worthy of fans’ expectations. In addition to Rocket and Star-Lord, the other members of the Guardians were all given reasonable endings, although in some places it still felt quite forced because the director was unable to develop each person’s story thoroughly.
Image source: Marvel
