Plot: A quest to save Rocket Raccoon.
Main theme: Friends are important.
Secondary theme: accept yourself for who you are.
Tertiary theme: if it’s your job to save the universe, make sure you have a good soundtrack, or as Emma Goldman said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution”.
Quaternary theme: everyone deserves a second chance.
Rating: PG-13 for a plethora of profanity and various varieties of violence.
The third and final movie of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is an action-packed film. It is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence Many parents at our theater brought children younger than thirteen. Personally, I would advise against that, but your kids, your decision. The special effects artists and the stuntmen earned their pay, but we don’t go to movies for special effects and stunts. We go to movies for a good story and interesting characters.
Characters
- Warning: If you don’t like Rocket Raccoon, voiced by Bradley Cooper, skip this movie. It’s his story. We finally learn his history.
- Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel, is no longer a sapling. He is all grown up, a tough assemblage of vines and bark, as deadly as oleander, but not as pretty.
- Chukwudi Iwuji (Akoni in John Wick, Chapter 2), (Adams in the BBC’s Wizards vs Aliens) (Clemson Morn in the DCEU’s Peacemaker) plays the High Evolutionary, a twisted genius whom some galactic species regard as a god. Rocket and Star-Lord have a much lower opinion of him. He is obsessed with Rocket, an experiment that succeeded better than he should have.
- Drax the Destroyer played by Dave Bautista and Star-Lord played by Chris Pratt have both matured with higher EQs (emotional quotients than they had in previous movies.
- Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter, plays one of the more iconic characters in Marveldom, and does it in gold face paint. He pulls it off, despite having been a lanky stringbean of a comedian when originally cast for the role.
- Nebula, played by Karen Gillan, whose abilities are way above what we’ve seen so far, both in terms of her physical abilities but her emotional sensitivity as well.
- Zoe Saldaña plays Gamora, but not the Gamora you’ve seen. She’s Gamora, all right, but from a different time thread pulled from before she met Starlord. For him, it’s like living with a walking tombstone.
Scene Stealers: Cosmo, a telekintic dog (voiced by Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova)who was once a Soviet cosmonaut experiment, Kraglin the Ravager, played by Sean Gunn (younger brother of writer/director James Gunn), and Master Karja played by fan favorite Nathan Fillion.
On the whole, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 was an okay movie, but not a great one. MCU fans will want to see this if only for a sense of closure. Casual movie fans may find themselves confused watching a movie that’s the end of a trilogy and the 32nd film in the MCU if they haven’t seen what came before.
It’s an emotional roller coaster. I brought tissue, but I didn’t need them. “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,” moral redemption, unrequited love, the very requited love of friends who become family, tears of joy, gasps of fright, they’re all part of the ride. You know, on second thought, I might give the movie 8 out of 10 instead of 7 out of 10.
Although action-packed, GOTG, Vol. 3 was not as good as the two previous films, in my opinion. I’d give it a 7 out of 10. My husband and son liked it better than I did. Rotten Tomatoes certified it as Fresh, with an 80% approval rating.
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
