Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ends the trilogy with a bang

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was released on May 5. It is the third and newest film in the Guardians of the Galaxy series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, MCU. It is directed and written  by James Gunn, the same director that directed the other movies in the series. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 brings more of the series’ signature fun while also mixing in some darker story elements that are unexpected in a Marvel movie. A good plot and performance by the cast results in it being one of the best of Marvel’s recent films.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 acts as an end of the series as each of the main characters have some form of resolution at the end of the film. This film is mainly focused on one of the characters, Rocket who is voiced by Bradley Cooper. The film really focuses on his backstory and how he was experimented on when he was young. The movie uses multiple flashbacks to show us about Rocket’s past and his history with the main villain of the film, the High Evolutionary played by Chukwudi Iwuji. 

The performances by the cast were great. Chris Pratt did another great job with his portrayal as Star-Lord. Karen Gillian also did great as Nebula. I was also a fan of Will Poulter’s performance as Adam Warlock. In the film, Adam Warlock was created before the story begins. Because of this, he is like a child with an extremely powerful body. Poulter plays this role amazingly, giving the audience a few laughs and good scenes in the little time he is on screen. While the rest of the cast also do good jobs, the best performance in the film belongs to Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary. The High Evolutionary isn’t an all powerful supervillain that the Guardians need to overpower. He is a scientist with a god complex that, in an attempt to make a perfect world, experiments on animals in order to make perfect creatures. Rocket is one of his early experiments and is the only one of his experiments that escaped. Iwuji delivers a great performance, showing his character’s desperation and narcissism.

The film also brings in something that Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is known for: a lot of licensed music. Each piece of music fits in well with the scene and doesn’t feel out of place and as if it was shoved into the scene without any thought. The best example is the introduction of film. The intro with Creep by Radiohead in the background does a good job showing the dynamic between the characters after the events of the previous films in the MCU. The rest of the film uses licensed music to improve scenes.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a great film and easily my favorite out of Marvel’s recent films. If you have the time, you should check it out. It is just as good, if not better, than the previous Guardians of the Galaxy films.