This third 'volume' of the Guardians series of MCU films will likely be James Gunn's last behind the camera, and we'll all be sorry when he's gone. He has such a firm handle on things that it would probably be best for everyone if this actually is the final in the canon. As it stands, it's at least the equal of the first one, possibly even better - watching this feels like flopping down into a comfortably grungy couch.
The story eschews the big picture, galactic-level shitstorms that have hampered many of the recent Marvel efforts. The focus of this film is Rocket and his thus-far concealed back-story. At the start of proceedings he's attacked on Knowhere by a glittering gold twat, Adam Warlock, who critically injures him and escapes after a fearsome tussle. In trying to treat the little fella, it's soon discovered that he has a 'kill switch' inbuilt and any attempt to save him will activate it. Jeepers, time for a mission.
So Rocket spends most of the film in flashbacks, remembering his traumatic past in a comatose state. These scenes are required to flesh out the story and they're pretty affecting at that, but it's the present day shenanigans that hold the aces in terms of fun and tension. The heist on the Orgoscope, a sticky, biological space station; the trip to Counter-Earth (a reasonably cut price way of portraying an alien world); and the frankly brilliant corridor battle on the High Evolutionary's Borg-like ship, are all presented with the requisite balance of comedy and action. The film has a relaxed wit, every line delivered with a familiar ease, nobody struggles to land a joke or a gut punch.
All the cast are on form but Zoe Saldana, as Gamora, takes the plaudits for me. She has, arguably, the hardest job - she's, in fact, playing a totally new character (no spoilers from earlier MCU films). Whether brushing off 'Quinn' or slicing combatants, she's cold as a razor blade, tight as a tourniquet, dry as a funeral drum (© Pink Floyd). Pom Klementieff is fantastic as Mantis, Dave Bautista equally good as Drax and Chris Pratt can do goofy, tough, serious and 'puppy dog' wounded (see Karen Gillan's Nebula for this reference), and carry all on an equal footing. He's the best of the MCU Chris's, for sure.
Must mention that the soundtrack absolutely kicks it - when Faith No More's 'We Care a Lot' arcs up, you realise Gunn is firing (sorry), even though this is the Chuck Moseley era, before Mike Patton joined and they became the best band on the planet. Incidentally, the first film's soundtrack has the higher peaks, but for me, this one is more consistently great, especially in the way Gunn has positioned each track to match the action.
I had one or two minor issues, such as the cliched 'decision' Rocket makes in his coma, the repeated musical slo-mo walks to camera (I'd usually sneer but this shit gets me all the time with Gunn), and the use of children and cute little animals to give the heroes motivation and the audience a big 'awwww'. Also, Warlock was odd - he's unlike the character from the comics (I think) - but Will Poulter makes something of the smallish role.
The choice of Gunn to switch regularly between the highs of the Guardians on song, and the lows of Rocket's body-horror vivisections is certainly ambitious, but he pulls it off. This is a Marvel film with a message, but it's also chock full of laughs and emotion, shot and edited with vibrancy and visual flair. As we've seen with recent MCU films, it's not an easy task to deliver something that ticks all those boxes.
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The corridor sequence is supreme film-making, a brawl that owes something to Park Chan-wook's Oldboy (2003) and Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (1954) but is quintessentially Gunn, as is his bloodier, swearier The Suicide Squad (2021).
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