GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
Nearly ten years ago the Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed as if it could do no wrong, releasing both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy in one fell swoop. Fast forward to the present day and things have began to collapse inwards as those kind of distinct movie experiences have been lost under a string of sub-par releases. Avengers: Endgame felt more and more like the end of the era as time went on and things got more tired and rote. Budgets were spread thinner and the veneer of a film series cracked to show the corporate product beneath. But there was still a third instalment of this trilogy to be released, one that had been delayed for some time now. Is this another mechanised obligation or does it have soul?
For better or worse this is, shockingly, another James Gunn movie instead of something that says Sam Raimi on the poster but lacks anything but a few perfunctory flourishes. It's bleak and it's gross but it has real personality. It closes the trilogy, and perhaps the Marvel era, in a way that feels like the last of its kind. The problems are instead structural when you consider that perhaps this was meant to be two films. On the one hand this is the final note for Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and his friends, following the Avengers related tragedy that doomed his relationship with Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). On the other hand the director clearly wanted to do both a Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) movie and the origin of Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). It's constantly under threat of breaking under the weight of these ideas.
Fortunately the results, though often baggy, are often very effective. The romance isn't cloying or saccharine, the cybernetic animal laboratory is appropriately distressing, and despite feeling like a fifth wheel Adam Warlock doesn't outstay his welcome. It's too long and it doesn't always feel like a natural extension of part two, but it takes time to give everyone enough to do while adding new faces. It's often dark and perhaps understandably cynical, but it has a better balance of humour than part two in a story which is more personal than planet exploding. Although a planet does explode and there are a lot of dumb gags and crass lines. It at least feels like someone was guiding the narrative and trying to balance it all, not always successfully, instead of it being written by a committee and directed by a pre-vis team.
While Starlord drinks himself into a blackout over the state of his love affair, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) sends Adam Warlock to kidnap Rocket for use in a nefarious scheme. This would-be God has plans to create the perfect world, which involves trial and error with a lot of living test subjects. Rocket has some genetic information in his brain that this lunatic needs, but in the fracas it's revealed that there is a kill switch in his augmented animal body. It's a contrived way to get the story moving and make use of the GotG Vol. 2 ending teaser, but it sets the tone. The opening titles are plain instead of flashy, and the 1970s rock has been replaced by the 'Creep' by Radiohead. It starts with prison cages and self pity instead of a colourful battle set piece.
The focus on trauma is surprising for a film that is a last hurrah and not a dark middle chapter. If you're not expecting a sudden turn into horror and several moments that seem to be homages to The Island of Lost Souls and RoboCop 2 then look way now. Which isn't to say that there aren't eccentric moments and eye-popping production designs as things go on. There are space stations made of bizarre living cells and worlds populated by humanoid bats. Creatures that have been crossed with The Terminator and Ninja Turtles villains guard a ship made from red glass. The blurry grey showdowns and messy climaxes of recent MCU stories have been replaced by distinct set pieces with exciting camera work. It threatens to turn into a battle between a hundred spaceships just once before getting to more memorable sequences.
Upgrades to various character designs reflect a new sense of creativity as the story hops between monster battles, heists and escapes. The musical themes are more subdued and the licensed tracks aren't as catchy, but elsewhere they've done a good job looking at how to improve the sense of nuance and scale without just going bigger. There are telekinetic dogs fighting cyborgs. Security guards wearing suits made of flesh crash into the walls of a room made of bones. A trick single shot hallway fight uses flipping heroes and octopus creatures but is never visually confusing. It's true that the film treads a fine line between harrowing and heart warming but it never makes compromises in terms of action or drama. Even if it may effect viewers in different ways because of this lack of a crowd pleasing mentality.
The characters themselves are all fairly consistent at this stage. Star Lord and Gamora have a lot of awkward arguments but things work out in a way that's compelling. Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) continue their odd friendship from The GotG Holiday Special which is fun. It's hard to say how much of the humour will land for everyone, though
it's been toned down, but the kind of deadpan deliveries and weird lines
are also consistent at this stage. Elsewhere the High Evolutionary is a crackpot obsessed with the creative minds of Earth. But he's unable to see why people would ever be violent or take drugs; aiming for lab grown human artistry without understanding the human condition. It's a despicable but interesting figure that is a far cry from the first movie's blue revenge guy.
Maybe the flashbacks, of which there are many, should have focused on other characters for a more conclusive feeling. Perhaps Adam Warlock could have been dropped altogether to streamline the cast. But there's a wild kitchen sink last-ditch kind of vibe to the story which is hard not to get invested in. If they didn't have a character called War Pig, a bunch of new Groot variants, and a mind meld with a space monster then when else might it happen? They're still yet to tell a story involving the characters played by Sylvester Stallone and Michelle Yeoh (the latter who is absent entirely) and I'm not sure it can be done without the same creative team. But in the end this ties up enough of the previous loose ends in a bow to feel satisfying, if not without being brutal and eclectic.
4/5
