After some ups and downs, James Gunn is back with volume 3 of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, it’s his last Marvel project before moving on to co-head the DC films. Will Poulter (Dopesick, The Maze Runner) and Chukwukdi Iwuji (Peacemaker, When They See Us) join the cast respectively as Adam Warlock and the High Evolutionary. The core cast Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista (Dune), Sean Gunn (What If), Vin Diesel (Bloodshot), and Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley, American Sniper) are back and in top form.

Premise: Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own – a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.

Review: The Guardians of the Galaxy movies have always been fun and lively with many touching moments that get to you. This movie has all that but it’s darker and the emotional beats have more depth and have had a deeper impact on me. I cried during this movie and almost loudly sobbed at one point.

However, the silly humor throughout this film weighs it down and just about ruins it. Humor and drama can be a good mix – volume 1 and vol.2 prove that – but here, one – the drama – is great, top-notch with the cast doing an amazing job with it; but the other – the humor – is not. As comedically gifted as this cast is, it didn’t always work. Bear in mind that it’s not the now-typical Marvel humor that’s infused in pretty much every MCU movie but it’s James Gunn’s humor turned to an eleven and it didn’t quite work for me. It was too childish, too heavy-handed, I nearly cringed a couple of times and wished someone had reined him in. The cameos were also a bit much.

The story here is emotional, and heartfelt in a way that has been earned through the Guardians movies but also through the films these characters have appeared in. The plot is mainly focused around Rocket, he’s the driving force here and Cooper does an excellent job voicing him. Pratt’s Peter Quill has his own issues to deal with, and the same can be said for each member of this found family. The newbies, Poulter and Iwuji have great scenes.

Gunn does justice to every character in this movie, even the villain has great scenes. His directing is thrilling, and his action scenes are great and nicely shot. The VFX is neat and there are consequences in this movie

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 has heart, gravitas, genuinely funny moments, and a great soundtrack. It turned out to be a great follow-up to Avengers: Endgame and Guardians is hands down, at least for now, the best trilogy in the MCU.

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