Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

Rating

Director

James Gunn

Screenplay

James Gunn

Length

2h 30m

Starring

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Will Poulter, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Linda Cardellini, Sylvester Stallone

MPAA Rating

PG-13

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Review

Digging into the backstory of one of the series’ most popular characters, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 finds it difficult to keep its events succinct.

The first film in the series to focus on someone other than Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) takes audiences into the history of Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a tech genius whose mysterious origins are explored in excruciating detail through flavored flashbacks. Chosen from a litter of creatures because he was too afraid to back away, Rocket finds himself the latest experiment of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), an inventor who wants to use animals as test subjects to create a perfect society free of the inherent violence he discovered on the planet earth. Rocket’s ability to reason beyond what he’s been programmed for makes him the target of an abduction attempt that leaves him near death’s door and the Guardians must embark on an adventure to remove the kill switch from his implants and ultimately save his life.

Director James Gunn established the Guardians of the Galaxy as one of the more fun and exciting groups of heroes in the MCU but keeping them feeling fresh and relevant has clearly been a challenge for him as he diverts his attention to the DC Extended Universe at rival Warner Bros. He doesn’t short-shrift his final film for Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he challenges the tenuous attention spans of his audience with a film that reaches an obvious conclusion at the end of the second act but stretches the narrative beyond the breaking point to make this 2.5-hour film feel laboriously overdrawn.

Tinged with thought-provoking concepts, Gunn’s Guardians films have always focused more on the zany and death-defying hijinks of its characters than any pensive pursuits. Here, he has an opportunity to explore the nature of scientific experimentation on creatures whose emotional wellbeing is irrelevant to their supposedly high-minded pursuits. Accomplished through the introduction of three new characters: an otter (voiced by Linda Cardellini), a walrus (voiced by Asim Chaudhry), and a bunny (voiced by Mikaela Hoover), the emotionally manipulative elements of the narrative work but not without creating some level of frustration within the viewer who will see through them all for the cloying nature they exhibit.

Having lived with these characters for some time, Pratt, Cooper, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, and Vin Diesel seem like they are working largely on autopilot with performances that range from passable to sometimes cringe-worthy. Whether this is the fault of the actors or the intent of filmmaker Gunn, it makes for a frustrating ride for most viewers even if the end result is largely enjoyable.

The MCU has gone to great lengths over the years to draw viewers into its stories emotionally and that’s largely been accomplished in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3. The problem remains that the series has grown beyond its core concept and turned into a lumbering behemoth that overwhelms the viewer with stray plot devices that resolve in expected but mediocre ways. A film can still be engaging, emotionally involving, and entertaining while also feeling bloated and manipulative and finding a way to reboot this series with a new director and a new formula might be necessary. Or it could be just as important to move on from these characters and focus on others who might help the franchise shift in a new, more exciting direction.

Review Written

August 20, 2026