Be careful what you wish for; you just may get it.
Reunions can go a number of ways. Sometimes, the person you see has been through some things, and while you want to help them get back to the person you used to know but discussing that with them can be difficult. With Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 taking place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, this is one of the many things that this film addresses.
Written and directed by James Gunn (who has done all three, joining Peyton Reed and Sam Raimi as the only ones that have covered a superhero trilogy), the team of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper – voice), Groot (Vin Diesel – voice), Cosmo (Maria Bakalova – voice), and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) are headquartered in a rebuilt Knowhere. After an attack, a member of the team is critically injured, and a complication forces them to go on an adventure reuniting with an alternate timeline’s Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to save them as they take on The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), who is an evil scientist that creates hybrid creatures he justifies as creating a utopian society.
Just like the other 2 films, the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 is great. Gunn and his team continue to choose the right songs that fit each moment of this film very well. Visually, this is Disney and Marvel, which for over thirty films have brought cutting-edge technology to the big screen, and this film is no exception there either. This cast (including the new characters) do exactly what I expected from them in bringing the story to life, but there were no real standout performances that I can mention. This is not a negative; there was just not anything that really stood out.
I know that it seems like crossing the two-hour mark is almost mandatory for the MCU, but this one went a little too long at two and a half hours. There is easily enough that could have been cut here to get it under two hours, although it’s mix of comedy and emotion does work for the most part. On the downside of this is the aspect of this story that deals with elements that reminded me of The Island of Dr. Moreau that made me so uncomfortable that I started to wonder if Ari Aster was a consultant on this film. This film takes such a different tone while trying to keep the humor of the other two films, it just didn’t work for me as well as it could have. It does have a bit of the fun that came before it, but if I have to give a grade for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 it would be in the cheapest premiere-format presentation you can get a hold of.