Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 is, obviously, the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie in the MCU. Once again, written and directed by James Gunn, and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Maria Bakalova, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Chukwudi Iwuji, Vin Diesel, Will Poulter, and quite a lot of others.
Following the Guardians Holiday Special, which I want to rewatch now, the titular Guardians are living on Knowhere and generally guarding the galaxy. Peter Quill (Pratt), however, is still grieving the loss of Gamora (Saldaña) way back in Infinity War, and it probably isn't helped by the fact that there is a Gamora running around, but it's not the one he knows.
(Side note: Multiple times in this movie people say "she doesn't remember" her life with the Guardians, and while that's character error not filmmaker error, it still made me twitch a little.)
Anywho, the Guardians are attacked by Adam (Poulter), the creation of the Sovereign High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), who whoops their collective ass until Nebula (Gillan) injures him and sends him packing. Adam manages to wound Rocket (Cooper, with Gunn providing his on-set movements), and they discover he has a kill-switch preventing him from being healed.
Turns out Rocket is the creation of a lunatic called the High Evolutionary (Iwuji), a mad scientist obsessed with "perfecting" life. He turned Rocket from a normal adorable baby raccoon into what he is, as he had with a lot of other animals (Rocket's cohort included a walrus, a fluffy rabbit, and an otter, voiced by Asim Chaudry, Mikaela Hoover, and Linda Cardellini, respectively), but for whatever reason Rocket turned out to be a mechanical and scientific genius. We find out in flashbacks that Rocket helped the High Evolutionary to create more docile evolved animals, but mauled him and fled after he killed off Rocket's cohort.
(This, by the way, puts the scene in Guardians vol 1 where Rocket says "everyone's got dead people" into some perspective, huh?)
So the Guardians mount up and go in search of a way to save him, and along the way wind up going to war with the Evolutionary and bringing his latest crop of genetically engineered beings to Knowhere, along with a whole bunch of animals, including a brace of baby raccoons.
We watched Ant-Man 3 recently, and I said that one of the things that annoyed me about that movie was that no one had an arc except MODOK. Watching Guardians 3, it struck me how everyone has an arc (though some of them began earlier), even Gamora, who is more or less a bit player here. Everyone has screen time, all of the principle cast is significant and moves things along. Compare/contrast with Evangeline Lily in Quantumania, who might as well have not been there. James Gunn has been building to the story of Rocket the whole time, and that preparation shows as we finally learn why Rocket is what he is. It's not a retcon or a backhanded justification, and seeing that kind of buildup paid off is really satisfying.
The moment that makes me cry, however, is Nebula telling Drax (Bautista) that what he is and has always been is a dad, not a destroyer. Again, that's so obviously true, and it's been there since we first met him - his motivation has always been his family, he just didn't have a way to express it other than violence for a long time.
I like that the movie isn't about Star-Lord, since he was pretty much the anchor of the first two. He gets a plot, sure, but they all do, and his is a B-plot. And, everyone gets a moment at the end to consider their next step and take it - Mantis (Klementieff) going off to find herself with three big fuck-off monsters in tow, Nebula staying to lead Knowhere, Quill going to home to Earth, Drax raising the children rescued from the Evolutionary, Gamora back with her chosen family (the Ravagers), and Rocket and Groot (Diesel) leading a new incarnation of the Guardians.
About the only complaint I have is that, like all of the Guardians movies, there are some moments that just kind of land with a clunk (see Drax calling Gamora a "whore" in the first movie, f'rex). Here it's Mantis calling Drax stupid and then making him forget it - it just felt unnecessary and mean. That's one beat in the movie, though, and for the most part the dynamics between the characters read like they should: these are people who love each other but are, on their own, very damaged individuals.
If this is the last Guardians movie, then fine, it ended. If we get another one (likely not directed by Gunn), then it really needs to be made by someone who loves these characters but is going to apply the same story-craft to them that Gunn did. Here's hoping.
My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Medium-high
Next up: John Wick Chapter 4
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