When the first Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 hit theaters back in 2014, people were unsure, to say the least. There were whispers that this would be Marvel’s first bomb. After all, who were these Guardians? Even among comic book aficionados, they weren’t as well known as Spider-Man or the Avengers.

As it turns out they were a hit, and with Vol. 2 Marvel essentially stepped into the same galactic river twice because that became an equally big success. With the Holiday Special doing extremely positively among viewers and critics, the franchise has also become one of the MCU’s most consistent performers. The question now is, will the misfits of Marvel be able to keep it up for their third big-screen outing?

And the answer, overall, is yes. Their unique brand of humor and march-to-your-own-drum vibe of the series are on full display. But it is also easily the darkest of the Guardians movies, and somehow the cast and crew found a balance between the jokes and the extra seriousness
to make for a fun and moving cinematic journey.

Chris Pratt is back as Peter Quill, or as he likes to be known, The Legendary Starlord. He’s in a bit of a dark place when we first see him, still mourning the loss of his lady love, Gamora, played by Zoe Saldaña. Past Gamora is still around, thanks to some time travel hi jinks in Avengers: Endgame, however, she’s not the same person, no matter how much Quill wants her to be.

Also with them are series regulars Nova (Karen Gillian), Drax(Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and of course Groot (Brought to life by the dazzling vocal stylings of Vin Diesel).

While everyone has their own little stories and issues to resolve throughout the film, the main story revolves around the group’s resident furry genius armorer, Rocket, still expertly voiced by Bradley Cooper. Rocket’s origins are a big draw for the film. He had never talked much about his past, and now we finally see why. In a series of poignant, moving flashbacks, we finally see what went on before Rocket teamed up with Groot and eventually found himself hooked up with the Guardians.

The main big bad for the movie is the High Evolutionary, a hyper-intelligent, powerful being with a god-complex (Don’t they all?). The Evolutionary is played with calculated coldness by Chukwudi Iwuji. And though a formidable threat in the present, he exudes a much more
intimate form of terror in the past where we see him conduct his experiments. His intellect, and willingness to apply that intellect in his pursuits no matter the cost to those around him, especially those he deems inferior, form a chilling combination. He’s what you would get if you crossed Albert Einstein or Steven Hawking with Sid the toy bully from Toy Story 1.

Adam Warlock, played by Will Poulter, is probably the weakest part of the whole movie. Not that Will’s performance was weak or lacking in some way, but that Adam Warlock himself felt misdirected and under-used. The MCU has had a pretty decent batting average when it comes to how they reimagine characters from their comic-book origins, but I have to say at least at this point, Adam Warlock is a bit of a miss. Granted, he is new, but after his build-up at the end of Vol.2, you’d think he’d have a larger role in the goings-on of the film. Who knows what they have planned for him in the future, but as of GotG 3, he is not your daddy’s Adam Warlock, and that is a shame.

The visuals are nothing short of extraordinary, with wild, vivid images with mind-bending scale, and the music of course adds a lot to the experience. There doesn’t seem to be one stand-out song on this mixtape, unlike Brandy in Vol. 2, and "Hooked on a Feeling" from Vol. 1, but there are enough gems to be discovered, or if you’re old enough, re-discovered, in Vol. 3’s soundtrack.

Despite feeling overly stuffed at times, the movie does hit most of the major emotional beats. By the time we reach the finish line, we see our heroes settling into their new normal. We know this is the end of an era, with director James Gunn moving on to other things. They will persist
in the MCU of course, possibly guesting in other movies or taking part in the upcoming Kang War in some fashion.

And yes, that is a point of sadness, but it is also satisfying that, for the most part, we leave these characters we have come to love in a much better place than when we first met them. We’ve seen them grow as individuals and as a family, and even though they’ll still be around, Vol. 3 is a great swan song for James Gunn’s version of the franchise.