Of all the recent Marvel films that have come out recently, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the only one I actually recommend watching. It marks the third and final film of the trilogy after 9 years. The film is mainly centered around the Guardians saving their best friend, Rocket Raccoon. I’ll rate the movie through 7 categories: Prologue, Plot, Cinematography/Visuals, Acting, Character Development, Theme, and Ending. At last, we will have a overview of the movie as a whole. 

 Prologue

        The beginning of the film takes us into the past when Rocket was much younger while also giving us a faint glimpse of the main villain of the film. Then, the film transitions to the present day where Rocket is sitting down, listening to music. The way they transition from the past to the present was very creative. It’s like a time lapse from young Rocket to the much older, present-day Rocket, but instead of it being over the span of a couple of hours or minutes, it’s over the span of a couple of years.

 As we see Rocket walk around in the celestial head called Knowhere, (Yes, it actually is a giant floating head of a celestial being in space with people living in it), we are shown the rest of the team, Drax the Destroyer, Nebula, Mantis, Groot, and a drunk Quill, who’s still grieving over the loss of Gamora. This scene was very well thought out, especially the song choice. The song is called “Creep” by RadioHead. The lyrics mainly relates to Peter Quill because it talks about how a man has fallen in love with a woman, but the woman doesn’t have the same affection for him. This is exactly what happens to Quill in the movie. Gamora, or at least this version of her, doesn’t even know him or has feelings for him since she was pulled from another timeline that took place before she even met the Guardians. As Rocket goes into this bar, we see Quill, drunk over losing the love of his life. After having a short rant about Rocket having his “Zune,” he passes out on the ground. Frustrated, Nebula carries Quill over to his bed as you can see in the middle of the photo. The prologue does a good job at showing the current state of the Guardians, especially Peter Quill. Down to the song choice and Quill’s grief over Gamora, it proves to be an effective way to emphasize a character’s overall state. I’d rate it 10/10

Plot

The plot is mainly about the misfits going on an adventure to save their best friend after they were severely injured by a golden lunatic called Adam Warlock, who was also sent by a lunatic with god-like abilities . It includes many characters from vastly different backgrounds that are each influenced by the events of the movie or influenced by other characters. This makes for a really good plot overall in the movie. 8/10.

Cinematography/Visuals/Choreography

The visuals in the movie were spectacular. I love how each world is different in its own way from the other. Some aren’t even full on planets such as the Orgoscope as you can see in the picture above. Instead of it being man-made like a spaceship, it’s a big structure that was formed out of organic matter, which I found to be very unique. Also, there was very good use of color in this part of the movie. The contrast between the white, solid structures and the more organic, orange and yellow parts along with the orange OrgoCorp uniforms the Guardians are wearing to disguise as mechanics, really made the scene pop. The visuals overall are really good compared to other MCU films like Thor: Love and Thunder or Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, there is one scene that tops every other scene in the movie. Overall, a 9/10. 

The Hallway Fight Scene

I would rate this as the best fight scene in the MCU, solely because of the choreography that was used in this scene. This whole entire scene was just one shot. There were absolutely no cuts in this scene. The slow-motion shots were also amazing in this scene. It was almost like looking at a comic book. I really wish more action-packed movies would have more one-shot action scenes like this, though it is understanding that action scenes like this are much more difficult to choreograph than the traditional way of choreographing action scenes. This scene alone carries the rating for overall visuals. I’d rate it 9.5/10. 

Acting

The acting in the movie is good. This movie is the more emotional and darker installment of the trilogy. A good example is when Rocket (SPOILER ALERT) dies for a few seconds, Quill starts screaming, thinking that he had lost his best friend, Rocket. He starts frantically pulling cords and even performing CPR on him. However, Rocket does come back alive. There was a lot of emotion just from his scream, as it shows the audience how much Quill actually cares about Rocket. It doesn’t always need to be sad scenes, though. It could be really funny scenes like when Nebula has trouble opening the passenger door of a car, Quill uses the F-bomb, which is probably the first time any PG-13 MCU movie has ever used that word. The way he says it was very realistic, though. You can make sense on why he said it. I mean, come on, how would someone as intelligent as Nebula not know how to open a door? Nevertheless, the scene was perfectly executed. I’d rate it a 9/10. I really believe the High Evolutionary should’ve been taken a little more seriously. In the comics, he’s a very powerful being that has created many societies such as the Sovereign, the gold people that the Guardians had fought in Vol. 2. Don’t get me wrong, he was also very powerful in this movie as he was able to manipulate gravity to do whatever he wanted it to do, such as throwing people across the room or removing very heavy obstacles. Overall, though, the acting was really good.

Character Development

The trilogy as a whole has shown a lot of character development. Who were originally criminals in the first movie turned out to be the Guardians of the Galaxy. This movie still has a lot of character development. Nebula, in my opinion, has probably had the most character development out of the entire team and the best character arc, in my opinion. At first, she was seen as an enemy and could not be trusted by the Guardians. She even attempted to kill her own sister, Gamora. However, as time went on, she realizes that all she really wants is a sister. Nebula had gone through so much torture, both physical and mental. So has Gamora, but Nebula has had it worse. Much worse. But this was in previous Marvel films. In Vol. 3, she is also shown to really care about Rocket. This was mainly because when everyone was snapped away, Rocket and Nebula were the only remaining Guardians and it had been that way for 5 years, so it makes sense that Nebula has a soft spot for Rocket. She even considers Rocket as “family.” What really showed her character development was when at the end of the movie, she is seen smiling and dancing to the song that was playing at the end of the movie. At the beginning, she never smiles or laughs or even shows any sign of happiness. She was always angry and annoyed with everyone. She was also annoyed with Gamora because she had always beat her in a fight. Her smiling and even laughing at the end of the movie shows how much she has developed over the course of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie to the third and final installment of the trilogy. Quill has also had some character development as he’s more serious and just more of a “get stuff done” kind of guy. He doesn’t even crack jokes as much as he used to. He’s older, bitter, a bit meaner, and more depressed after losing Gamora, and also realizing that the Gamora he is trying to get back to is a Gamora from another timeline before she even met the Guardians so she doesn’t even know him. A lot to take in, especially for Quill. Overall, it’s a 10/10. 

Theme

The main theme of the film was pretty clear throughout the entire film. No one is perfect and there is no such thing as a perfect being as we all have flaws of our own and no one can judge you for that because they, too, are flawed. Instead, people should value who they are as an individual. It’s shown very well throughout this movie as the High Evolutionary’s main motive was to create the perfect species, the perfect society. That proved to be an impossible ambition as every creation of the High Evolutionary had some sort of flaw whether it’s their physical appearance or mental stability or skills. This theme also relates to the Guardians as none of them are perfect, either. The High Evolutionary is symbolic to those who judge others based off of their imperfections when they are also, in fact, imperfect. The High Evolutionary isn’t perfect as he wears a mask to hide his true appearance, which also symbolizes how people wear masks to hide their imperfections.  He always judged Rocket based off of his flawed appearance. Another good example is when Rocket is about to rescue a bunch of baby raccoons, he also realizes that he, himself, is also a raccoon and he had to accept it. He always hated when people called him a raccoon. At the end of the movie, all of the lifeforms that the High Evolutionary had kept for experiments were saved by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Showing all the different lifeforms in the city of Knowhere contributes to the overall theme because they are all accepted for who they are, despite their differences. Overall, the theme is well shown throughout the entire movie.  It gets a 9/10.

Ending

After the Guardians had defeated the High Evolutionary saved all the lifeforms, they all go back to Knowhere. The scene with Quill and Gamora talking to each other for one last time really sums up the entire movie as a whole. Gamora tells Peter Quill that she’s not who he wants her to be, his girlfriend. However, Quill shows that he is fine with that. He replies: “I know, but who you are isn’t so bad.” It shows that Quill has accepted Gamora for who she is. They finally go their own separate ways. Shortly after, Quill gathers the team one last time. He tells them that he is leaving and going back to Earth to stay with his grandfather, who turns out to be still alive and well, even when Quill thought he would have passed away due to age. Mantis also wants to go on adventures of her own as she wants to find what she wants and to find who she is as an individual. Nebula tells Drax that he wasn’t born to be a destroyer, but born to be a father as she had shown how he can handle the children that they had rescued. Nebula wants to lead the city to make it the home she never had. Quill, decides to pass on his leader status to Rocket Raccoon as he believes that he will be a better leader than he ever was. Groot stays with Rocket since he is his best friend and will help him on his adventure as the new leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy. After this heart-warming scene, the Guardians split up and went their own separate ways. The ending in the movie is great and a perfect way to conclude the trilogy.    

Overview

Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 gets a score of 9.5/10. I believe it’s the best MCU title in a long time and is the perfect farewell to the band misfits and James Gunn, the director of the whole trilogy as he jumps ship to the DC Universe. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to many MCU projects that have seemingly missed the mark. It packs a lot of comedy, but also a lot of emotion. It’s the perfect blend of both worlds. The visuals in the movie were fantastic as the visual effects were some of the best I’ve seen from Marvel recently. Choreography, especially in the hallway fight scene, is also really good. The character development is really good, especially with Nebula. It’s a great example of a well written character. The theme is also well shown throughout the entire movie with stories and characters that relate to that theme. The first Guardians of the Galaxy film will always have a special place in my heart, but the third installment of the trilogy is definitely my favorite and one of my favorite MCU films of all time.