Movie Review: Say Goodbye To The Guardians In GOTG3
When I look at my life, I feel I have lived a thousand times in one body. I’ve changed so much, at times, in a day and, other times, in a batch of years. The point is who I was and who I will be have often been entirely different, but always had a bridge in the monotony and wonder of who I am. I mention this beautiful opus of words because Peter Quill is, rightfully, going through an existential crisis, and the Guardians of The Galaxy are going to have a new line-up because of it.
Low-key, GOTG3 solidifies Chris Pratt as our Star-Lord; the same way we felt Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, RDJ, and even Elizabeth Olsen and Tom Hiddleston have stamped their immovable essence on their iconic characters. He brings the boredom and beauty of the emotional limbo between who you were and who you have no idea you can be, and serves one of the rare performances in the MCU to show the pain and humility one incurs when their life has been one chaotic, apocalypse after another for the past few years.
Part of why we love comic-book characters is because they feel like an exaggerated version of humanity; actually facing end of world situation while we just feel its the end of the world in every situation. What makes GOTG3 so special is that it feels like an evolution for both Marvel and its characters; asking the audience and it’s protagonists what it means to be reborn or grow even further after facing so much darkness and loss. In essence, now that you know how small you are, how big do you want to go with your life? For the huge personalities of GOTG3, they can go anywhere, but where do they really want to go? Okay, enough existential questions.
In terms of special effects and humor, Guardians always delivers. Out of all the MCU franchises, director James Gunn has made GOTG3 feel like an expansive Wild West, where other planets kind of feel like different states in the same country; for example, how we all contemplate that New York and Florida are, literally, in the same coast let alone planet. I mention the expansiveness of the film because it plays into what the trailers have stated: this is the ¨last¨ time our team as we know it will be together, and the end of this era feels warm, sad, but also necessary.
In truth, yes, there is a ¨villain¨ with the team lining up against the masterfully intelligent High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) and even fighting Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), but the truth is I did not feel this was a film about defeating the ¨big bad¨ or overtly and forcefully pushing the Phase 4 line-up and storylines. Instead, it felt like a nice episode or wrap on characters we have grown to love and have absolutely no idea what they love about life. Nebula (Karen Gillan) is freaking fierce, and could break anyone like a twig, but she is still always second to someone, which is not unlike Mantis (Pom Klementieff), who can follow and move anyone’s desires without knowing her own. Drax (Dave Bautista) is always the most protective, goofy warrior to kind of want stability and family, and Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) are trying to find a balance between the life of adventure imposed upon them since their very existence and the growing desire to have a team that will always want such adventure, as well. As for Gamora, or my queen Zoe Saldana, she emanates what the entire film tearfully made me realize; eventually, we go our separate ways from the people we once thought we could never leave.
Did I cry watching GOTG3 like I did when Woody said goodbye to Andy in Toy Story 3? Did YOUR DAMN RIGHT I DID! This film made me laugh (especially Sean Gunn´s Kraglin), cry, and feel mesmerized by a story that felt like breathe to Marvel’s, at times, struggling stories since defeating Thanos. GOTG VOL3 proves Marvel thrives when it remembers that we care more for how our fave characters grow than what action sequence they have to go through to do it. GOTG VOL 3 Comes out May 4.
