Movie Review: Gaurdians of the Galaxy Volume III

 Movie Number 22 of 2023

The Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume III

The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens

Stars: 4

Hand on heart, my favourite Marvel creations are the Guardians of the Galaxy. They're fun, they're funny, their quirky and they are a family, and there's a lot of action - what more could you want in a film? 

Well, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume III does not disappoint - but it's a bit different to the other two films. 

Firstly, it's a bit more heartfelt. It's also a little bit darker. 

I won't be putting spoilers in this review, but will mention some activities from the other two films.

At the end of the second film, we see the Golden People being lead by Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) being rather angry that the Guardians defeated them. So, it's payback time. Ayesha sends her son, Adam Warlock (Will Poulter playing the ultimate Mummy's boy) to fix some things. He's just a bit dangerous.

Compounding this, a new baddie, The High Evolutionary (played masterfully by Chukwudi Iwuji) who wants to get his hands on Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper). Rocket, it comes to pass, was one of the High Evolutionary's creations, and we get a lot of the back story of this over the film. 

And then there's dear old Starlord , or Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) to his mates. He's still mourning the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) from when Thanos killed her in Avengers: Infinity Wars, however, Gamora has come back, but remembers nothing of their relationship. Her sister, Nebula (Karen Gillen), seems to be doing a bit better, holding the fort and keeping Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff). Oh, and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) is back, still trying to master Yondu's whistling arrow. 

If you haven't seen the first two films this won't make sense, however, I went along with Barney, the Units and Teddie. Teddie hasn't seen the first two films and she really enjoyed it. As for the Units, they gave the film an eight out of ten, which for two grunting thirteen-year-olds is pretty goood. 

So, that's the starting point. As with all Guardians of the Galaxy films there's a lot of action - lots and lots of action. What this one has above and beyond is a heart-rending back story, as we find out just how Rocket became Rocket. I loved this bit. It's touching - so touching that this comes with a take some tissues warning. Then again, I cried when Yondu died. 

James Gunn's writing and direction are spot on as always. And, of course, the music is great, but they've graduated from the seventies and moved on to the nineties and naughties music. And yes, Starlord's walkman is still around, but we see the emergence of the iPod too. 

And lastly, there are some fabulous cameos in this. Some of them, if you blink, you'll miss them - link Kevin Bacon and Sylvester Stallone, but they are there. 

I'm a Marvel nut and I love Guardians of the Galaxy part three. I now have to get Teddie around so she can catch up and see the others. 

This is great fun, with a heart. 

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