The third and final installment of the James Gunn Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is here. Fans have waited a long time to see the intergalactic band of misfits return for some time as the last film was in 2017.



This new adventure sends the heroes on a quest to save the life of their friend Rocket as his life hangs in the balance meanwhile learning of his origin and how the being known as the High Evolutionary connects to it all.

Was this film worth the wait and a worthy sendoff to this group of heroes? Let’s find out.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS. PLEASE CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN DIGRESSION.



So from the beginning, we see that Rocket was experimented on when he was only a pup in order to become more intelligent in the experiments of the High Evolutionary who suffers from a God complex and wants to create the perfect society.

Adam Warlock tries to retrieve Rocket under orders of the Evolutionary and almost kills him on accident. The group finds that Rocket has a kill switch on his heart and the only way to safely remove it is to find the deactivation code. They try to break into a facility they believe the information is held but are caught by the Ravagers. 



Gamora is in the film as part of the Ravagers. This is not the same Gamora from the first two films as for some reason the Gamora that came from the past in Avengers: Endgame somehow stayed around. They even acknowledge that it is strange that she is still around, but acknowledging the problem doesn’t fix it.

The Ravagers agree to assist briefly with the break-in. But they find that the code has been taken by one of the Evolutionary’s minions. They trace him to a world known as counter-earth, a world made up of humanoid animals, and are the realization of the experiments Rocket was a part of.



Throughout the film, we see flashbacks to a young Rocket and see he had friends. A walrus named Teefs, a rabbit named Floor, and an Otter named Lylla. The four are close friends, but Rocket grows close to Lylla the most. Sadly in an escape attempt High Evolutionary kills Rocket’s friends and in return Rocket disfigures Evolutionary’s face and escapes.

When the group makes it to the Evolutionary’s headquarters he decided that counter-earth was a failure and destroys the planet, killing everyone on it. The Guardians retrieve the kill code and save Rocket. Meanwhile, half the group is inside and trying to save a number of children that were being used for Evolutionary’s next experiment.



When the Guardians bring in reinforcements from “Nowhere” (The city) they begin to destroy the Evolutionary’s ship. Rocket finally confronts his creator and the group beat him to within an inch of his life and leaves him for dead. The guardians evacuate all the children and animals from the exploding ship with Starlord almost dying in the process but is saved by Adam Warlock.

In the end, Starlord retires as captain and decided to return to Earth to see his grandfather. Mantis also leaves, Gamora re-joins the Ravagers and Rocket is the new leader of the Guardians. 

Analysis:



This film can sometimes feel off in its tone. While it definitely tries to make things more emotional and deep for characters like with Rocket’s backstory the trademark humor can feel out of place. While the last two films definitely felt more balanced in terms of tone this one felt uneven.

Having Gamora here feels odd. She literally died in Infinity War, but because James Gunn still wanted her here they decided to break continuity and decide that the Gamora from the destroyed timeline in Endgame just stayed here and didn’t disappear like the rest.

There is a whole subplot about how Starlord can’t get over Gamora’s death from Infinity War and tries to see if he can make thew other Gamora fall for him. It feels like a missed opportunity to shoe him cope with her loss and have him accept it and move forward. Perhaps he could have even developed a relationship with Nebula?



Adam Warlock felt wasted here. His main story from the comics was during the Infinity Saga. His being here really adds nothing. He easily could have been someone else like Silver Surfer or Sentry.

The High Evolutionary, while he had his moments, was very other the top in his reactions. It’s true that they wanted him to be a man mad with power, but it needed to be restrained a bit.

On the flip side the film does have some good jokes, gives us some great moments with Rocket and his sad backstory (which might make some people cry) and awesome action. Though the gore has been amped up so it might not be appropriate for small kids.

Overall Rating: 5/10



This is either going to be a film that people will love or will hate. While the film itself isn’t bad it doesn’t feel like a proper sendoff to this era of the team. The same wacky and fun adventure feel the first two had is kind of missing here and feels more in line with some of the recent Thor movies. Not to mention the 2-and-a-half-hour run-time doesn’t feel very justified. But, if you want explosions and oddball humor you’ll get it here.

Many of the actors like Dave Bautista and Zoe Saldaña are planning on leaving the franchise after this one, so this is the last time we will see this specific team together. Going forward we will most likely see new members join, that is if the series does continue.

What do you think? Did you think this was a proper sendoff for the series? Let us know your thoughts below.