Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 150 minutes
Release Date: May 5th, 2023 (USA)
Studio: Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Director(s): James Gunn
Writer(s): James Gunn / Jim Starlin (Drax & Gamora); Stan Lee & Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby (Groot); Steve Englehart and Don Heck (Mantis); Roger Stern & John Buscema and Sal Buscema (Nebula); Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen (Rocket Raccoon); Steve Englehart and Steve Gan (Star-Lord)

And we need to be good joobjoob.

I wasn’t a big fan of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Maybe because it just didn’t do anything for me or I was fatigued from the hype or a little of both. I should rewatch it, though, to see if my estimation changes (it didn’t for the similarly meh Thor: Ragnarok), but so much has happened since then that it feels insignificant to the bigger MCU picture now—a fact that made me want to finally watch Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania before heading to the theater for Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and company’s latest adventure instead. I won’t therefore lie and say my expectations weren’t low going into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. They weren’t bottom barrel (I actually really enjoyed the Holiday Special), but they weren’t exactly “excited” either. So, color me surprised to find it might be the best MCU film since Infinity War.

That’s better than Spider-Man: Far From Home, Eternals, and Wakanda Forever—the three best post-Endgame chapters in my opinion. Why? Because it possesses stakes. Not in the grand sense of Kang the Conqueror or mass extinction. Stakes insofar as the future of this group of misfits who call themselves a family. It’s about reckoning with what’s changed (Zoe Saldana’s Gamora now being an alt-timeline, past version of their Gamora who never met and grew alongside them) and what needs to change (Karen Gillan’s Nebula moving out from Thanos’ shadow, Peter finding a place outside his grief, etc.). These characters have gone through more than one gauntlet only to escape bent if not altogether broken. They should be allowed to get on each other’s nerves. They’re allowed to reevaluate what it is they need for themselves.

And writer/director James Gunn gives them all that and more in his MCU swan song (he’s currently co-filling the Kevin Feige role over at DC with a new Superman reboot in the works) by placing Rocket’s (Bradley Cooper) fan favorite and unlikely heart of the Guardians on life support. It’s the perfect set-up both as a way to look back (he has previously refused to talk about his harrowing past) and forward (this different Gamora gets a taste of who this makeshift family truly is by going to Hell and back to save him). Quill and Nebula must process one death with the potential of another. Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) must reconcile their fringe roles as comic relief with their unorthodox yet crucial roles as, for lack of a better term, “well-adjusted” protectors. They each rally around their friend to avoid their current demons, finally learning how to combat them in the process.

That Gunn is also able to tie-up loose narrative threads (the Sovereign haven’t forgotten what the Guardians did in Vol. 2 and add Will Poulter’s himbo Adam Warlock to wreak revenge—if he doesn’t unwittingly make things worse first) only adds to the fun because it allows the introduction of a great new villain (Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary) to bridge the gap by being both Rocket’s and the Sovereign’s creator. He is a puppet master responsible for universe-spanning nightmares, but also very personal pain. One of my favorite moments of the whole is when Quill tells him to shut up because he doesn’t care about whatever warped ideology the High Evolutionary’s climactic pontificating holds. The Guardians aren’t here to save the world. They’re here to save their brother. Nothing the High Evolutionary says will alter that mission. They’ve been all-in since discovering Rocket cannot be saved by usual methods.

There’s a lot of tough love on display due to the fallout of everyone being a raw nerve. They won’t all remember what was spoken (thanks, Mantis), but those who must remember will. That goes for us too since this trilogy capper is as much a beginning as it is an ending. It’s about new paths and new friends, but also the unshakeable bonds formed by the old. Moving on without forgetting. Finding the strength born from tragedy rather than lingering on the guilt we’re so quick to shoulder regardless of whether it’s earned. Because second chances aren’t always a result of mistakes. Sometimes they’re a product of accepting who we are—limitations and all. Forgiving ourselves for the choices forced upon us to be reborn in our own image instead of what had been projected upon us. And in so doing, there can be hope in the inevitable goodbye. Hope for happiness now that love’s foundation has finally made them whole.

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(L-R): Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillan as Nebula in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.