Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Is It The Best Movie Of The Trilogy?

When it comes to sequels, more often than not they don’t live up to the hype of the original movie. The good ones are few and far between and a trilogy can be just as difficult. Luckily for the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy is not one of those trilogies. With the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as the story unfolded each movie was better than the last. Not only does GotG Vol 3 feel like it’s the best of the trilogy, but it can also easily be placed among the top movies in the MCU. With the trend of home viewing growing, if you’re on the fence about whether to wait, here’s a quick review that should help you decide.

The Good

Personally, the entire cast was great but Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and Chukwudi Iwuji were the highlights for me. Gamora was brilliantly played in a way that both felt familiar, yet different. To be able to take a character and deliver a performance that reminds the audience with more than just dialogue that she’s not the Gamora we’ve watched all along speaks to Saldana’s ability as an actor.

Not only did Dave Bautista highlight just how far Drax has come as a character, he shows just how far he’s come as a wrestler turned actor. That’s what’s great about the MCU. With strong characters, audiences get exposure to these actors over many years. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it’s very easy to drop the wrestler/actor and see Dave Bautista the actor. To go from being the well-timed comic relief to quietly becoming a fan favorite shows off the evolution of the character by the director and actor.

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Chukwudi Iwuji as the villain, High Evolutionary, is fantastic. There’s the perfect contrast between the feel-good hero story and the psychotic villain. Without a great performance by Iwuji, the highs, and lows of the movie might not have hit as hard. The balance of a great villain needs to carry the story when you have well-established heroes to a new villain. Without it, you’d leave audiences not believing the villain can win and it ruins the tone of the movie. High Evolutionary is strengthened by tremendous acting by Chukwudi Iwuji.

The Bad

This one is more of a nitpick when it comes to the movie. There’s no true “bad” thing about this movie, but if someone would hand me a million dollars to find fault, it would have to be the pace to the start of the movie. Normally I’d like to get right into the action and skip past the character building, but at times it felt like I walked in late to find my seat. To be fair, we’ve seen these characters before and more of the focus shifted to the story but it did seem a bit rushed. It doesn’t take away from the film’s overall approach. the connection to the characters and their story is there. It’s a small hiccup in a great cap to a trilogy. By the time the movie really digs in, you’ll already forget about it.

The Verdict:

If you’re one of those internet trolls that say “James Gunn only hires his friends and family for his movies” and want to trash his work, do me a favor. Promptly get f–ked. If James Gunn can have us invested in any characters or stories in the new DCU the way he does in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, he can hire his mailman, the garbage man, and the stockboy from the local grocery store and probably still have success.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a fantastic send-off to this trilogy. Where the MCU goes from here in regards to post-James Gunn Guardians is yet to be seen. However, if they never give us another movie or tv series, GotG Vol. 3 saved the best for last. It is fun, funny, brilliantly acted, and full of emotion. None of the movie would be lost on home viewing. However, if you do decide to see it in theaters, it won’t feel like a waste of time and money. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 delivers what audiences want, easily being rated a 4.5/5.