Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) by Midd0Is — 08 May 2023

I absolutely adored this movie. I cried 3 times during it and have just felt shell-shocked from watching it for the past few days with how heavily some of the emotional scenes hit. This film really felt like James Gunn cared about the message of the film and how the stories of all of the characters were handled having had since 2017 to put it all together.

Luckily this film is wise enough to steer clear of the rest of the MCU and feels for the most part self-contained. Apart from the whole Gamora dying and coming back viewers don't need to be caught up on the rest of the MCU to watch GOTG 1-3 which I think makes this movie very accessible to watch.

The music in this film doesn't always hit as it did in volumes 1 and 2 however some song choices feel especially strong and I think the direction to take it to 90s pop is a good evolution for the soundtrack to express the passing of time and the guardians growing up.

Some moments were a bit questionable and the pacing didn't always feel realistic but I don't have too much of a problem with this as any discrepancies in the pacing served the arks of the movie and helped tie it together nicely.

Overall one of my favourite Marvel movies and definitely one of my favourite movie-watching experiences. I doubt Marvel will ever top this level of movie again as it is on par with some of their best work.

I'm very close to giving this movie a 10/10 but id have to watch it again to decide that.