Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) by Jluis_001 — 05 May 2023

After a more than uneven Phase 4 and the beginning of Phase 5 with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania being the first financial disaster for the MCU, it goes without saying that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 not only had the obligation to bring its trilogy to a good close, but also to correct the course for Marvel Studios.

And did it succeed? Well, I guess I could say that it did. Ironically, it was done by the man who went to fix the competitor's business.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is not the best post-Endgame MCU movie, for me that's Eternals, but in my opinion it becomes the third best trilogy in this franchise after Captain America and Avengers and incidentally gives a solid conclusion to these characters as we await what Marvel has planned for those returning in the future.

It's the same formula of course, but it's one that has worked for these characters.

James Gunn knew how to make the most of it, and who would have thought back in 2014 that he, along with Peyton Reed and Jon Watts, would be the only filmmakers to command a trilogy in the MCU from beginning to end.

That there are things I didn't like? Of course there are. Starting with a tedious villain. The High Evolutionary had to be a very different threat than the one seen in this story.

And the other is the biggest flaw, and that is the tremendous waste that was made of a character like Adam Warlock. Someone with the power to take on Thanos one on one, here he's just a pawn. That was terrible.

But there's no point in complaining over spilled milk. After all, it's an ending. A cycle that has come to an acceptable and appropriate conclusion.

Marvel doesn't lose the characters of course, but I doubt we'll see a volume 4 in a long time, if ever. And I say this even with what you see in the first post-credits scene.

Still, it was a good ride. Long live the Guardians of the Galaxy.