Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3, James Gunn’s MCU swansong, is a moving yet indulgent celebration of found families

After an extended absence due to both in-universe and some rather more cynical Twitter-verse reasons, James Gunn finally returns to helm the closing chapter of his trilogy (seasonal sidestep notwithstanding), the imaginatively titled GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 3. It’s as packed as you might expect with action and interstellar shenanigans but lurking just out of sight of the cosmic capers and base sentimentality that have become Gunn’s signature contribution to the franchise, there’s a lingering sense that the sparkle of novelty that once illuminated this corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is starting to flicker and dim in the unforgiving vacuum of expectation and a nagging (if not entirely fair) sense that the MCU needs to get itself back on track.

With Quill’s quest to reunite with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) having hit the skids, the once-legendary Star-Lord is a drunken mess, leaving his friends to establish Nowhere as the headquarters of a resurgent (and expansive) Guardians of the Galaxy roster. But when Rocket Raccoon is violently attacked by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Quill must sober up and lead the team on a mission to confront Rocket’s dark origins and bring the team face to face with one of the galaxy’s most ruthless individuals: The High Evolutionary.

Written and directed as usual by the ever-so-edgy James Gunn, this latest instalment overtly aims to tie up the loose ends and emotional arcs that have entwined the motley crew of space adventurers since we first met them. Instead of concentrating on Peter Quill for a third and final time, Gunn wisely centres the story on Rocket, making him the north star around which the constellation of characters are rearranged. Always one of the strongest elements of the movies, and voiced with masterful depth and emotional nuance by Bradley Cooper, Rocket has long been the soul of the Guardians team only this time it’s his heart that is, for want of a better expression, the beating heart of the story or, in point of fact, its failing beat.

In a sluggish and over-indulgent first half of the movie, while Rocket provides the catalyst for the action, he’s sidelined in a soap-opera style coma, giving the goofier guardians a chance to indulge in a series of increasingly outré set pieces while Rocket gets the old coma dream depositionary exploration of his past, introducing his fellow experiments Lylla, Teefs and Floor. Rocket’s backstory, filled with heartache, sweetness, and a quest for identity provides GUARDIANS OF THE GALAAXY VOLUME 3 with a dark and potent emotional core of the film, offering a narrative gravitas that is both poignant and awkwardly juxtapositional to some of the goofier goings-on of the rest of the Guardians team. Yet his journey from accidentally successful lab experiment to sardonically cynical hero is rendered with a heartfelt finesse that Gunn has been honing over the trilogy, to deliver the final bait-and-switch that it’s Rocket and not Quill who serves as the underlying theme of the entire trilogy: that family isn’t about who you’re born to, but who you’d burn the galaxy for.

Of course, Rocket’s ascendance to centre stage is not only enabled but positively mandated by, Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill’s seemingly inexorable drift into the background. Where he was once the swaggering Han Solo-esque gold-hearted rogue at the centre of these stories, he’s become overplayed and uninteresting, a scoop of vanilla in a galaxy of rainbow sherbet. It’s a curious development for a character who once stood at the forefront of the franchise’s charm offensive. In this cosmic ensemble, Star-Lord’s arc feels less compelling, overshadowed by the more vibrant and complex stories of his compatriots. It’s not that Pratt’s performance lacks gusto; it’s just that the narrative has shifted, leaving Star-Lord feeling like he’s stuck in the slow lane on the space highway.

The film, for all its galactic grandeur and visual splendour, is shrouded in an air of obligation. Unlike its predecessors, VOLUME 3 sometimes feels like it’s ticking off boxes rather than trailblazing new frontiers. The joyous rebellion and freewheeling spirit that characterised the earlier films are tempered here by a sense that we’re marching towards an inevitable conclusion. This isn’t to say the film lacks fun or flair – far from it. Gunn’s signature blend of humour, heart, and high-octane action is present and accounted for, but the narrative occasionally feels weighed down by its own mythos and the larger MCU machinery at work, although if there’s ground work being laid here for future MCU instalments it’s being done in an entirely opaque and therefore does nothing to whet the appetite. Indeed, the final epithet that “The Legendary Star-Lord Will Return” feels less like a promise and more a threat, because I suspect a large majority of the audience would be far more interested in seeing the further adventures of Rocket’s rejuvenated Guardians roster than the further adventures of Quill and his father’s neighbour’s lawncare difficulties.

Like its Phase 4 predecessor, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 3 is undermined by the unfettered creative control of its auteur. Entirely freed from all but the lightest oversight and acutely aware this is likely his Marvel swansong, Gunn find himself in the same garrulously decadent mood as Taika Waititi was during his mythic misfire. Thus, the adventure feels flabby and undisciplined, full of too much schtick instead of sticking to the task at hand. Too many characters feel like they’ve regressed, especially the likes of Drax (Dave Batista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) while Gunn’s constant fake-outs of character deaths quickly gets old and by the end starts to grate. The lack of thinning the herd over the Guardian’s past few adventures means there’s a lot to juggle here and less room than you might like for new arrivals such as Will Poulter’s Adam Warlock, a fun addition to the ensemble who’s too often sidelined due to the need to keep so many other characters’ story beats in the air.

Whereas in past adventures, the whole team have been a delight, this film clearly divides the team into two camps: entertaining and irritants, with Quill slouching back and forth between the two looking for a sense of purpose. It’s a real shame, too, because Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary is one of the most chilling and remorseless villains the MCU has so far produced. There’s no tragic imperative or twisted sense of righteousness that allows you even a shred of empathy for the High Evolutionary: he’s old-school evil, through and through; a real villain’s villain and it would have been awesome for him to have tangled with Star-Lord in his pomp rather than in this beaten-down incarnation of the character.

Still, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 3 works as a fitting if slightly malformed capstone to the adventures of this crazy ensemble. Its brightly drawn, rainbow-hued cosmic visuals contrasting against its surprising sombre storytelling, in amongst all the excess it still manages to deliver laughs, tears and those unexpected moments of tenderness which have been the series’ hallmark, capped by Gunn’s most generous metatextual joke as we, the audience, are finally able to understand Groot. We, too, have been accepted into the Guardians family, just as its breaking up to go its separate ways, making the parting all the more bittersweet. Unusually for the MCU, this film feels more about endings, rather than preparation for what’s to come and at a time when the momentum seems to be faltering a little, that feels like another misstep in the minefield that has been Phases 4 and 5.