<b>Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the perfect farewell to this quirky group of rogues we never expected to love so much.</b> Our faith in the Marvel Cinematic Universe waned throughout Phase 4 with films that felt hollow, rushed, and insincere. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 rekindled my hope as James Gunn and the cast’s love and passion for these characters shined in every moment of this beautiful, heartfelt send-off. Gunn reminded us of the magic of comic book movies when the storyteller cares more about the characters than the box office. Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, and the rest of the cast pour themselves into entertaining and genuine performances. This film is surprisingly emotional and had me wondering how they convinced me to care so deeply about such a zany group of goofballs, but that they did. Vol. 3 is one of the best conclusions to a film trilogy that had me leave the theater full of satisfaction and nostalgia. While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is wonderful in nearly every way, if I had a complaint, it would be the soundtrack felt forced at times rather than complimenting strong moments in the first film. The villain wasn’t exceptional but was better than the average Marvel villain, and honestly, Vol. 3 wasn’t about the villain or battles as much as it was a farewell to a family of heroes we have all come to love. This movie is well worth your time, and the fantastic effects and cinematography warrant a trip to the cinema to enjoy it to its fullest! MCU doubters need to set aside their skepticism and enjoy saying goodbye to these beloved characters with this outstanding film.

**A heartfelt & entrancing closure to our favourite band of misfits from marvel ** GOTG Vol 3 is a fantastic, emotionally immersive product from Marvel which not only made me delighted with the experience but also revived my faith in Marvel Studios. With the vibrant music from the past, hillarious chemistry between the leads , striking action set pieces packaged with an emotive backstory this one is bound to be loved and cherished to glory by all the loyal marvel fanatics. After a long time, Marvel delivers a beautiful and wholesome experience. While everyone from the cast gets their due share of high moments but this film belongs to Rocket. The true MVP of the film. The High Evolutionary's character was unforgiving and brilliant in the context of the story. The screenplay never dissapoints and keeps you engaged even with its long runtime of 150mins. An delightful film by James Gunn who finishes things off at Marvel to focus on DC's future. Overall, GOTG3 is an uproarious, emotional and probably the best marvel flicks after endgame which leaves you with smile in the end.

What a disappointment! The first one was great fun, the second almost as good , but this film is just a poor cousin that really struggles from a weak storyline that never really gets going. The megalomaniacal "High Evolutionary" (Chikwudi Iwuji) has set his sights on retrieving "Rocket" after having discovered that our feisty raccoon is a product of sophisticated genetic engineering - and that has enabled him to think and grow as a being; a skill that is hugely valuable to this global-scale cloner. Snag is, "Rocket" has been laid low after a rather violent visit from "Warlock" (Will Poulter) who is working with his mother to apprehend our ursine pal. "Quill" (Chris Pratt) and the others have determined to save him, though, and are soon on the trail of his origins and of a special pass key that could reset him and get him back to fighting fitness. Can the "Guardians" put aside their petty differences and unite before it's all too late? This is far too long and it also tries to involve all of the characters in such a fashion as to leave the whole thing with a rather superficial feel to it. Pratt actually features quite sparingly, and that robbed this of much of it's humour and punchiness. The visual effects are great, but that's nothing remarkable with Marvel - they are vivid and colourful but that's no substitute for a well written and characterful narrative that this film simply lacks. It does quite feature quite an engagingly eclectic soundtrack, but the rest of this is terribly unremarkable fayre that I found my self struggling to stay interested in as it meandered more into a realm of sci-fi sentimentality that ensured a minimum of jeopardy in a denouement that featured a fair degree of ham - especially from Iwuji. If this is to be the final instalment, then I fear it will not be one that I will ever bother to watch again. Pity.

Rewatched for the Once Upon a Franchise podcast. Listen to the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3AanlYJPqdXLmGRAZKZdml?si=6b7bd214139a4aeb Rating: A GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 is everything I want from a sub-franchise finale: deeply personal, emotionally devastating, and genuinely conclusive. Rocket’s origin story is one of the most heartbreaking rollercoasters the MCU has ever produced, and as a massive animal lover, seeing him save every life on that ship after failing to save his friends left me in tears more than once. Chukwudi Iwuji’s refreshingly despicable villain, Bradley Cooper’s phenomenal voice work, the stunning practical production design, the incredible hallway one-take set piece, and the best needle drops of James Gunn’s career all elevate a film where every single character completes a meaningful arc. A beautiful, authentic goodbye that earns its sentimentality.

I did indeed enjoy this movie but I have to say that I would have enjoyed it even more if it had not been such a comedy superhero movie. It is full of silly, cringeworthy and, as usual with Hollywood nowadays, not very intelligent attempts at humor. Slapstick at best and mostly just annoying. Certainly not very funny a lot of the time. Sure occasionally I did laugh but that was about one out of three times. And do not get me started about Quill. He’s a stupid, unfunny jerk. He so drags down these movies. The movie does deliver when it comes to one very important aspect of superhero movies though and this is of course the action and special effects. I really liked them and most of my enjoyment of this movie came from this. The story is actually quite okay though and it was kind of cool to get the story about Rocket. The bad guy, well, he is really one of the best parts of this movie. Finally they managed to put together a real bonafide, megalomaniac, psychopathic and genocidal bad guy with lots of (bad) charisma. Even if he, despite being a genius in creating all kinds of biological creations, including new species, could not fix his own face instead of wearing a silly latex mask. Seriously? That just the usual dumbass Hollywood script writing. Overall though, this was a fun, special effects loaded, action roller coaster and, surprisingly enough when it comes to Marvel, not loaded with woke preaching. And it was cool to see Sylvester Stallone again even if it was just briefly. If they had toned down the silliness, or gotten someone intelligent to write the jokes, it would have gotten another star from me.