by Tom Biamonte

I am not an emotional person. I don’t cry at funerals, and I don’t know why. Maybe society made me this way, but whatever the reason, I always hold it together. Then along came Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3. I could not believe it, but I was on the verge of tears over a talking raccoon throughout the film. The film dives heavily into Rocket Racoon’s backstory and the traumatic experimentations that were done to him by the main villain of the film, The High Evolutionary. Whenever it cut back to Rocket’s traumatic past, I held back tears due to the brilliant way innocence lived in the childlike minds of him and his friends who had similar tragic experiences.

The high stakes drama and tear jerking emotions is the kind of thing Marvel should be aiming to evoke. In fact, I would say this is the best Marvel film since Spiderman: No Way Home. It may even be better than No Way Home. I just think time will tell where this film will rank amongst the Marvel classics. Two things I think the film hit right out of the park were both visual effects and action. I believe the visual effects in this film were probably some of the best in the whole Marvel franchise! As for action, Marvel has never been better! There was this really cool hallway fight sequence that reminded me a lot of the slow motion fight near the end of Age of Ultron where all the Avengers got together in the church. Of course the music was great (as is expected with any project headed by the great director and writer James Gunn).

As for the acting, there were many standouts. I feel Chris Pratt gave one of his best MCU performances this time around. The same thing for Karen Gillan who really kills it in the role of Nebula. I loved Maria Bakalova, who I have seen previously in the Borat sequel. In this film, she plays a loveable Russian Cosmonaut dog in the same vein as Laika, the first living animal to be launched into earth’s orbit. I really hope to see much more of Maria Bakalova in future Marvel movies and movies in general because she kills it in everything she is in. One role I am conflicted about is Chukwudi Iwuji’s villain role of “The High Evolutionary.”  Now don’t get me wrong, I do not think he was bad. I just felt, as a fellow actor, that his constant yelling and irrational outbursts did not always fit the scene, dialogue, or character. Will Poulter as Adam Warlock has been teased since 2017, and the small goofy role he was given in this film was funny at times. I just feel slightly disappointed that both the actor and the character were not utilized that well. 

After the major disappointment that was Marvel phase four, I am glad we have some semblance of hope left for the once great Marvel franchise. It seems James Gunn will no longer be making MCU films and instead will be heading up almost every future project over at DC. If DC films become better than Marvel then this means all those years I spent on the playground arguing that Marvel will always be better than DC will have gone to waste. I think the main thing Marvel needs to do to continue its longevity as the best Superhero studio is to put the story first and let the directors have control over their own work. Guardians 3 is a step in the right direction.