After six long awaited years since the last “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, the beloved superheroes return to the big screen for one last ride. Just as the Guardians thought they were safe, a super-powered being comes and leaves a mark on them that could change their lives forever.
Released in May of 2023, Marvel’s most recent film, “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” follows a team of intergalactic mercenaries, and their journey on finding the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) as he is the only one that has information so that their friend Rocket (Bradley Cooper) doesn’t die.
(Warning: spoilers ahead)
At the commencement of the film, it shows a bunch of baby racoons all inside of a cage. Then, the High Evolutionary comes to the cage and he reaches his hand out to one of the raccoons which is Rocket. I thought this was a great way to start the film because it was such an emotional and intense scene that kept the audience wondering what was happening. Then the film cuts to the modern day Rocket and also along with all of the other Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians consist of Peter Quill or Star-Lord, Gamora, Groot, Kraglin, Nebula, Rocket, Drax, Mantis and Cosmo the Space-Dog.
The Guardians are set up in a mining colony in outer space called Knowhere. Coming out of space, a super powered being known as Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), comes flying into Knowhere and he hurts Rocket. I thought that it was so visually appealing how Adam Warlock came through space and all of the bright colors in the scene were stunning. Then as the Guardians see Rocket hurt, they all go to fight Adam Warlock. It is clear that Adam is going after Rocket but we don’t know exactly why yet. Nebula (Karen Gillan) ends up stabbing Adam in the back just as he is about to kill Drax (Dave Bautista). This causes Adam to flee Knowhere and back to space. At this point all of the Guardians are trying to help out Rocket because he is slowly dying. While I was in the theater, I was already so attached and invested into the movie because of the action that had already happened at the start of the movie.
While they are trying to save Rocket, he gets a flashback to when he was being experimented on by the High Evolutionary. The flashback shows Rocket as a young racoon along with three other animals. The flashbacks that they showed of Rocket throughout the movie were just perfect because it shows where he came from and then it makes you understand where he is coming from. The Guardians assume that Adam Warlock was sent to capture Rocket. The Guardians then find something in Rocket’s body that could kill him, and if they wanted to get rid of it, they would have to go find the company that experimented on him.
As they go off to try and help Rocket, the movie transitions to a scene of the High Evolutionary and Adam Warlock talking. This confirms that Adam was sent by the High Evolutionary to capture Rocket. The High Evolutionary starts to hurt Adam, but then stops because the Sovereign High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) tells him to stop. After seeing the High Evolutionary get this mad, I could just tell how bad he wanted Rocket, but I didn’t exactly know why.
As the Guardians arrive at Orgoscope, where Rocket was experimented on, the Guardians ship is imploded with Ravagers, a group of space pirates. The Guardians see that Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has joined the ravagers. Peter Quill or Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is shocked to see her because he has been mourning the loss of her for a long time. I was shocked to see Gamora because she hadn’t been in any of the recent movies. Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone), the leader of the ravagers, gave the Guardians space suits to get into Orgoscope. They needed these so that they would be able to get into Orgoscope without dying.
As the Guardians are going into Orgoscope, they are found by Orgosentries which are led by Master Karja (Nathan Fillion). The Guardians pretend they work there and then they end up splitting up. Peter, Gamora, and Nebula find an Orgo employee and they force her to take them to see Rocket’s records. As the Orgosentries finds out the Guardians aren’t actually workers, they go after them and start fighting. Peter convinces the Orgo employee to help them out and she lets him turn off the gravity, so that they can get back to their ship.
Rocket has another flashback and he is seen with his animal friends at the time that he was being experimented on. His friends are named Lylla (Linda Cardellini), Teefs (Asim Chaudhry) and Floor (Mikaela Hoover). These were made up names that they had come up with and then this led to Rocket naming himself Rocket. Again, the flashbacks just were telling you more about Rocket’s backstory and how he had become who he is now and the movie executed that perfectly.
As the Guardians are playing Rocket’s file of when he was being experimented on, they see what he had been through and the horrible things that were done to him. The Orgosentries meets with Adam and Ayesha, and when Adam tries to interrogate a ravager they had captured, he ends up just killing him. Then, Ayesha hears a voice, which is Gamora’s voice, over the ravager’s radio and now Ayesha knows where the Guardians are going. This created so much tension within the theater because you could tell there was going to be a huge fight scene upcoming.
The Guardians finally make it to Counter-Earth, which is where the High Evolutionary puts his finished test subjects. Peter helps a bat-woman on Counter-Earth, then she takes them into her home. She helps the Guardians find where the High Evolutionary is, so that they can help Rocket survive. The family also lets Peter take their car, along with Nebula and Groot (Vin Diesel). When they arrive, Peter gets escorted inside. In another flashback of Rocket, it shows him stealing a device that would release his animal friends from their cages. Then as his friends are escaping, the High Evolutionary shoots Lylla and this breaks Rocket. Two of the High Evolutionary’s guards show up and Rocket kills them. But it wasn’t before both of Rocket’s two other friends Teefs and Floor were also shot. After losing all of his friends, Rocket escapes. During the movie, this just made you feel so heart broken for Rocket after knowing all he had been through to try and save his only friends at the time.
On Counter-Earth, the High Evolutionary sends his War Pig (Judy Greer) to capture Rocket. Adam Warlock found the War Pig as she was trying to get Rocket, and then Adam tore off her head. Then when Peter meets the High Evolutionary and he confronts him about everything he has done to Rocket. The High Evolutionary tells Peter that he is going to destroy the whole Counter-Earth and start over. As the world is being destroyed, Adam flies back to Ayesha only to see her get blown up in her ship.
Peter and Groot fight off some of the High Evolutionary’s henchmen and then jump out the window with Theel (Nico Santos), who is one of the High Evoluionary’s henchmen that has what the Guardians need to save Rocket. While in the air, Groot creates wings to keep him and Peter in the air as they steal Theel’s memory. Most of the Guardians make it back to their ship, including Peter and Groot, but Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax, and Nebula end up on the High Evolutionary’s ship.
Peter, Gamora, and Groot rush to use what they got from Theel so that they can save Rocket’s life. While this is happening, in Rocket’s POV, he is in a white room with his old friends that had died when he was getting experimented on. At this point in the movie I thought Rocket had died and it was gut wrenching to see all of the Guardians trying to save him while they were all sobbing. They are welcoming him to the afterlife until Lylla tells him he isn’t ready yet and still has a purpose in life. They kiss and then Rocket comes back to life and his friends are so relieved. Nebula, Drax and Mantis had found a big group of children that High Evolutionary captured for his experiments. They communicate this to Peter and over the radio so that they can come help. Shortly after, the High Evolutionary captures Nebula, Drax, and Mantis, he also then makes sure to let the other Guardians know that he has their friends. Peter gets Kraglin (Sean Gunn) to help him and the other Guardians get Nebula, Drax, and Mantis back.
Drax calms down the children that they are trapped with and does funny stuff to make them laugh. Drax, Mantis, and Nebula get put into a room with three Abilisks, which are tentacled monsters. But Mantis uses her powers to get them to be on their side. Kraglin and Cosmo the Space-Dog (Maria Bakalova) come and help bring the ship and Knowhere close together so people can get on and off another. As the High Evolutionary’s army starts to attack, Kraglin destroys all of the drones, and Cosmo smashes the henchmen together with her telekinetic powers. Finally, the Guardians reunite and they are also joined by Adam Warlock. Now they fight the High Evolutionary’s army in a visually pleasing fight scene. This scene is personally my favorite scene in the movie because all of the Guardians are working together to be able to escape back home. Also, the song that is played during the scene just adds so much to the scene and it was a perfect fit. The Guardians destroy the army and are now going back to get to Knowhere, as well as get all of the children.
All of a sudden, Rocket finds all sorts of animals like baby racoons that are trapped just like he used to be. So he tries to free them all and as he is doing this, the High Evolutionary finds him and tries to kill him. But the other Guardians show up and all team up on the High Evolutionary and they beat him up. They then leave him to die as the ship explodes. As this is happening, Rocket frees all the animals and everyone gets onto Knowhere as well as all of the children. Just as everyone is on Knowhere, Cosmo’s powers run out and Peter can’t make it off the ship. This is such an emotional and powerful scene because the audience thinks that Peter is about to die and he is the leader of the Guardians. As he is about to freeze to death in space, Adam Warlock flies out to him and brings him onto Knowhere.
They all get back to Knowhere and they all meet together. Peter is planning on returning to earth and Gamora is going to go back with the ravagers. Mantis says she wants to go find out what she wants to do for herself. Nebula will be in charge of Knowhere and then Peter says that Rocket can be the new leader of the Guardians team. Peter then returns to earth and he reunites with his grandfather. When all of the Guardians part ways, everyone in Knowhere all starts dancing together.
This has been one of the best Marvel movies I have ever seen. The way the movie combined emotions and action was as close to perfection as it can get. The movie actually told a story and it wasn’t just a bunch of different storylines jam packed together. The fight scenes were visually incredible and jaw dropping. The whole duration of the movie I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. It was the perfect ending to the spectacular “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy.
4/5
