‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ is one of the greatest Marvel movies

The SB Nation debates the newest entry into the MCU.

We can’t stop talking about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It’s been a major talking point in our Slack, there are numerous spoiler-free threads where we discuss the movie without ruining it for our coworkers, and we all want to talk about just how good this movie was.

It would be a sad, pathetic existence if the only movies we could ever talk about are about sports. One can only watch Draft Day so many times. So, in an effort to free us from our endless discussion cycle today we debate if GoG Vol. 3 isn’t just the best movie in the MCU in recent years, but whether it’s the best ever.

Naturally there will be spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

“Definitely Top 3” — by James Dator

I’ve hit this point when it comes to movies in the MCU that I keep my expectations pathetically low. They’ve all been functionally fine (except Eternals), and there isn’t really a time I’ve left the theater without at least being entertained. Still, it’s been a long-ass time that I finished watching a superhero movie and was smiling ear-to-ear for the 30 minutes after the end of the credits, but here we are.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 blew away even my wildest expectations of how well they could close out this story, and it’s really pretty simple why: They actually set out to tell a story.

Far too often the motivation of Marvel movies is pathetically transparent. There’s a formula of “tell part of the story, they introduce a new one” that feels wholly contrived by a marketing executive and not an artist. GoG Vol. 3 legitimately stands alone as its own brilliant, self-contained narrative that anyone could enjoy — and if you’ve happened to see the other films in the franchise then it just adds more to it. You could take someone who has never see a Guardians movie before, and make them understand three basic conceits and they’ll get it.

Gamora and Peter were in love, but she doesn’t remember him
Nebula and Gamora are sisters
Peter is half-alien and his half-sister is Mantis

That basically clears up any big confusion an unaware viewer would have. Then they just get to go on the thrill ride.

Centering Rocket as the emotional heart, while also finally revealing his backstory was a masterwork. High Evolutionary is one of the best-realized Marvel villains to date. Toning Peter down allowed the rest of the comedic beats from the rest of the cast to shine brighter. Nothing in this movie felt like it overstayed its welcome. We kept switching between what the Guardians were doing, Rocket’s origin, Grand Evolutionary’s plan, and Cosmos’ existential crisis at being called a “bad dog” by Kraglin, and it all worked.

I’m not quite ready to say this is GOAT status, because this is a very different film tonally to Black Panther, which remains my No. 1 all-time MCU movie — but man, it’s close. Absolutely brilliant and I would love to see Disney realize how brilliant these movies can be when there’s not a paralyzing motivation to turn everything into a multi-film franchise.

“I liked it, but…” – by Matt Warren

To counter James and his low expectations, after hearing the folks in the SB Nation Slack channel talk up the movie, my expectations were pretty high by the time I went in Sunday afternoon of opening weekend. I think that’s ultimately why I’m going to be more “wet blanket” than I really want to be on this movie, because on the whole, I liked it a lot and definitely need to go in for a rewatch at my earliest convenience. A few things stuck out to me:

Everything was turned up to 11
Are they murdery or not?
They asked a lot of fans

Let’s start with the first point, which I borrowed from the classic film This is Spinal Tap for good reason. The needle drops in this movie were mixed incredibly loud compared to the rest of the film, and when they happened at that level, pulled me out of the moment in a way the previous GOTG didn’t. The music wasn’t the only thing turned up, as James Gunn went full schmaltz with the “I love you guys” line from Groot, the repeated visceral tug-of-war on our heartstrings with the Rocket flashbacks, the very animated High Evolutionary, the first MCU f-bomb, Peter Quill’s literally face expansion, or the 2:29 run time.

“Now kill them all.”/“I can’t kill him ‘cause I’m a freakin’ Guardian of the Galaxy.” Which is it? Rocket can’t find it in his horrific backstory to kill the man (god?) responsible for so much pain and torment when he lowers his gun on the defeated High Evolutionary. A few minutes earlier, Star-Lord and Groot have no problems wasting a whole bunch of folks coerced into working for that same guy. The juxtaposition was too much for me, especially after Peter literally stares into the eyes of Recorder Theel as he kills by driving him from high altitude into Counter-Earth then physically removes the information out of the side of his dead-eyed corpse’s head.

At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Gamora and Peter are a happy couple, Star-Lord lost his Celestial powers and is an only child, and Nebula is still ice cold with her sister and everyone. By the time we get to GOTG3, Gamora and Nebula bury the hatchet, Gamora dies and a past version of herself comes to this timeline, Groot goes from baby to adulthood, Star-Lord has new demons and a half-sister (who got to keep her powers when dad exploded), they have a home base, Drax starts wearing shirts and vests, and we add a very good dog. I’m obsessive about the MCU, and have watched Infinity War, Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special several times each, but was everyone in the theater as caught up as me?

I loved the banter and the comedy in the first two GOTG movies, and a few sprinkles here and there wasn’t enough for me, but I did enjoy the shift of the group from Peter-centric to Rocket-centric. I really loved the Mantis/Nebula/Drax trio and the work they put in throughout the movie and their character arcs over their multiple MCU appearances. They were definitely my favorite part. Another high point was the chaotic hallway battle (where I very much liked the music). The common argument with these movies is they are only as good as their villains, and Chukwudi Iwuji delivered on the extreme nastiness of his character and we could still see him again, I guess. Even though this is the last ride of these Guardians, per multiple reports, I’m glad none of them ultimately kicked the can even if it wasn’t a “happy ending” for all of them.

“My faith in the MCU has been restored.” – by Colb Hart

I’ll be brutally honest: The VAST majority of the Marvel movies we’ve gotten post Endgame have been somewhere between “I’ll never get those two hours back…” and “meh.” So it was nothing short of a miracle we finally got a movie that restored the feeling we all had when Thanos snapped his fingers at the end of ‘Infinity War.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is, easily, one of the five best movies Marvel has ever released Into our part of the multiverse. Rocket’s backstory was so well done and emotional it brought multiple people I know to actual tears in the theater. James Gunn found a perfect balance of raw emotion, hilarious moments and absolute carnage that makes Vol. 3 the most memorable movie of the trilogy, and one of the best Marvel movies ever.

The true standout of the film is Chukwudi Iwuji’s performance as the Higher Evolutionary. It is not an exaggeration to say that he gave us the best portrayal of a Marvel villain EVER. There will be zero debates about whether or not there were justifications for his actions like we saw with Thanos or Killmonger. He was an absolutely unhinged, unfeeling, purely evil sociopath and it was amazing. You know a performance was amazing when you leave the theater genuinely despising a character with all of your being, and Iwuji left it all out there on the floor (had to work something sports related in here) to give us that.

This movie should be the blueprint for what all Marvel movies should strive to be going forward. It was truly a hilarious, heart-wrenching and spectacular adventure that we need

“Easily a Top 3 MCU movie, and the best since Endgame” – by J.P. Acosta

The movies and shows post-Endgame have felt lacking, for some reason. When a phase of the MCU ends on such a thrilling crescendo such as Endgame, with multiple titans of characters such as Iron Man and Captain America leaving their roles as members of the Avengers, creating movies that’ll get people attached to new Marvel characters is going to be tough.

I think a large complaint for some of the MCU shows and movies post-Endgame has been the overuse of comedy in the movies, or asking too much of the viewers. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 does a phenomenal job of blending comedy with the serious tone of the latest iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The story of Rocket Raccoon, someone we haven’t really heard a lot about before the latest movie, was extremely moving and emotional. Bradley Cooper does an amazing job as Rocket in this movie, and the High Evolutionary is legitimately one of the best villains in the MCU. We have too many villains that make people say “hey, he’s kinda got a point.” We need more bad guys who are legitimately terrible people. “There is no God, that’s why I stepped in,” is one of the COLDEST lines from a Marvel villain. The passion which Chukwudi Iwuji performed every line and action was top notch, from crawling on the ground begging Rocket for the explanation behind why he could solve his problem, but not the High Evolutionary himself, to the rage that emanated from his voice with every line. It wouldn’t be an overreaction to say it was the best performance of a Marvel villain ever.

On top of that, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 does a great job of continuing the theme of loss that stemmed from the end of Infinity War, emphasized by the story of Star-Lord, Peter Quill. At first I didn’t understand how Gamora seemed to return, but once it was explained I understood it. Quill was still searching, trying not to lose another person, and his ending to the movie legitimately made me cry.

While I do have some questions about where the Guardians will go next (especially with Adam Warlock), the third movie provided some great finality to the first iteration of the group, making it one of the best Marvel movies ever.