In life, I've learned there's lots of things you can't avoid, like utility bills, syphilis, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Marvel superhero movies and TV series still remain ubiquitous, so there's another thing you can't avoid. Or at least I couldn't avoid it recently when I went to the movie theater to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
In this PG-13 sequel, the story centers on the grumpy, animated raccoon Rocket (with Bradley Cooper's voice, Nightmare Alley, 2021), who gets seriously injured from an attempted kidnapping, forcing his Guardian companions to venture through the galaxy and find a way to save him.
A large section of this film has flashbacks telling Rocket's origin story about experimentation and cruelty to animals. These flashbacks add a surprising darkness to this film which is rarely explored in the 31 previously-released Marvel movies from the last 15 years. And because the darkness is so committed, written so patiently, acted so well, and so refreshingly different for a Marvel movie, it's the best part of this sequel.
The rest of this movie is less refreshing. Guardians of the Galaxy has always been fun as the more irreverent and acerbic of the Marvel superhero movies with an annoyed sarcasm in the dialogue and its disparate relationships. Volume 3 still has all that, and some moments of dialogue are funny. But this light-hearted, bad-tempered humor doesn't blend well with the serious drama, so the whole film feels manic and disjointed jumping clumsily from one mood, or one story line, to another.
The production design is grandiose and out of this world, and the special effects makeup is mostly impeccable excluding the surplus of animal heads on upright human-like bodies.
Also continuing the mood of the previous Guardians movies is the diverse soundtrack featuring nostalgic songs by the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, and Alice Cooper. But all the good things about this film aren't enough to make it terrific.
The schizophrenic screenplay, written solely by director James Gunn (instead of co-written by a team of writers like the past) makes this final installment of the Guardians group another run-of-the-mill movie in the endless string of Marvel productions.
You know what mainstream Hollywood can't seem to avoid right now? New ideas!
