 If you like good old-fashioned animal torture, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the film for you. Let's spoil the crap out of it right now. ["Guardians of the Galaxy"] Director James Gunn and the Guardians of the Galaxy are back for one more ride. At least that's what they say in the trailer, which sucks because I feel like that's the most generic phrase every movie uses. One last ride. One more ride. This movie's not generic. In fact, this is the most non-MCU movie in the MCU. I already said we're gonna be spoiling it. I'm gonna jump into it. So if you haven't seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and you have the smallest inclination to go, shut this off, see the film, come back, watch this twice to make up for the fact that you bailed. Because I don't like ruining things for people, I also don't feel special because I saw a movie before someone else and feel like I have to rub it in. Like, huh, this is what happens in the movie. I told you, now it's like I made the film. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 starts up right away with a lot of depression. This is a sad ass movie. Funny, of course. Action packed, absolutely. But there's this overlay of sadness amongst all of it. And it makes sense. These guys have been through some pretty tough shit. Especially Star-Lord, played, of course, by Chris Pratt, who is putting the work in. I know it's trendy or popular by some group of people online, especially Twitter, to make Chris Pratt the enemy now, because he's religious or something. I don't care. Pratt is consistently solid. Yes, the Jurassic World series, Owen is lame as crap. He's a one-dimensional character. He just does the steely eyes. Looks stoic and that's it. That's not the case with Star-Lord. It wasn't the case for Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation. He was one of the best characters. It wasn't even the case when he played the Lego movie character. I forgot his name. Emmett. I think it's Emmett. But Pratt goes all in with Star-Lord. The emotion on display in this film by him is freaking great. He is the heart of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Whereas in previous movies, sure, he still had the heart. He was a little bit more goofy, though. In this movie, though, he is reeling over the loss of Gamora. She's still in the background for a lot of it, not really present in his life anymore, and that kills him to know that there's this version of her out there that he loves and wants to be with, but it's not reciprocal. She's got a new family now with the Space Pirates. When this movie starts up, we're at the little Guardians of the Galaxy hub world. This appeared in the Christmas special. If you didn't watch that on Disney+, it's worth your time. It's more with the Guardians. If you like these guys and you like all three movies, it fits in very nicely. And there are a few things introduced there that are just part of this movie now with no real introduction, such as Mantis being Peter Quill's sister. She says it early on, so if you didn't watch the holiday special, it's like, okay, not... I guess we know this now, but it's not like a-ha reveal. Rocket picks up some music and it's really through his headspace for a while that we're getting introduced to these characters again. Not for long, though, as Adam Warlock is gonna come crashing into his life quite literally, and beat the living hell out of this dude. And he's gonna wreck Rocket Raccoon before some of the other Guardians fend him off. It's a vicious battle that takes place. The way Gunn films this movie is unlike the other two. It's a lot more visceral. It's intense. Feels like some of the times we have bodycams on these people crashing through buildings. You're right there with them. It's pretty brutal. It's a very... It's pushing PG-13 very hard. And it did not take long for me to realize, holy shit, I'm watching a movie here. This is an event. Whereas the previous two Guardians movies were solid, consistent, all the way through. I know... I know people don't like Guardians, too. I don't know why. A little too silly for them or something, whatever. This one, it just felt... It felt like there was more stake. It felt like there was more intensity throughout it. And a lot of it's because James Gunn is so confident in his actors, as well as he should be, and he knows that letting them have time to breathe and work with the script and just give it their all is really just gonna magnify all of this. So Chris Pratt just yelling at the top of his lungs with tears pouring down as he's looking at his little buddy on the table. It's so powerful here. Then you have the upgraded Nebula who's had every type of work done to her. Her arm can transform into different things. Grute has that compassionate heart of a champ. And then there's Gamora who's very tough in this movie, very hardened, doesn't give a shit about Peter Quill or even her sister for that matter. Respect is given. Acknowledgements there. But she really doesn't want anything to do with the Guardians. And by the time the movie's done, a lot of people, including myself, thought, well, she's gonna come around. She doesn't come around. She at least can look at Peter Quill and some of these other people and say, yeah, I'm sure it was a delight in a different life, but that's not this one. And then she takes off. It's a sad, but it's an honest moment. It's very well-earned. I think everything is very well-earned in this movie from a dramatic standpoint. I saw some reviews saying it's overly melodramatic. It's over the top. Nah. We've spent some time with Rocket now. He's alluded to his awful upbringing multiple moments throughout this series. It reminds me a lot of Wolverine in the early X-Men movies where we finally get to see the operation, the stuff they did to this guy, how he breaks out, the fact that he has very little memory of this traumatic experience, and then it finally starts to wash over him as he remembers. I guess more like waterboard over him would be more appropriate. The stuff we see in these flashbacks with Rocket are brutal. How he's ripped away from his little pack. How he's experimented on. Flesh ripped. Things inserted. Metal prodding. It's disturbing, especially if you're a kid. I can understand that. I took my 11-year-old son. He was all in, but he even turned to me about an hour in and said, Dad, this movie is sad. This movie is really sad, and it only gets worse. Especially when Rocket befriends three other little critters. There's this dopey walrus. Hi, guys. And I love how James Gunn made them as Disney as possible. The cute ferret thing. It is super like pie in the sky, happy energy. The bunny with the metal face mask is dragging itself on the ground. They all have these cute Disney names. Even Rockets is all about hope and flying away together, blasting off in a rocket ship away from this awful, awful place where this Lord of the Manor is taking these critters and ripping them to pieces and just discarding them like they're nothing. Because to him they are. He's the main villain of this film, The High Evolutionary. Appropriate name as he's constantly trying to evolve his creations and even himself to be perfect. We'll find out as the movie progresses, he's a far away from that goal. Especially when the Guardians travel to his version of Earth and see the anthropomorphic characters that live there. How there's still drug use, abuse, violence everywhere. As I think about this movie more, I just want to watch it again. And I have a hard time really understanding where some of the negative criticisms are coming from. I get maybe it wasn't as adventurous or as bright and colorful and fun as the previous entries and maybe that people want. But we're three movies deep. This is typically when the films get darker, the stakes get higher. And it's not even like the stakes here are the universe is going to be destroyed. The stakes are high for the individual characters. Their best buddy's dying. That's the entire plot of this film. Is rockets almost dead. They see that something was put inside that's keeping him from getting better. So they have to track down the McGuffin, fight anything that's in their way to save this dude. This raccoon. I mean, come on. It's a raccoon, right? Well, that's what makes it so special. To these guys, it's not just a raccoon. It's a best friend. It's family. So they will go to the ends of the Earth, risk their own lives to save this dude. And all of these characters will get some closure and some chance to shine. Drax, Dave Boutista, freaking knocking it out of the park. As good here as he ever is has some hilarious interactions with Mantis who is fantastic as well. Mantis and Drax road trip adventure. Always a good time. I do find it weird that people say that these guys should be together like husband wife or an item or something. They always feel to me brotherly sisterly. I don't see them as a as a hookup. I mean, it's established in Guardians 2 that Drax thinks she's one of the ugliest creatures he's ever seen. And Nebula, much like Loki, has had one of the greatest villain to hero transformations in the entire MCU. She's so perfect here. Part of the gang still has that edge though. They haven't spated her attitude. She's very much just as cool and in charge as she was before. She's just now fighting for the good guys. James' brother Sean Gunn always consistent in these films as well. He gets little bits here and there to show that he is able to perfect his little whistle trick with the arrow and make his mentor Yondu proud. Very predictable setup that will inevitably go exactly where you want it to. But it works. I know people were a little down on the music this time around. Again, I think it just works with the feel Gunn is going for which unfortunately for some is a very somber one. Even when the movie's at its funniest it still feels a little sad deep down. So some of the music's getting knocked but what should be praised absolutely and I'm not seeing or hearing a lot of it is how this thing is shot. I already mentioned the more visceral organic look of the thing but there are some sections of this movie where I'm looking at it going okay wow this looks great especially when they're on Earth 2.0 Gamora's hanging out in the cockpit of their plane and they do this cool shot from her vantage point looking down at the town as the car's driving on and she kind of looks out the side window. It looks so good. It doesn't look fake. It feels like it's part of that set. I know it's not but the trick in me into thinking it is and that's great filmmaking. Later on we're treated to the best action sequence in the entirety of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Nay, maybe the MCU as a whole. We all love a good hallway fight. The hallway fight here is so polished so full of fan service so full of cool factor. I couldn't help but smile the entire time thinking how are they doing this? How is this being filmed? Why is it so awesome? You got the beastie boys no sleep for Brooklyn playing Gamora spinning over things Mantis is uppercutting people Star-Lord's on the knees shooting Groots ripping through guys like paper rockets flying around with the jet pack. It's so good. Then you got Drax who's not only body and dudes in this scene but throughout the entire film this is the first Guardians movie where Drax was given some justice. That's one of the missteps I think Gunn had with that character in the past. He never felt that strong but in this one he's chucking dudes everywhere. He's taking shots like it's nothing. Now I mentioned the critter scene earlier we might as well jump into the biggest moment of the film and that's the flashback where Rocket finally gets out. He puts together that key that he gobbled together from different parts over a period of time Shawshank Redemption style gets out tells his friends we're leaving we got to go now. They're going to kill us in the morning if we don't. The friends are like we're with you bad boys for life let's go cage is open Friends killed drops to the ground this cute little innocent creature that didn't ask for any of this laid to rest laid to waste Rocket's just sitting there taking it in before the camera pans over to the horror that unfolds the other Disney critters are also dead. Rocket's got to go there's no time to grieve he'll have plenty of time for that in the future but there's this awesome scene where he's running he's running there's gunfire shooting he jumps in the plane takes off outside and he's just gone now the rest of his sad life is going to be trying to find that family again however he can we of course learned to get set from the Guardians of the galaxy beautiful excellently executed in more ways than fun I like the villain in this picture it's been very trendy now to try to sympathize or relate to understand the psyche behind where someone's coming from it's also okay to just have a good old-fashioned asshole that thinks he's above everyone else and has to perfect things has to make things right in the final moments of the film everyone gets some closure I thought for a second they were going to kill Star-Lord in a very out-of-nowhere scene heart was breaking I stopped breathing as he's frozen in space harkening back to the first Guardians of the Galaxy where he had to get his recorder I'm like are they going to do it? they're going to kill him the way that they almost did the first time around but no this is where Adam Warlock gets his redemption brings him back to safety the Adam Warlock stuff I know is criticized because he was kind of lame he's maybe not as cool as he is in the comics I know nothing about that as far as this character is concerned I thought there was a beginning, middle, and end arc to him I think that they did a very good job a very serviceable job with this character and then we wrap things up with a nice dance sequence which is very on-brand for Guardians even Drax removed his footloose policy and let loose on the dance floor Groot out of nowhere says I love you guys which that was the one moment probably worked for a lot of people for me I was just taken aback because it was Vin Diesel to a T Diesel not even attempting to put anything on his voice it just felt like I was watching Fast and the Furious for a second and I wasn't a fan of that like oh okay and then no one really acknowledges the fact that he said that or maybe we were hearing what they hear every time he talks and he didn't really say it in English regardless it was a little jarring for me and then the Guardians disband physically mentally they'll always be family Gamora goes back with the pirates Mantis for the first time in her life is gonna walk on her own she's always had a master someone to answer to she's now gonna try her hand solo Han Solo and so Star Lord he needs to get back to real Earth found out that there's still a sibling alive he wants to touch base for the first time get reacquainted with a human that actually knows him that was there when his mom died his grandpa in his 90s still looks okay reads the paper enjoys the weather and now they can do this together for a while and as for Rocket he managed to survive to the end and he's now the new leader of the Guardians of the galaxy and we get to see him on one of his first little fun misadventures with his new ragtag crew out in the middle of some desert planet they're gonna take on some aliens fun little sequence and then in the final end credit we see Star Lord having some cereal hanging out with his grandpa there's a fun little report on the paper that's mentions the Christmas special and then it says Star Lord will return in the future I assume that's for the new Avengers coming out the Shang dynasty or whatever that's gonna be regardless I'm very happy with this ending and this is one of the greatest trilogies full stop it's there it's right by like Indiana Jones for me I love this series I love these characters James Gunn knocked it out of the park and I'm very excited to see what he does with Superman in the future for now though even though the MCU has been a massive disappointment as of late I hadn't liked really any of the new movies that have come out didn't like Black Panther 2 didn't like Ant-Man in the Wasp Quantum Shittia didn't like Thor Love and Thunder I had a feeling this was gonna be great because in James Gunn we trust now I want to hear from you though did I cover everything about this that you thought was good did I miss some stuff let me know in the comments please like the video if you had a good time and subscribe if you haven't already as I post tons of movie content each and every week I'd love to have more people stick around hopefully I'll catch you next time take care