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The latest Guardians of the Galaxy film is a solid but unspectacular show




Spalding Guardian film reviewer Gavin Miller ran the rule over Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.

The Guardians trilogy comes to a solidly entertaining – if unspectacular – conclusion.

Pretty much like with Marvel films of recent times, that golden touch ‘wow’ factor seems to have gone – but there’s still much to enjoy with Volume Three’s emotional underbelly.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

Everything is competently tied up in director James Gunn’s MCU ‘swansong’ before he heads to DC to tackle Superman: Legacy – at the absolute minimum.

This is predominantly a Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) origin story as his creator – Chukwudi Iwuji’s (John Wick: Chapter 2) High Evolutionary – sends powerful artificial being Adam Warlock (The Maze Runner series Will Poulter) to destroy him.

Cue the Guardians – Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) – who assemble to try and find a cure for their colleague after he gets injured in the film’s opening, by tracking down the villain of the piece on a mirror version of our own planet, called Counter-Earth.

Several side plots are thrown into the mix – including Star-Lord still pining for his former love Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who reappears after aligning with the Sylvester Stallone-led Ravagers – as all members get prominent individual screen-time, along with new team associates, Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo the Spacedog (voiced by Maria Bakalova).

As expected, the usual comedic touches mainly hit the spot – particularly interaction between Drax/Mantis – but like with recent Marvel films, even that is starting to wear a little thin.

You could argue this plays it a little safe, but fortunately the generally solid storyline and emotive moments – fans will likely ‘well up’ at numerous points – pulls it through.

It’s a hell of a lot better than the last Ant-Man film for sure. No visual effects issues to be found here.

And there’s definitely a heart-warming feeling to see all of the guardians unite for one massive offensive during the finale – which is the cherry on th e cake.

You couldn’t call it a ‘return to form’ for Marvel just yet – but this is a satisfying conclusion to the Guardians storyline at the very least.

Rating: 3.5/5

EXCLUSIVE FILM REVIEW OF GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3 (12A)

SHOWCASE CINEMA DE LUX PETERBOROUGH, OUT NOW

CAST: CHRIS PRATT, ZOE SALDANA, DAVE BAUTISTA, KAREN GILLAN, POM KLEMENTIEFF, VIN DIESEL, BRADLEY COOPER, SEAN GUNN, WILL POULTER, CHUKWUDI IWUJI, MARIA BAKALOVA, LINDA CARDELLINI, NATHAN FILLION, ELIZABETH DEBICKI & SYLVESTER STALLONE

RUNNING TIME: 2 HRS 30 MINS

DIRECTOR: JAMES GUNN



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