Jokes are few and far between in the third installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy space adventure.
Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (Vin Diesel), Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) try to save their friend’s life in a very sad atmosphere. WALT DISNEY / MARVEL / AOP
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
USA, 2023
Directed by: James Gunn
IL rating: ⭐⭐
The first two Guardians of the Galaxy films (2014 and 2017) set in Marvel’s superhero universe were upbeat and anarchic exceptions compared to the company’s other quite realistic films.
Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) led by the group of friends formed by special humanoids always knew how to laugh at themselves and the films were otherwise funny, fast-paced and visually excellent.
That’s why the darkness, bleakness and unevenness of the third part of the film come as quite a surprise.
American James Gunn, 56, wrote and directed the first two installments of the franchise until he was fired by Disney. The reason was Gunn’s old Twitter posts that were considered offensive. Gunn apologized for his writing, the film’s main stars appealed on his behalf, as did many other actors and directors. Fans, on the other hand, collected an address containing almost half a million names, in which they hoped for Gunn’s return to the helm of the film series.
Eventually, Disney changed its mind, Gunn got his job back and was able to finish his trilogy. Somehow, it still feels like Gunn hasn’t invested as much in the third part of the movie as he did in the first two. Or maybe his own kicking episode is reflected in the film as its extreme gloom. In any case, the atmosphere and rhythm of the film are very different from the first two parts of the series.
This time, Peter Quill and the group of adventurers formed around him are not saving the entire galaxy, but the life of one of his friends. This in itself is a refreshing exception to the increasingly grandiose plots of superhero movies. However, a good initial setting does not guarantee a working film this time.
Visually, the third installment of Guardians of the Galaxy is still attractive and functional. Sometimes the slow motions, colors and composition of the space battles are directly like the director Wes Anderson’s from art films. Sometimes different aliens and costumes are again like by Luc Besson Fifth Element (1997) from the space epic. Gunn skillfully combines his influences and creates fun shooting scenes at the same time.
The film’s problems lie in the script, which is frankly unimaginably uneven and dreary.
The overall mood of the film is extremely dark, stilted and lackluster. A few jokes scattered here and there work on their own, but when unbelievably brutal violence is mixed in between them, they remain hollow and strange as a whole. The film doesn’t seem to find a balance between gloom and action adventure.
This can even be seen as a loss of pacing, which is a really bad thing in a 150-minute long film: The film’s numerous flashbacks are slow and sometimes stagnate in place, while in the present we mainly move forward at such a fast pace that many important plot twists and related characters are passed over with a few words and a shrug of the shoulders. Even Chris Pratt’s charm doesn’t bite at all this time, he seems to be quite lost in the film, just one of the supporting characters in a multifaceted gallery of characters.
The main villain of the film is so exaggeratedly cruel that all the scenes built around him seem almost unintentionally comical. There doesn’t seem to be any logic in the godlike character’s abilities either. Sometimes he is presented as extremely intelligent and having supernatural powers, sometimes the same character makes stupid mistakes and acts as if he doesn’t have any superpowers. This further adds to the impression that Gunn has had to put together the script for his film rather hastily.
At its weakest, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 feels as if the movie is just a bunch of action scenes put together for quick reasons, the purpose of which is to look good in the movie’s promotional videos, not so much to function as a whole and balanced movie.
The great and strong message of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies has always been that a person is not bound to his only biological family, but can build a new, even better family from his friends. This same meaning of friendship is repeated in the third film as well, but nothing new is brought into the picture and in the end, the use of the word friendship by the characters in the film starts to feel a bit tacky.
The Guardians of the Galaxy deserved a better resolution for their adventures. Of course, it is possible that sometimes the film series will get a fourth part as well. Hopefully.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 in cinemas on Wednesday 3 May 2023.