Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Almost 10 years on since Peter Gunn directed the first chapter, the third and final instalment of the Guardians of the Galaxy has arrived, this time shot as part of the ‘filmed for IMAX programme’. This is now the 32nd full length feature film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). As a reference point, this film lands somewhere between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, hence the crew are still dealing with that moment in the MCU where Thanos snapped his fingers and half the universe disappeared.

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) - aka Star Lord – once again leads his fellow Guardian’s on an inter-galactic mission, this time to save his fellow Guardian and best friend, Rocket. Bradley Cooper gives voice to the brash but intelligent, anthropomorphic raccoon. Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), the comically irascible Drax (Dave Bautista), and the tree-like humanoid accomplice Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) are some of the familiar characters that together make for a diversely pleasing and quirky crew of superheroes.

Without giving too much away the film begins with the Guardians together at their base Knowhere with Quill still reeling from the death of his girlfriend Gamora. But, hang-on, she’s soon back fighting alongside the rest of the Guardians - albeit from an alternative-universe so has no memory of him – when their base is attacked, and Rocket is badly injured. The baddie this time around is the entity known as the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). A somewhat stereotypical overly powerful sociopathic scientist who is obsessed by cosmic eugenics and, we soon find out, has a particular interest in Rocket. Through flashbacks, we are taken on a rather disturbing origin story of how Rocket came to be (certificate 12A, really?) and as Rocket fights to live, the band of superheroes set out to protect and save their CGI-furry friend.

For me, the Guardians of the Galaxy have been the most enjoyable of the Marvel movie franchise. Marvel movies have gotten bigger, longer, louder with even more things blown up and destroyed with each new release which I have become weary of. Yet, with the Guardian’s, and the plot as ever being set around their love and loyalty for one another in the adopted family that they have become, there is warmth and humour more so than in the other Marvel story arcs.
As to be expected, watching this in IMAX expanded aspect ratio (whilst sat in a chair where my bum did not get numb) was pretty awesome and actually, with all the relentless action, did not feel too overwhelming. Each scene felt carefully balanced, and despite seeing a hundred fight scenes before, the action sequences were considerately choreographed and did not feel stale.

Ten years ago, it was Quill’s mixtape on his Walkman that was as much a part of the movie’s identity and soon became the downloadable ‘Awesome Mix No.1’. Just as then, Gunn has carefully chosen the mixtape that threads volume 3 of the story together and it becomes an important part of the cinema experience wondering what that next song you know you’re going to love is up next. Opening with a full-length acoustic rendition of Creep as Rocket wonders through Knowhere and we are first re-introduced to the characters, to a fight scene set to the Beasties Boys classic No Sleep till Brooklyn, the crystal-clear dynamic IMAX surround sound was top notch.

One criticism of the IMAX experience is that with the screen being so large I was conscious of the silhouetted heads in the row in front of me that blocked out the very bottom of the screen. It was a slightly annoying distraction that took me the length of the adverts and trailers to get my head around. The other criticism being the volume. There were several times where myself and both my teenage kids winced and had to put our fingers in our ears. I’m not sure why it needs to be that loud.

This is the last outing for director Peter Gunn for Marvel as he is set to move over to Warner Bros, where he will now be taking the helm of the DC universe. And it would seem this is the closing chapter of the Guardians of the Galaxy; albeit, as with all Marvel movies, when you hang about until the end credits have rolled, there is always a final scene to give the audience a taste of where the franchise will go next. This time around it seems that Star Lord might have an adventure or two still to enjoy.