Why I Loved Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

Honestly, I just went to watch the movie in theaters because I had a bad day and wanted to reset my mood. I just booked the ticket online randomly while going home on the bus. But oh boy, am I GLAD.

Why you ask? Lemme break it down in DETAIL 😀

< SPOILER ALERT!! >

1. Rocket’s heart-wrenching backstory, design and screenplay

This installment of the GOTG franchise has really placed its heart in Rocket’s backstory. Until this point, I primarily knew the GOTG gang for being quirky, crazy and fun. But this volume showcased the heart-wrenching backstory of the sassy raccoon and all the turmoil he survived to become what he is today.

In the first few scenes, we see how his adorable puppy eyes went from being scared in the past to empty in the present. Then we get to know that the first ever word spoken by him was “HURTS”. Ultimately towards the end, we hear the harrowing screams he let out after seeing his best friend die in front of him, because of a step he took.

And of course, his current group of friends – the GOTG – spent most of the movie trying to save their friend without triggering the “kill switch” implanted inside him. All of these culminated in such an unexpectedly emotionally charged story, that I actually ended up shedding a few tears at the cinema hall.

The way his story was told throughout all the other shenanigans of this movie, landed perfectly for me. Such a screenplay made it a lot more effective for me somehow. While watching his backstory, I felt like taking baby Rocket in my arms and petting him saying “Everything will be okay. Don’t you worry”. Sigh…

2. An ACTUALLY terrifying villain (Finally, Thank God)

Omygod, I LOVED this villain (and by loved, I mean angry and scared shitless at the same time XD). I genuinely never got scared of a Marvel villain before this. Even when it was Thanos, I kinda agreed with a lot of points he made (I’m not a psychopath I swear D: ). I thought he looked cool, and will probably kill some of my favorite characters, but ultimately I wasn’t really terrified of Thanos ya know?

But THIS ONE? OMG…

From the first scene he appeared in to the last one, oh I wanted to kill him myself -_-

Especially when he started MOCKING Rocket’s AGONIZING screams, I was like “LISTEN HERE you BITCHASS SPINELESS PRICK!” When Rocket scratched his face off right after, I LOVED it. I felt like “don’t you leave him alive rocket, please, scratch his brain off”

So, suffice to say, I really appreciated a truly heartless intimidating villain with a god complex. Also, Chukwudi Iwuji was the perfect casting for this character. High Evolutionary has set the highest benchmark for MCU villains and I’m so HERE FOR IT!

3. Balance of comedy and sentimentality

A movie that makes me cry and laugh throughout its storyline is what I crave. In my experience, films that hit that balance perfectly are the ones that make me happy to have spent the ticket money, ya know?

GOTG 3 reminded me of that. I laughed with the audience at the theater, and also wiped away my tears silently at a few scenes. As an avid movie-goer, THAT is what I want from any movie, especially the high-budget ones with lots of VFX or CGI. And this movie delivered on that so well.

4. Spreading the story evenly among core characters

A common issue that I found in the previous MCU movies with a huge team (except Infinity War and Endgame) is how tough it is to give all the characters their due time or importance in the screenplay.

Compared to the first two installments, this GOTG movie seemed to spread the screentime among its many characters the most evenly. The only exception to that was probably Adam Warlock, but I’m guessing Gunn and Feige have bigger and better plans for his future, so they didn’t want to highlight him too much on the last movie of the original GOTG team.

5. Memorable Scenes: The 2-minute uncut action sequence and Adam saving Peter

That 2-minute uncut scene was the most engaging scene of the movie for me. When this scene started, and hit the first slow-mo with Rocket jumping up, I was like “YAAASS! Let’s GO!”. And when the scene CONTINUED with the same vigor and lovely actions, I felt so fulfilled both as an MCU fan and an audience member in the theater.

Another one was when we all were expecting Peter to die and Adam Warlock suddenly came in to save him while recreating the famous painting “The Creation of Adam”. That was bonkers! Like, Pete was clearly frozen, bloated, DEAD, floating in space. All other characters started to accept his death mentally, and so did WE! Then suddenly we see Adam Warlock’s finger touching him like the painting and saving him!

That was amazing. Good work James Gunn and team!

A Random Note:

For some reason, every time Adam Warlock appeared on screen, my mind instantly interpreted him as Cody Ko, the Youtuber! God Knows why this happened, but literally every time I saw him I was like “Cody!? What are you doing here and WHY ARE YOU GOLDEN??” XD

Anyway, I really loved the movie and implore all you animal lovers and superhero movie lovers to go watch it in theaters. I don’t know if you will enjoy it as much on the small screen as you would in the theaters.

Let me know what you thought of it in the comments! Also, can’t wait for Spiderverse and The Flash coming up next month! What a time to be alive!