Guardians of the Galaxy 3: A non-spoiler review.

[Barry]

Guardians of the Galaxy 3: A non-spoiler review.

This was a good movie, not a great one, and I enjoyed it.  Who is it for? This is not for someone unfamiliar with the Marvel Movie Universe and who has not seen the last two Guardians movies. This movie wraps up a great many of the “loose” ends. This is a strictly sci-fi adventure movie, with tons of action sequences and battles.  In fact, my friends and I got a bit confused by the editing of who exactly was where fighting whom.

It was also the loudest movie I can remember, with sound effects mixed with music.

To save Rocket Raccoons life, the crew must face his evil creator, the High Evolutionary, who lives in a very creative environment and who has created a counter Earth. Star-Lord must resolve his relationship with Gamora and the others must find piece within themselves. Warlock, a new super-hero (?) is introduced and he, and we, must decide whose side he is on.

Never dull and the computer animation is startling good. Again, not a great movie, but if you liked the first two Guardians you will like this one.

My personal Comment:
This differs, greatly, from the original comics, which I believe were better.  The High Evolutionary was a running character who was not evil.  He created new life, in Thor comics, drawn by Jack Kirby and written by Stan Lee that were very interesting….and not evil.
The same pair also created “Him,” in the Fantastic Four, an artificial man who was neither good nor evil. The High Evolutionary then tries to create a planet with no evil, something you cannot do in comics. He called it Counter-Earth. When he discovers that there is evil there, he takes “Him” and evolves him to a Cristlike figure and calls him Warlock.  He sends him to the new Counter-Earth to redeem it and himself. Warlock dies but does return.

Finally, contrary to what some are writing. Rocket first appeared in the black and white Marvel Preview #7, not Hulk comics.  I put up his first page. And the original Guardains were differnt than the movie ones!

[Barry]

 By the way,  death is not fatal in these comic book movies. And that takes away any real impact. Gamora, had died and has risen from the grave. She was not the first to go, however, Groot dies in their first movie and comes back.
 Gamora is not the only one who died in “Avengers Endgame, but Thanos dies early and then comes back later.

The Black Widow dies in “Avengers Endgame” and then gets her own movie. Loki dies in “Avengers Infinity War” and then comes back in his own streaming series.  So does the Vision.

Bucky Barnes dies, in 1943, in “Captain America”, but comes back, still young, 70 years later in “Captain America: Super Soldier”.

The Wasp, is declared dead in the first Ant-Man movie, but comes back in the next two sequels.

Jane Foster dies in “Thor: Love and Thunder” but has an afterlife in the end credits.

Several Dr. Stranges die in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

The Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus are brought back to life in “Spider-Man No Way Home.”

Oh yes, DC does the same thing. Superman died in “Batman vs. Superman” but comes back in “Justice League.”

[AVSCraig]

By the way,  death is not fatal in these comic book movies. And that takes away any real impact. Gamora, had died and has risen from the grave. She was not the first to go, however, Groot dies in their first movie and comes back.
 Gamora is not the only one who died in “Avengers Endgame, but Thanos dies early and then comes back later.

The Black Widow dies in “Avengers Endgame” and then gets her own movie. Loki dies in “Avengers Infinity War” and then comes back in his own streaming series.  So does the Vision.

Bucky Barnes dies, in 1943, in “Captain America”, but comes back, still young, 70 years later in “Captain America: Super Soldier”.

The Wasp, is declared dead in the first Ant-Man movie, but comes back in the next two sequels.

Jane Foster dies in “Thor: Love and Thunder” but has an afterlife in the end credits.

Several Dr. Stranges die in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

The Green Goblin and Dr. Octopus are brought back to life in “Spider-Man No Way Home.”

Oh yes, DC does the same thing. Superman died in “Batman vs. Superman” but comes back in “Justice League.”

Black Widow was an origin story film that should have come out earlier though. The order they should have come out in - 

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Iron Man 
Iron Man 2
Thor
The Avengers 
Iron Man 3
Thor : The Dark World
Captain America: The Winter Soldier 
Guardians of the Galaxy 
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 
Avengers: Age of Ultron 
Ant Man
Captain America : Civil War
Black Widow
Spider-Man: Homecoming 
Doctor Strange
Black Panther 
Thor: Ragnarok
Avengers: Infinity War
Ant-Man and the Wasp 
Captain Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
Spider-Man: Far from Home
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

That's as far as I've gotten - not sure how many more Marvel movies I'll watch.

[AVSCraig]

I am looking forward to Guardians of the Galaxy 3 - love the first two! 

[Paul Heroy]

*** SPOILERS WARNING!!! ***


*** YOU WAS WARNED.... ***



Barry, I saw it with a friend on Monday. I swear you must have kibitzed on our followup dinner because many of your points echo ours. We saw it on IMAX 3D, so ALL the bells and whistles, and the price certainly reflected that.

I had to go out to my car after the first few minutes and get my "rock concert ear plugs" that I keep in it. The previews were too loud and I was putting my fingers in my ears, and thought it would moderate when the feature started but it didn't. It was overwhelming and not just in volume, but I think the EQ was off too as it was very bright. It makes sense, as this was just after what I assume was a packed house over the weekend where a lot of extra acoustic absorbing bodies were in the seats, while our showing had under 10. I went in with a concern about being visually overwhelmed sitting in row D at an IMAX, but it was the audio that was a problem for me.

Overall, it was very fun but it had some of the same issues I had with Thor: Love & Rockets. The humor hit way better, though, which was a positive. But the shift in tone in the Rocket origin scenes, which I found borderline maudlin and very heavy handed, was off putting. I would have liked those to be either edited about 50%, or leavened with some different emotional beats.

I also found it confusing to follow who was with or against who a few times, but just kind of gave up and rolled with  the amazing visuals and action. And I 100% agree with and talked afterward, your point about leaching the impact out of story lines - and it wasn't just deaths. How long did the rolling destruction of the Evolutionary's spaceship go on? It seemed like it was blowing up and disintegrating for 30 minutes.

BUT, overall, this was still a very fun movie. The highs definitely outweighed the nit picking above. 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review Barry. We enjoyed the first two but most likely will wait for this to show up on disney +.

[Paul Heroy]

Thanks for the review Barry. We enjoyed the first two but most likely will wait for this to show up on disney +.

I would see this on as big a screen as possible. Loved the IMAX experience (once earplugs were in, lol).