An Emotional, Satisfying End of a Trilogy - 'Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3' Movie Review

The best MCU film since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The latest films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the last couple of years have been a little lacklustre.

Lately, one of our fave Avengers Ant-Man has dealt with the Quantum Realm, where audiences met Phase 5’s new big bad – Kang the Conqueror.

But despite how much this film set up the future of the MCU, it just felt… underwhelming.

However, our Guardians have now returned in the final film of their trilogy - Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 - focusing on the heart of what their movies have always been about – family.

This movie is truly the send-off the Guardians of the Galaxy deserve and has restored the magic the previous Marvel movies of the last year or two seem to be missing.

There’s no spoilers here, but I recommend giving the previous films and the Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special a watch – there’s some great nods and references in Volume 3 to past events.

I didn’t go into Volume 3 expecting a lot, because as controversial as it may sound, I wasn’t a fan of Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2.

Volume 2 seemed a little disjointed in juggling its character arcs compared to the first movie (which I adored), and I was worried that this final film might do the same.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 does exactly what made the first movie great – showing off the highs and lows of what started as a dysfunctional team that has become a family.

The ensemble is great, but the star of the show by far is Rocket. Back in the first film, we learnt a little bit about his traumatic past as an experiment, and in Volume 3, we are given a look into how he came to be the talking raccoon we all know and love now.

Heads up - you’re going to need a lot of tissues.

While the movie revolves around Rocket, the rest of the Guardians crew all have their equal moments to shine, and you’ll realise just how far they’ve come in their journey.

It can be easy for some characters to get overshadowed by others with a decent-sized ensemble (ahem – Eternals), but audiences will be satisfied seeing how far Peter, Gamora, Groot, Nebula, Drax and Mantis have grown as individuals and as a team.

The movie may not be as comedic as the last two, but I felt going for a more serious direction was a great call to wrap up these stories.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 has an incredible bad guy – The High Evolutionary played by Chukwudi Iwuji (Peacemaker, John Wick: Chapter 2), who has arguably delivers one of the best supervillain lines ever, and he’s up there with one of my favourite MCU villains.

I won’t spoil what he’s up to but if you are on his side - you’re a monster. That’s all.

Adam Warlock makes his debut after his teased appearance in Volume 2, played by Will Poulter (The Maze Runner, We’re the Millers).

You might’ve known him as ‘the guy that looks like Sid from Toy Story’ but he’s all grown up now, and plays this incredibly powerful character with big himbo energy – not what I expected, but I kinda loved it.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 has another banger of a soundtrack which I won’t spoil here either, but the final song got me good.

This marks James Gunn’s final film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he heads over to the land of DC to create his own DC film universe.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 has set the bar for the rest of Phase 5, and quite possibly Marvel’s best film since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

If you’re a Marvel fan like myself and have been on the fence about seeing this latest MCU instalment, you’ll definitely want to see this one.

Heading to see Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3? Don't forget to snap up your $12.50 HOYTS tix here!

If you're a Spider-Man fan, don't forget to go enter our Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse competition for a chance to attend a premiere screening! 🕸️