Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: An amazing conclusion to Galactic Greatness

This year saw the release Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third and concluding chapter to its Guardians of the Galaxy series and I have to say, Marvel honestly couldn’t have given a better and more heartfelt send off to their colorful heroes of space that everyone loves.

Marvel’s favorite intergalactic dream team is back: Peter Quill aka Starlord, Rocket Racoon, Drax the Destroyer, Groot, Mantis, Nebula and Gamora have all returned for one final group dance around the galaxy and they are joined by some new friends including Adam Warlock portrayed by Will Poulter.

As the final quest of the Guardians ensues, an unrealized demon of the past comes back to bite our heroes in the rear in the form of Chukwudi Iwuji's the “High Evolutionary”. Once our new villainy High Evolutionary strikes, Rocket Racoon’s life is threatened and the Guardians go a life or death mission to not only save Rocket’s life, but stop the High Evolutionary before all is lost.

What makes this third entry in the series so remarkable is the serious sense of emotional weight that it carries. The Guardians have always stuck out in the MCU for being the lighthearted comedy relief of this incredible world building, and at the same time, their emotional innocence has always struck emotional chord that has made the audience empathize with their journey. With this film we don’t just see the Guardians face challenges and opposition, but this time around genuine loss of one of their beloved family members hangs in the balance, so the audience is really locked in and invested in how this story is going to end.

During the Guardians quest to save Rocket’s life the audience is also given a journey into the backstory of Rocket’s life and how exactly it was that he became the Rocket Racoon we all know and love. I have to say that this was certainly the strongest emotional chord that struck the audience, myself included. As MCU fans we have always loved Rocket for being the seemingly self absorbed scrapper and shooter who was willing to step outside his selfish box once he finally found a family and a cause worth fighting for, but once we learn about Rocket’s backstory and how it all ties in to the current film’s villain and plot we learn so much more about Rocket that really makes us love him a lot more because we discover that he always had a struggle, always had a purpose and always had a heart. Learning Rocket’s secret history is the icing on the emotional investment we have at the fear of his potential death.

This third and final chapter in the Guardians arc also shows the return of guardian front woman Gamora, the love interest of Peter Quill and daughter of Thanos who was killed by the latter during the events of Avengers: Infinity War and brought back by means of another universal variant from the year 2014 during the events of Avengers: Endgame. It was very interesting to see how this alternate version of Gamora was going to fit into the picture and what kind of chemistry she was going to have with our heroes who know her very well, but she doesn’t hardly know at all. Interestingly enough Gamora kind of becomes the new Peter Quill and has joined the intergalactic space bandits known as the Ravagers, which is Quill’s former alma mater, while her sister Nebula has pretty much taken her place in the Guardians as the big sister figure.

Overall Guardians Volume 3 is an amazing send off for our favorite intergalactic dream team of the MCU. It is filled with plenty of laughs and tear jerkers that bring the entire Guardians arc full circle to an incredible bang of a close. During a time where the MCU has been on a very rocky road in the present day, Guardians 3 is one of the new best Marvel films and an unforgettable highlight that displays the still living greatness of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.