‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Taps Into Trauma
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 explores traumatic backstories to deliver an emotional experience unlike most recent Marvel films.
It’s no secret that I haven’t exactly been impressed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe lately. There have been a few bright spots since Avengers: Endgame, but it’s mostly been fine to downright disappointing. With all that baggage, I was a little afraid to get my hopes up about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 because I just didn’t want to be let down again—especially by the Guardians series, which ranks high on my MCU list.
Thankfully, James Gunn breaks the post-Endgame Marvel curse with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and delivers an engaging, emotional, visually interesting movie that reminds me of the glory days of the MCU.
Our ragtag band of misfits is living it up as protectors of the galaxy on Knowhere when trauma from the past comes back to haunt them in the form of The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a mad scientist obsessed with creating the perfect species.
We dive into Rocket Raccoon’s (Bradley Cooper) harrowing backstory, see Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) deal with losing his Gamora (Zoe Saldana), observe Nebula (Karen Gillan) starting to become a leader, watch Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) try to find purpose, and even see Groot (Vin Diesel) cement his role on the squad.
And because it’s Guardians, we also spend time with a host of other weird and interesting characters like Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), and her creation Adam Warlock (Will Poulter).
This might be the MCU, but this movie is definitely more mature and adult than previous entries. You can see Gunn’s Troma roots showing with some moments of gore or body horror that go well beyond what we usually see in Marvel. This will definitely be too scary and/or sad for younger kids, particularly because so much of the emotion centers on animal experiments and torture. There is nothing too explicit and they do break up the grimness with humor, but this one hit me a lot harder than other Marvel movies because of all the animal abuse scenes.
Adding to the maturity level, Guardians Vol. 3 really amps up the emotions. Is it manipulation to make me sad by showing me adorable CGI creatures getting experimented on and losing their loved ones? Certainly. But it’s effective—just ask Bambi. There were audible sniffles in my press screening, so general audiences would be advised to bring some tissues.
Those heightened emotions really enhance the villain here and I kept wishing that we got this level of pure evil from Kang the Conqueror, who is supposed to be the big bad of this phase. We’ve had villains like Killmonger or Thanos who rationalize their actions, we’ve had villains like the Red Skull who crave power, and we’ve even had bad-guy-of-the-week villains like Malakeith, but Iwuji gives us a truly despicable villain with The High Evolutionary. We’re actively rooting for this guy to get what he deserves, and it keeps the audience more invested in the story.
While the emotional impact is very effective, the story can get a bit messy because we have so many characters to explore. This movie focuses on Rocket, but we also get a lot more of Mantis and Drax as well as Quill attempting to get reacquainted with Gamora. These characters are strong and all these side plots are enjoyable, but it can occasionally make the narrative feel a bit too packed with storylines.
It’s bittersweet that Gunn delivered the first Marvel movie I’ve really enjoyed in ages when we know his time in the MCU is done. I’m hopeful that Marvel will see that these movies can tap into deeper emotions and utilize distinct visuals to differentiate them from the generic blockbusters they’ve been cranking out over the last few years. The MCU really can be great if you let the movies feel different and if you’re not afraid to make your audience feel real emotions.
