Top Line Thoughts: Oh boy. My feelings about this movie are extremely complicated. First and foremost, I have always been a big fan of the Guardians movies. The first more so than the second, but I always appreciated the specific tone, sense of humor, and ability to inject so much emotion and humanity into essentially a comedy. I care about these characters as individuals and as a team with specific dynamics and interactions. I was looking forward to seeing this latest (and final?) installment of the Guardians standalone films, but I was also nervous as rumors were flying about which character (if any) might be killed off to bring this series to an end. 

That all being said, I’ll get right to the point: I hated this movie. Hate is probably a strong word, but I had such an unenjoyable experience watching it. However, I want to be clear that my thoughts about this movie have much more to do with me as a person and my experience in the theater than with the movie itself. I was sitting next to the actual worst people in the world in the theater who definitely negatively impacted my experience by annoying me for the entire 2 hours and 30 minutes. But to their credit (not that they deserve any), I don’t know that I would have had that much better of a time had they not been a factor.

Without giving away too much in the non-spoiler section, this main storyline of this movie basically centers around animal cruelty. Animals are tortured, experimented on, and even killed, some to dramatic effect and some completely nonchalantly. PETA has even come out praising the movie for showing the horrors of animal experimentation if that says anything to you about what this film is like. The main “animal” whose backstory the movie dives into is Rocket Raccoon: a walking, talking, extremely intelligent raccoon. Every time they showed his sad little face, all I could think about was my dog, Zeke (look at pictures of them side by side and tell me the faces and vibe aren’t similar). While there were still great moments of humor, interpersonal dynamics, and musical needle drops that were quintessential Guardians, none of that could make up for how absolutely sick to my stomach the rest of the film made me feel. I understand from a plot perspective how all of it played into the story and I know this movie has gotten fairly great reviews, but, for me personally, it was all too upsetting to enjoy. This will definitely be a movie I skip in a Marvel rewatch because I don’t want to ever see some of those scenes again. If you are less sensitive than me and not obsessed with your pets like I am, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is probably everything you want out of a Guardians movie (albeit slightly darker, gorier, and more emotional than ever before). But this is definitely not a kids movie, not a lighthearted comedy, and not something I would recommend to a casual superhero movie fan. Marvel diehards: watch at your own risk.

Spoiler Section: I don’t have too much to add here because diving any deeper into Rocket’s backstory might honestly break me as a human being, but just a few spoiler-filled thoughts!

As I mentioned earlier, rumors and conversation about which character(s) might die in this movie were running rampant leading up to the release. A few actors had publicly stated that they did not want to return to Marvel and this would be their last film which caused much of this speculation. The post-credits scene announcing that Star-Lord would be returning was shocking in this context as many expected Chris Pratt to be done with the MCU. It felt like the movie definitely played into the audience expectations that someone would not be making it out alive by having multiple characters seem like they were going to die but then miraculously surviving. In my opinion, they teased this one too many times without actually killing anyone off. I didn’t want anyone to die, but the constant teasing that they were going to got a little old. I’m also okay with the decision not to kill anyone off considering the movie had its fair share of tragedy already and this leaves the door open for anyone to come back if they decide to down the line. The group splitting up and going their separate ways felt like a natural progression of people growing and changing and not just being forced apart by catastrophe.

Along similar lines, I found the choice to not have a reconciliation between Peter and Gamora interesting. As much as I rooted for them to be together and be happy, I appreciated the message that you can’t look for happiness in other people and rely on them to “fix you”. People grow and change and sometimes drift apart because of it, so you can’t hang all of your hopes on one person. Both Peter and Gamora had to do what they felt was best for themselves in the end.

I know there’s been some debate about the final moment with Groot where he says “Love you guys” instead of only ever saying “I am Groot”. At first, I was not a fan of this moment as I thought it was out of character and unnecessary to make that change. However, I then read that some people interpreted the moment as a mirror to the Gamora moment with Groot a few scenes earlier. She spends the whole movie not believing that Groot is actually saying anything other than “I am Groot” even though the rest of the gang understands him. In that final scene with them together, she is able to understand him. It is the same for us as an audience. After spending multiple movies with Groot, when he actually says “I am Groot” in the final moment, we hear it as “Love you guys” because we have learned to understand him after all this time. Following this interpretation of the scene, I actually think this is a really great moment. 

Lastly, I just want to say once more that my heart was absolutely shattered by Lylla, Teefs, Floor, and especially baby (and adult) Rocket. Rocket’s first ever words spoken out loud being “hurts” is just absolutely evil. Every scene featuring this group was painful, but the final scenes with their failed escape and then Rocket’s near death experience briefly reuniting with them (that looked suspiciously like the King’s Cross scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2) just broke me into a million pieces. These scenes were all intentionally emotionally manipulative and it worked, but I was not happy about it. James Gunn, I will never forgive you for this. 

2023 Count: 6 seasons, 25 movies, 1 special