Source: Inside the Magic
Director James Gunn’s swan song for Marvel is a great rollercoaster ride that takes the audience on an emotional journey. We have the old gang back, Quill (Chris Pratt) who is still mourning the loss of his Gamora (Zoe Saldana); the current Gamora is the Gamora from Endgame; that time traveled from 2014, prior to even the original Guardians film; she currently has joined the Scavengers and has no feeling for Quill at all. Scavenger group Gamora joined is led by leader Staker Ogord (Sylvester Stallone) who we met in the second movie; Nebula (Karen Gilliam) has some new arm hardware, and it helps protect the people of Nowhere; Quill and the crew have settled here to protect not only the residence of Nowhere, but the Galaxy. Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (David Bautista) are still the heart and comic relief of the crew and the movie; Groot (Vin Diesel) has grown so much since the last movie, and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is determined to get Quill out of his funk; Kraglin (Sean Gunn) is also part of the crew and still trying to figure out how to control Yondu’s arrow.
Source: Marvel. Entertainment Youtube
All is going well until Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), who hasn’t forgotten about what the Guardians did last time by embarrassing her by stealing and destroying her crew, sends her “son” Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) to Nowhere to destroy the Guardians. The last time we saw Adam, Ayesha was creating him. As Adam goes through Nowhere and the team fights back, he retreats, and this is where we learn that Adam Warlock has a body of a man, strength of a superhero, but the mind of a child. Ayesha and Adam are working for the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), who yearns for the perfect specimen. Going back to the attack, the Guardians fought Adam the best they could but not before Rocket was severely injured. This begins the audience’s journey in learning how Rocket became Rocket.
All the Marvel Trilogies so far, such as Iron Man, Captain America and Ant Man, The Guardians focus on the characters background and growth. Most of the film focuses on Rocket, and we learn that the High Evolutionary created him; and how horrifying the High Evolutionary is to not only to animals, but humans as well. Rocket’s story is devastatingly sad which explains his reluctance to make friends in the first Guardians. As we take this journey with the Guardians, we learn they are a family, some are literal family, like Quill and Mantis, which Quill learns they are siblings during the Christmas special, and they all have each other’s back.
James Gunn’s final swan song for this Marvel crew was a truly emotional goodbye. I cried tears during parts of the movie LOL. Seeing Rocket’s journey and the emotion that brought to everyone watching him fight to survive and trying to save him, was gut wrenching. The full circle moments between Drax, who realizes his real journey is to be a parent and wants to instruct the children of Nowhere; Mantis comes to the realization that she doesn’t know who Mantis is and wants to go off in the galaxy and learn more about herself. The rest of the crew decided to form an updated version of the Guardians.
Overall, this was a satisfying end to the Guardians trilogy. The movie has two post credit scenes which let us in on a few things. The Guardians fought a great battle with High Evolutionary and after almost losing one of their own, they all concluded that there is more out there to do. This is a must watch movie.