Where We Left Off

Last audiences saw James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, they were kidnapping Kevin Bacon. The fate of 2014’s Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who aided in the defeat of Thanos in Avengers: Endgame was left out, instead opting to focus on Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). It was filled with the usual gags and wild humor, seeing fan favorites like Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Nebula (Karen Gillan) entertain for just under an hour of content during the Christmas season. They are joined by Kraglin (Sean Gunn) as well as the Russian talking dog Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) on the planet Knowhere, setting up the misfits-turned-heroes for their next move in Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3. 

Standouts

As always, the Guardians team leads the MCU in comedy. Specifically, Bautista’s Drax and Klemetieff’s Mantis hog the laugh-out-loud moments with some refreshing additions by Pratt’s Starlord, Gillan’s Nebula, and especially, Poulter’s mother-obsessed Adam Warlock. The serious flashbacks bring about an unexpected heart-wrenching theme as a brilliant addition to a usually unserious series. Additionally going against the usual drag of Marvel villains, High Evolutionary only adds to the story and themes, not standing out hugely in the film but instead, standing out as a well written villain in this universe. It does not hurt that its length is a full 150 minutes and, as usual in a Guardians movie, it has a full soundtrack of lesser-known hits.

Acting

As for new performances, audiences are quickly introduced to Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), last heard of in the end credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2, as he bursts into frame blasting the Guardians to pieces, critically injuring most of them, specifically Rocket—whose injury is the focal point for the film’s main plot. This turning point leads to the emotional highlight of the film and introduction of the main baddie, a series of flashbacks over the course of the entire story where audiences finally get a view into Rocket’s backstory and his creator, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). He is a horrifying scientist with a need to perfect society with his animal experiments, those including Rocket as well as new characters Lylla (Linda Cardellini), Teefs (Asim Chaudhry), and Floor (Mikaela Hoover), Rocket’s experimental cellmates.