Michael's Movie Grade: A-
As a huge fan of the previous Guardians movies, this is everything I wanted from a final chapter in this trilogy.
What has always made the Guardians of the Galaxy films stand out, even with how many movies Marvel has made, is how well they balance their goofy sense of humor with moments that are very heartfelt and surprisingly touching. Neither gets in the way of the other but instead they complement each other nearly perfectly. In this third installment this is even more important than ever, as the series delves deeper into darker territory. Fortunately once again this delicate balance is maintained nearly perfectly. The darker territory in this movie is our look into Rocket's backstory. Not to give anything away, but this back story is certainly something much darker and sad than anything we have seen in the previous Guardians movies. To say it might tug on your heartstrings is an understatement, it will rather break your heart. Despite this movie's delve into Rocket's story, what is very impressive about this movie is that each member of the Guardians has their own character arc here and they are all handled quite well. None of them feel rushed and each one has an effect on the character. You may say that having this many character arcs makes the film feel a bit overstuffed (and it kind of does), but that doesn't take away from how well each of them works. I especially enjoyed the closer looks at both Nebula and Mantis here, both of which brought a bit more depth to these characters who had not been at the forefront of the previous films. I mentioned this film's humor before and the humor is delightful here. I (and the audience in the theater with me) laughed out loud many times during this movie. There may have been a few jokes that didn't land but they were certainly in the minority. There were tons of really good comedic moments throughout the movie. What makes so much of this comedy work and not work against the drama is that the humor comes directly from the characters. Despite much of the humor being quite silly, it is never simply silly for the sake but being silly. Instead it simply emphasizes the eccentricates of these characters and the way that each one views the world (or worlds) around them as well as each other. Yet the humor never makes these characters into jokes, but instead just heightens why they are so appealing. All of this makes it so the humor not only doesn't get in the way of the drama, but it also makes the drama more effective.
The film also benefits from a wonderful villain. The High Evolutionary is everything the villain of a superhero movie should be. He is very threatening and often times quite creepy. Yet at the same time you can see why others follow him and how he convinces himself that the obvious evil he is doing is somehow the moral course of action.
While I am sad to say goodbye to this film series, this movie is a great note to end the trilogy on.
No comments:
Post a Comment