Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Pulls Its Punches And It Hurts The Movie
This post contains spoilers for "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3"
Director James Gunn has long held that "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3," currently playing in theaters, is most certainly the final film he will make about these characters. Leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gunn has been asked by Warner Bros. to lead a brand new series of films based on DC Comics. The new DCU will take up all of Gunn's time, and he has already announced that he is working on a new Superman feature film.
This all means audiences will be bidding farewell to this incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. One has full permission to feel wistful. It also means that the safety rails have been taken down in terms of the characters' fates. Because of the nature of the seemingly eternal MCU, it's incredibly rare that a character's story will actually end. Most of them are eternally trapped in their second acts. Iron Man may have died, and Captain America may have passed on his name to a new version of himself, but how many times has the MCU indicated actual finality? It's rare, and it's wonderful when it happens. It was the best element of "Logan" or "The Dark Knight Rises." The heroes, aware of the violence they cause in the world, bowed out with dignity.
"Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3," despite bearing a "final chapter" vibe, doesn't have the moxie to do anything so daring. Indeed, it does very little to mix up the status quo and even backs off when it looks like it might do something sad. In brief: no one dies. Some of the characters split up, but no one seems to properly retire from galactic adventuring. In a way, that's very disappointing.
No one dies
The film's climax involves the Guardians, led by Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), escaping from an exploding ship belonging to the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a supervillain obsessed with eugenics. The ship is quickly disintegrating, and the heroes are working frantically to free a bunch of test animals and captive children from their cages on board. Peter is nearly off the ship when it begins to drift away from his rescue craft. He makes a flying leap for safety, hoping to briefly drift through the vacuum of space before re-entering the comfort of breathable air. The leap, however, is not enough, and he beings to freeze. His face distends and ice forms over his whole body. He is dead. Groot the tree man (Vin Diesel), attempts to reach out to him, growing branches rapidly, but when his roots touch the coldness, they too freeze. Peter, it seems, didn't make it. A sacrifice had to be made to save the children. Rest in peace, Peter.
Only he lives. Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) can survive in space and flies over to him and brings him back. Peter was dead for a short enough time that he is able to be revived. Everyone hugs.
Firstly, if Adam Warlock was that powerful, why did we wait until the most dramatic possible moment to mount his rescue? Secondly, doesn't that feel cheap? That the film bothered to kill off one of its lead characters, only to bring them back a moment later? Surely it would have been nobler for the often flip and non-serious Peter Quill to make the ultimate sacrifice for heroism.
"Vol. 3" pulls that punch.
Everyone (mostly) stays together
A frustrating aspect of most of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies is highlighted strongly in the final moments of "Vol. 3." In the first film, the team consisted of ragtag outcasts brought together by circumstance. By the second, however, the Guardians appear to be an actual, militarized unit, backed by a vague government-like organization. They are no longer freelance, but seemingly on someone's payroll. Anyone more comfortable with the strictly regimented structure seen in "Star Trek" will likely be wondering about a chain of command, and what their job actually is. Is it only acts of rescue and heroism from large animal attacks? They save a city from attacking animals both at the beginning of "Vol. 2" and the end of "Vol. 3."
If they are an officially overseen superhero group, then what constitutes membership? What are the ethics rules? They can kill people, it seems. Do they answer to anyone about that? If they don't, why bother wearing the Nova Corps uniforms? I'm sure deep-cut Marvel fans can answer these questions, but none of these details are readily available on the film's surface.
So when people leave the Guardians, what does it mean? Peter Quill moves back to Earth to spend time with his grandfather, and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) moves to a space octopus preserve, but there doesn't seem to be anything to imply that they couldn't return at a moment's notice, or that the Guardians have a rotating door policy to membership. If anyone can take a limitless sabbatical anytime, then "the team breaking up" doesn't mean much.
As such, there's no note of actual finality to "Vol. 3." Gunn didn't have the moxie to actually say goodbye, or significantly alter the status quo.
A better ending would have warranted a bigger change.