Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Grade: C+

In 2014, I wrote:

“All the ingredients are there, and they are fresh. They just need to get cooking. Guardians of the Galaxy is ultimately nothing I need to see a second time.

Grade: C”

Then, in 2017, I had this to say about Vol. 2:

“Doggone it if they aren’t figuring it out.

Grade: B-“

With the direction the series was going for me, I really wanted them to knock Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 out of the park. Unfortunately, instead of a flourish, it clumsily sputters out. This installment, sadly, is lean on the quirky snappy dialogue, and the humor that comes from it – opting, instead, for more action. Dave Bautista has recently shown us, with Knock at the Cabin and Glass Onion, that he can be a sneaky-talented actor. The banter between Bautista as Drax and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket – a highlight of the first two volumes – is scarce here, due to Rocket spending most of this movie in a coma. The best lines are in the trailer.

We do see plenty of Rocket, in flashbacks, as his origin story is fleshed out. I would have supported the idea of all this being its own movie, like Lightyear. Imagine “Marvel’s Rocket.”

The plot is what it is. Characters are trying to get their MacGuffin. In the case of the Guardians movies, I’ve always been more interested in the pauses in between the period and the beginning of the next narrative sentence – i.e. the clever wordplay. We don’t get much of that here.

If you like Bruce Springsteen, stick around for the closing cr…or no, wait. Better yet, after you’ve seen Polite Society, wander into one of the 5+ screens (in any given theater) showing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 for their end credits, so you can hear Badlands in sound quality better than your car, or anything you have. It’s a treat. We know classic rock songs, forgotten about for a while, will emerge. We know Groot will eventually get around to saying something other than “I am Groot.” All of that happens here, but at this point, more than before, they feel like predictable tropes paraded on and checked off the list to appease fans. It looks like the truly great Guardians movie will never be made.

Grade: C+