Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

New Super Bowl trailer:

I guess the movie's not going to be about tracking down Gamora. I'm guessing the Gamora-tracking happened offscreen and the opening scene will be them finding her, sort of like how Nebula was introduced in the second movie.

Which I'm all for. "Tracking down Gamora" sounded like a boring-ass plot compared to actually interacting with the new Gamora, and it gives more room for Adam Warlock and the High Evolutionary to be developed.

Man Quill really needs to get over Gamora if he thinks he can replace her with Nebula

First impressions from anyone? ...Also, just kind of want to bump this topic to remind folks we do in fact have one so maybe they can keep spoilers in here and mot the general MCU topic.

I was surprised that despite all the buildup, nobody on the team died.

I enjoyed it (then again, I tend to like most Marvel movies so I may not be a reliable source). It is indeed much more violent and serious than the previous Guardians movies, but it still has plenty of humorous situations and nice character evolution. And I'm glad that I was correct in hoping that the various trailers' insistence on making us believe the film would end with one or more Guardians' death was a misdirection.

makes sense,killing someone off would effect sales of their merchandise

I hate the High Evolutionary. All my homies hate him...

Here I go.

I'll talk about it when I get back.

I'm normally fairly ambivalent to most of the Marvel films, GOTG included, but I liked this film better than most. It is actually fairly committed to a melancholy tone, with the time wasting MCU humor both more restrained and slightly more character driven. Rockets flashbacks is every bit as messed up as what was shared before. And it followed through by having the Guardians split up to finally deal with longstanding personal things they had been avoiding. It's sad for everyone involved but ultimately better for everyone. There are hints of the original Gamora surfacing in the time displaced Gamora through having her own GOTG adventure, but at the end she still rejects resuming the position of the original one.

I did note that while the High Evolutionary is a satisfying Hate Sink overall his physical threat is a pretty dry recycling of Kang, a black man with a high tech purple suit that gives him telekinetic powers. I'm also a little numb from the bystander body count, with a lot of overt and implied deaths from Knowhere refugees and the entire Counter Earth being razed. Rescuing the children of the next perfect world felt more just to make it feel like something positive was accomplished besides beating the villain.

Just saw it. I loved it.

Also just saw it, also loved it

This was great.

That hallway fight scene is gonna leave poor Matt Murdock shaking his fist in rage.

The group splitting at the end was sad, but perhaps needed. I gotta say, the biggest surprise was that of all the characters we'll still be seeing, it's Quill who's going to return. I would have expected Gamora, considering she's basically an entirely new character.

Is that little white haired girl supposed to be Phylla Vell?

Also, did anyone catch that conversation between Peter and his Grandfather? They were talking about some kid they wanted to mow the lawn, and I'm wondering if there was something important there hidden. Did anyone catch any names?

So yeah. This was a hell of a movie. Truly wonderful, and a great sendoff to this incarnation of the Guardians, just like they said.

Just came back from Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Great film, inarguably I'd say compared to the last couple of films.

If I were to describe the High Evolutionary, it's that Chukwudi Iwuji's performance when combined with Gunn's writing gives him all the best (and by "best", I actually mean "worst") elements of Red Skull, Kang, Thanos, and Ego combined.

Gotta give props to Chukwudi Iwuji for giving us the biggest Hate Sink in the entire MCU.

Chukwudi Iwuji knocked it out of the park as High Evolutionary. I guess the only issue you could have with him is he's a little too reminiscent of Kang at points, but he definitely is is own character.

Yeah Chukwudi Iwuji was great in the role of just the most hateable villain in the MCU.

Its a bit weird how the mostly comedic Guardians films constantly have the most evil bad guys in the MCU. Ego and The High Evolutionary are in particular some of the most evil and I love (and hate) both because of that.

Edited by Bullman on May 5th 2023 at 6:48:46 AM

He's better than Kang. He wasn't hyped up only to let people down with his defeat he was simply a piece of garbage to the end.

so where's Adam Warlock

Really enjoyed this film. Top tier marvel experience. It's been a number of films since I felt this unquestionably positive about a Marvel instalment.

The sets and visual tone were really strong.

So many heart warming moments between the guardians. Nebula and Mantis were both really well realised in this, Rocket gets a lot of great material but is sadly isolated from his co-stars for a lot of the film.

The soundtrack didn't hit me nearly as hard as it did in the first two films, but that's not a large impact on the film.

I thought the comedy was probably the best it's been in the Guardians, but that's the establishment of the characters paying off.

Absolutely harrowing sequences though. Had me in tears and I'm having to take some time to myself now immediately after the film to decompress a bit.

The fact that present day Nebula and 2014!Gamora have a functioning sisterly relationship is fascinating to me and I'd love to know more about that.

Honestly I liked alternate Gamora better than the original Gamora.

The original Gamora is far from a bad character, but for me she was the classic example of "Women are wiser and more moral" played painfully straight.

Edited by LucienRen on May 5th 2023 at 5:59:28 AM

So I'm curious. Everyone seems to be conflicted over which Guardians movie is their favorite, so I might as well ask what you guys' ranking of them are. For me, I think I'd have to go with 2 as my favorite, then 3, and then 1, but with a razor's edge between all three.

I love all of them and this could change from moment to moment but my ranking.

1) 2.

2) 1.

3) 3.

4) The Holiday Special of you include it.

Again I love all of them but this is my ranking right now.

Saw the movie tonight. That was a great time. I feel like every Guardian got some time to shine, and I don't just mean action. Everyone also got a piece of comedy, of being heartfelt, and even of being angry.

I loved to hate the High Evolutionary. He was such an egotistical bastard. Its a cycle, of course. No matter what kind of lifeforms he created, he'd eventually find SOME kind of flaw in them and have to go to the NEXT version. And they'd be "perfect" until he decided THEY had a flaw, and so on. But the best part is how imperfect HE is. He puts on this air of superiority, and sophistication. But whenever he's confronted with something "imperfect" or worse GASP beyond his understanding, he's reduced to a screaming lunatic. Also, really didn't expect to see his real face. When Rocket was attacking him in the flashback, they made good use of Gory Discretion Shot, and even when Gamora took his face off, I didn't think they'd actually show it, or how gruesome it'd be. Like Two-Face in the Dark Knight, but if he was just One-Face.

Peter's arc in the movie went exactly how I thought it would. And I don't say that as a criticism, if the predictable arc is the RIGHT arc, then it works.

Nebula was a treat in this movie. So angry, but so much fun. I'm so glad her role got expanded as the movies went on, brilliant.

Action was cool. Like all the GOTG movies it'll take a few rewatches to catch all the bits, but I don't think that's due to faulty cinematography or anything, there's just a lot going on. Fuck, I almost want to see this movie again just for the Beastie Boys sequence. (Is music considered spoiler? Eh, just in case, could be fun surprise.)

And you better believe my theater audibly "Awwd" when Groot said "I love you guys." And I like that you can interpret it not that Groot literally said that, but that the group doesn't even hear "I Am Groot" anymore.

The main criticism I have of the movie is I think Adam Warlock is a bit undercooked. Well, technically he LITERALLY is underbaked, but that's not what I meant. He kind of feels like he's there just because Gunn had to tie up that thread from Vol. 2. And while he does have an exchange with the High Evolutionary that seems to set up an antagonistic relationship with him, and he is indeed given more reason to make it personal when his mother is killed, nothing ever really comes of that. Though admittedly, that would take away from the climax of the Guardians beating the High Evolutionary together if Adam was just thrown in there, so I can see that kind of had to be left how it is. He does still get a moment though And is part of the New Guardians at the end, so we may see him again.

I doubt I'll get a chance to see it in theaters again - money's gonna be tight for me for awhile - but if I could I would. I think this was as good as a send-off as the Guardians of the Galaxy could ask for.

Edited by diddyknux on May 5th 2023 at 10:31:41 AM