No one expected the one with the tree and the raccoon to be the highlight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that was the case with the first one. tutors. After a weaker second episode and a hilarious Christmas special, director James Gunn closes his four-part trilogy with a triumph: a great blend of humor and horror with a heart as big as Drax. The result may be too chaotic and sprawling to match the pace of the first film, but it’s full of great moments and far more emotionally resonant.
This time, the danger is not an amorphous threat to life across the galaxy, but a personal crisis: one of the Guardians finds himself in grave danger after a disastrous attack on his home in Knowhere. The others must find the key to saving Rocket (Bradley Cooper), with time running out and their emotions on the brink. The resulting mission is to team up again with Gamora (Zoë Saldaña), who has no memory of their time together, and face a terrifying new adversary in Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary. To say she has a god complex understates it; After finding the missing universe, he seeks to remake entire civilizations to his own design, including, it seems, the ruler we last saw and his immature creation Adam Warlock (Will Poulter, excellent despite limited time on the screen). The Evolutionary is also tied into Rocket’s origins, which, it seems, are just as painful as Mantis’ (Pom Klementieff) once suggested.
Evolutionary Iwuji isn’t Marvel’s flashiest villain, but he’s a great adversary for the Guardians, a flawed and damaged band of people led by their own grief and pain to save others from the two. What’s more at odds with your worldview than someone obsessed with the perfection of all things? The strength of this cast has always been their weaknesses, failures, and emotional scars that meant they only trusted each other to get through the day, let alone protect the galaxy.
This film allows the Guardians of the Galaxy to face their fears and leave the status quo, even if it means saying a painful goodbye.
Having established that his heroes are in this surrogate family for a reason, Gunn deftly discusses what might happen if they had the courage to look beyond and truly face their trauma instead of hiding in acceptance of the other. . Then, we have flashbacks to Rocket’s genesis, we witness Gamora’s rage as she struggles to reconcile who she is with the stranger everyone seems to remember, and we see Star-Lord try and especially fail to imagine life without it. If Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis, Groot and Dave Bautista’s superb Drax remain business as usual, it’s only because they were perfectly formed from the start. But all of its attempts to move forward result in a dramatically satisfying and remarkably adult version of a comic book movie, especially with that film’s wild imagery (giant organic space stations! Bats! A devastating merman who communicates via emoticons!) and the blinding colors.
It’s not perfect. There’s an omission in the middle, thanks to a tangle of new characters and a commendable determination to give each member of the ensemble something worthy of their considerable talents, plus some fight scenes cut so fast they’re little more than brilliant. Then there’s the all-too-common thing about superheroes, where monumentally awful things happen only to be brushed aside for another joke, another silliness, another sincerity. But Gunn’s love for these characters is overwhelming and carries him through some of the slowest and most difficult moments. He successfully balances his penchant for casual sarcasm by letting that love shine through every frame, often to heartbreaking effect.
That’s why it seems fitting that this film allows Guardians of the Galaxy to face their fears and let go of the status quo, even if it means saying a painful goodbye. The High Evolutionary has been more successful than he thought. It’s forced our favorite bunch of idiots to maybe improve a little bit, and that should give us hope.
Source: EmpireOnline
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
