Still processing the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill gathers his team to protect the universe and one of their own – a mission whose failure would mean the end of the Guardians of the Galaxy… A new adventure is prepared for the fans of these series, new plots are about to unfold to defend the Universe.
In Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, our beloved group of misfits looks a little different now. Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the Universe and protect one of their own. A mission that, if not successfully completed, could lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

I’ve often said in recent years that it’s become a real struggle to keep up with what’s going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and that this struggle eats away at the enjoyment of watching a franchise movie or series. Well, we can’t say the same about Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3, which concludes (they say, Disney is never able to end anything) the adventure of the most attached team in the MCU. Friday’s premiere may be uneven, but it also has a big heart and makes the audience beat to its rhythm.

Before going to the movie, you might want to watch The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, a short film released in December and available on Disney+. Thanks to this short film, which introduces the new dynamic of the group, the new residence in Knowhere, and the return of a version of Gamora who wants nothing to do with Peter, Volume 3 allows itself to skip the exposition and get right into the story: a Adam Warlock’s (Will Poulter) attack on the Guardian base leaves Rocket (Bradley Cooper) in a coma. And the furry one cannot be saved, because any medical intervention would trigger a deadly device in his chest, a device installed by the one who experimented on him. Obviously, the team immediately goes into space to find the password to the device and rescue Rocket.

Perhaps the great advantage of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is that all three films were written and directed by the same person, James Gunn (who in the meantime took over the rivals from the DC Extended Universe) and, after the first film was a considerable success, this he was creatively left alone by the bosses at Marvel. The outcome? A consistency of tone and a continuity of interactions between the characters that let the audience enjoy what they see on the screen, without stressing that they haven’t seen who knows what other movie or series where vital information for the story is provided. Moreover, this continuity makes the audience invest emotionally in the characters and consider them a family.

Because yes, the Guardians of the Galaxy are no longer a team, they are a true family. Beyond superpowers, suits and spaceships, it’s very easy to draw parallels between the characters in the movie and the people in our immediate vicinity. What is Drax (Dave Bautista, in his last appearance in the role) to be if not the uncle you only see at weddings and funerals and whose mind doesn’t go too far, he’s even anti-vaccine, but who makes all those around them to feel smarter by comparison? What would Nebula be, if not some distant cousin, lonely and serious, but whom you love even more when she laughs at one of your jokes? Here lies the great strength of the trilogy, in the respect for these characters and in the fact that they somehow remained apart from the rest of the MCU, leaving room for them to become a unitary whole.

And the analogies continue with the villain of the film, in which many can see, taken to the extreme, the overly demanding parent or teacher, for whom love is always conditional. In their rush to save Rocket, the Guardians will face the High Evolutionary, a scientist obsessed with creating the perfect society, and for this he is ready to perform terrible experiments on the beings he considers imperfect. Volume 3 recreates Rocket’s entire past, from the baby raccoon glimpsed in the film’s first teaser trailer to the present day. It is an exciting itinerary, ready to discuss resilience and friendship, altruism and perseverance. The part where we discuss who deserves to be saved and the fact that who we were in the past is only a step towards who we are today is also particularly relevant.

Vol 3 is not a perfect movie. It surprises the decision to show Adam Warlock as a teenager who is as lazy as he is strong. And it must also be said that Friday’s premiere would have been much stronger if the script had gone all the way with the separation from that character. Even so, the new Guardians is the best Marvel movie in the last few years.