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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - 3 and 1/4 stars out of 4
If this is, indeed, the last ride of the Guardians (at least this incarnation of them) they certainly go out with a bang instead of a whimper. Take everything you might love about these characters and the previous two films and crank it all up about 5 or so more notches and you'll get this movie.
Balancing the humor and drama is no small feat, especially with all of these characters and threads that need juggling. The film goes heavier than what we're used to, but it knows when to pull it back and let in some light-heartedness. I appreciate the villain not being some misunderstood tragic entity, as he leans more into someone who's bought into himself way too much and can't let go of the idea that his goal NEEDS to be accomplished. I actually feel kind of bad that he's stuck in here and not more of a major threat to the MCU as a whole in the same fashion as Thanos or Kang or Infinity Ultron.
Two other positives to mention are the arcs that come to a satisfying conclusion for some of the characters and the action is probably the best in any of the 3 films, most notably a fucking awesome hallway sequence near the climax that is just pure fun. To speak to the former, a lot of the enjoyment you're going to get from the story depends on how much you love Rocket, because it really is his story more than any of the other characters.
Overall, this film might be the thing to get Phase 5 in people's good graces after the rough start that was Quantumania. There really aren't any big twists or seeds that signal where we're going next. This is more about wrapping up journeys and giving us a proper send-off, despite what the two post-credits scenes depict. If you liked the first two films, I doubt you'd find much to hate here.
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