The end of an era is how some Marvel fans are viewing the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.  The lynch pin to this doom and gloom perspective is the departure of James Gunn from Disney to join rival studio Warner Brothers to helm their DC

Comics cinematic product line.  Gunn was the original writer and director of the first Guardians movie in 2014 and has been so for both sequels.  He is considered the major creative force behind this series, even though by all accounts “super” Kevin Feige was tasked as producer.

Details are sketchy if we are to respect the thin storyline and the sometimes “no spoilers” sometimes “spoilers are fine and fun, dude” policy.  In brief, Peter Quill must lead the gang into a dangerous mission to save Rocket, whose past comes back to haunt the crew.  Failure is not an option, hence all crazies on deck for what is sure to be GOTG cranked to max overload.

Guardians has never been known to harbor complex storylines or deep philosophical quandaries in the bosom of its action laden fests.  It’s first and foremost about humor, wisecracks and straight out impossibly funny flourishes that bloom suddenly at the viewer in the midst of a situation that starts out very earnest and serious. 

Each Guardians and The Galaxy movie starts out as a thinly veiled quest that places our heroes in jeopardy and then proceeds to swing back and forth like a high frequency vibrating coil between dead serious punch lines and utterly unsane character dialogues riffled with parodies, social satire, jive and sardonic humor that is borderline sadistic and masochistic.

Take for instance the back and forth in the teaser for Vol 3 between Quill, Gamora and Nebula while kidnapping a hostage from the High Evolutionary headquarters.

Quill starts blabbering on the beauty of Nebula’s scary robot-like eyes which are pitch black with no white and Nebula reminds him Thanos dismembered her and tortured her to near death before she was allowed to have these eyes he thinks are so beautiful.  Each Guardians movie is filled with these nuggets, all teetering with humor from sadistic and horrifying setups.  They are scripted as the springboard for laughs because of the absurdity of the commentaries the characters throw at each other.

I am not here to tell you not to go watch Guardians, in fact if history is a predictor those already decided will go and see the film regardless of my critique.  This segment is simply meant as food for thought, to amplify some insights from this critic and allow the viewers to enjoy the cinematic experience with a little more than just a shallow Hal comfy seat and a deep tub of popcorn with sugary soda.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 farewell act focuses a little more than is necessary on the origin story of Rocket The Wiley Raccoon (a bit of Bugs Bunny and Road Runner if you ask me) and in the process dispenses inordinate amounts of sweet melancholy.  Gunn delves a bit too much into tried-and-true territory with the Super Soldier Serum formula and Weapon X medleys from X-Men.  We always could tell Rocket was part Wolverine, but with those automatic weapons flourishes he came out, more often than not, with a blend of Schwarzenegger’s Terminator on acid.

Peter Quill forever the nutcase and humor central is guilty in this chapter of languishing too much into lost puppy love, having a rough time moving forward after losing his Gamora and now having to stand side by side with a stranger he cannot leave behind.

She reminds him too much of what they had and maybe, he keeps lying to himself, he might be able to somehow rekindle the sparks and chemistry with the new Gamora.

What tremendous fun and energy was rolled up in the Quill character loses steam in this chapter with a repeat of the Thor playbook,

Thor getting drunk and becoming unruly and unfocused after losing Asgard to Hela and Loki to Thanos, in Avengers Endgame.

The two notable new characters making a bow in this trilogy closer are The High Evolutionary portrayed by Chukwudi Iwuji and Adam Warlock played by Will Poulter.  Both are villains in this film, Adam Warlock to a far lesser degree.  The High Evolutionary is akin to a Nazi-styled Dr. Frankenstein.

But the High Evolutionary is interstellar in scope (I won’t say Galactic because neither the audience nor the writers have any concept of how vast a single galaxy is, never mind the near infinite expanse of billions of galaxies) and he is nowhere as sympathetic as deluded, insane Thanos.  In GOTG 3 we discover a few unseemly stories about genetic enhancements via Rocket who was assembled, dismembered and re-packaged by the High Evolutionary while also torturing, experimenting on, and destroying a number of other test species in his quest to create the super intelligent specimen.

Adam Warlock is a test tube manufactured and super powered being concocted by the Sovereign (we met them in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2) to destroy our friends as revenge for their defeat. Adam Warlock is basically a newly created synthetic life form who doesn’t know that he has been misguided.  Think of the Blade Runner androids – super abilities without the maturity of humans growing up.  So the writers expect you to feel some sympathy for him.

Both Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha the High Priestess of The Sovereign empire and Sylvester Stallone (Yo Rocky) as a leader of The Ravagers reprise their roles from Vol 1 and Vol 2.

One of the biggest drawback of the new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the music soundtrack, which was a big deal in Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, in fact the soundtrack served as a vehicle and crutch to introduce Peter Quill’s great culture to aliens in far away worlds, a charmer to seduce hostile and wary Gamora to Peter’s moments of tenderness and love. 

Most importantly the audio mix soundtracks served Gunn in introducing new younger audiences to the hottest music of bygone eras, which they would not have heard if they were stuck grooving on music from the 1990s and 2000s.  Peter and Gunn introduced new younger moviegoers to the sounds and drama and fun of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Volume 3 soundtrack has none of the great hits or signature music to elevate the film’s most dramatic moments.  Gunn and team failed to harness the music of the 1990s and 2000s, from Linkin Park and Goldfrapp to Coldplay, The Backstreet Boys, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys and beyond. 

The music to the action is truly lacking and a glaring gap, given how cool the first two movies were.  The soundtrack sets the mood and in this film Gunn and creative team have a really bad spill, perhaps a bad spell, and their faltering reverberates in this film from start to finish.  To its credit, the previous GOTG movies’ formula and momentum manage to push and, barely, squeeze

Volume 3 into the Guardians’ signature template, barely I emphasize, because the movie is still marked by a few, significant, glitches, which we will delve in.