Featured Graphic by Destiny Mizell
Story by Larry Rincon
“Someday I’m going to make great machines that fly, and me and my friends are going
– Rocket Racoon in “Guardians
to go flying together into the forever and beautiful sky.”
of the Galaxy Volume 3”
In the past few weeks nature’s trash panda has taken the internet by storm. Raccoons have become a beloved creature by anyone who has seen Marvel’s latest movie release. While Marvel Studios may have had a rough start to their Phase Five, James Gunn demonstrates that not every superhero movie needs to try so hard to connect to the overall timeline through “Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.”
The conclusion to “The Guardians of the Galaxy” Trilogy released a couple weeks ago, but
instead of focusing on whether this film was good or bad, I want to highlight how this film was
effective in providing audiences with closure on the story of the guardians.
The film picks up some time after the events of “Avengers: End Game.” The guardians are
building their new headquarters on Knowhere until Ayesha’s creation, Adam, attacks them in
search for Rocket. He eventually flees, leaving a critically injured Rocket behind. The guardians are set up to start their journey in saving their friend.
There is no doubt that this film is mostly about Rocket. Out of the guardians, his past has
always been a mystery to both the audience and the characters on screen. Throughout the film,
we see many flashbacks and memories of Rocket’s past; Some are happy and playful while
others reveal how much pain the character suffered.
James Gunn is a brilliant storyteller and director. He did a wonderful job exploring Rocket’s
character especially in relation to the other members of the team. The strong bonds between
characters played out well, and it was very obvious that the entire group loved Rocket dearly.
However, I am sad to say that the movie was one last adventure for the group. The characters
have gone through so much: losing many individuals they care about, growing and learning
about each other’s capabilities and just creating their makeshift space family. This last journey
at least felt satisfactory to watch.
The High Evolutionary wasn’t the typical Marvel villain. We have become used to individuals
who want to destroy or kill off individuals and places, but he was a wild card considering his goal
was to create a perfect world. Of course, the only way to achieve that was by getting his hands
on Rocket’s mind, but in the grand scheme of things his motives were more immoral than
villainous. In a way he reminded me of Thanos.
The guardians never cared about stopping him or his plans, so there was never really a group
versus him conflict. This movie was all about saving those close to you and helping others out. It
was a far more relaxing experience knowing that the overall goal of this film was to close the
story on the guardians rather than one last spectacular or flashy reason why they are the
Guardians of the Galaxy.
Going off of what I stated earlier, just like this film gave us more information on Rocket’s story
and developed his relationships with his team, we gained a lot of new information on the other
characters and their relationships with each other. It no longer felt like the group of misfits that
banded together from the first film; This is a family who rely on each other and can see each
other’s strengths when worst comes to worst.
The characters have grown so much and actually disprove the stereotypes they have been
labeled as. Drax isn’t just the big strong character who lacks intelligence and Mantis is a lot
stronger and more capable than her personality makes you believe.
This conclusion pulled at the heart strings in more ways than one. This film has set my
expectations high for the future of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. James Gunn created a great trilogy that follows the three act structure wonderfully. As we see more characters exit the MCU I do hope those films or series follow the example that “The Guardians of the Galaxy”
trilogy has provided.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on Twitter at @Sidelines_News.
