‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’: From Knowhere to somewhere

Director James Gunn gives the Guardians an emotional farewell

Playing in theaters throughout Boston and the suburbs, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” caps a trilogy that James Gunn has helmed since the first installment debuted in 2014. About a group of misfit space cowboys out to defend the world from interplanetary evil, the humor-heavy movies are the most off-kilter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And that’s a good thing. The film, Marvel’s 32nd, sports all the expected Gunn hallmarks: a twisted sense of humor cut with a ton of heart, loads of running gags and soundtrack rich in hits, including the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep til Brooklyn” and Springsteen’s “Badlands.”

Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, Karen Gillan as Nebula in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” (Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL)

An acoustic version of Radiohead’s “Creep” casts a serious tone over the film’s opening. Holed up on the edge of the universe in a port called Knowhere, the Guardians are in varying stages of, as one character puts it, “emotionalistical” distress. Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, (Chris Pratt) drinks away grief after Gamora’s (Zoe Saldana) death in “Avengers: Infinity War.” Nebula (Karen Gillan) is as hardened and impatient as ever. Groot (voice of Vin Diesel) is all grown up. Drax, (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) wrestle with baggage of their own and in doing flat steal every scene they’re in. He’s the strength, she’s the empath. Together they share an endearing chemistry.

Will Poulter, the gold-hued Adam Warlock, a genetically engineered being who shoots lightning blasts from his hands, flies in to interrupt the Guardians’ pity party. He’s on a mission to abduct Rocket. Apparently, the snarky raccoon is the intellectual property of the menacing High Evolutionary (a menacing Chukwudi Iwuji), a douchebag geneticist bent on “perfecting the world,” not conquering it. He’s the mad scientist who made Rocket, and now he wants the rodent back. No easy task. Rocket is nearly killed during the ruckus with Warlock. The Guardians discover the only way to save him is with some kill-switch code from his original tech … yeah, I know … It’s convoluted. But, when has plot really mattered all that much in these movies? The gist is this: The code is the Mcguffin. It motivates the Guardians to snap out of their funk and band together on a cosmic quest to save their brother.

*Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” (Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL*)

As before, “Guardians” is an effects-laden spectacle propped up by an out-of-this-world ensemble whose charm and pizzazz carry the film through expository back story, narrative set-up, dizzying fight scenes and enough platitudes about friends and family to fill a “Fast and Furious” movie. The director’s brother, Sean Gunn (“Gilmore Girls”), finds himself in a much bigger role this time, reprising his part as the ravager, Kraglin. Sylvester Stallone and Nathan Fillion show up for a pair of fun cameos. Saldana returns to action as a variant of Gamora who has no recollection of ever loving Peter.

Gunn fires a lot at us over 150 minutes, but redeems himself mixing B-movie sensibilities with an A-list budget. So, while the film is a bloated trainwreck (how many increasingly ridiculous jams can characters escape?), viewers can expect some unexpected situations, wild visuals and a superpowered space dog named Cosmo (Maria Bakalova).

Your enjoyment will depend on your tolerance for a plot that dips into some dark places. That’s what Gunn does. The script does not shy away from its high-stakes themes of child abuse, animal cruelty and self-esteem. Your eyes might get misty. Mine did.

In the film’s final-credits bonus scene, Gunn crafts a sweet callback to the song that started it all, “Come and Get Your Love.” It’s a fitting finale for a group of misfits discovering they belong somewhere after starting from Knowhere.

*Karen Gillan, James Gunn, and Chris Pratt on the set of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” (Photo by Jessica Miglio. © 2023 MARVEL.*)

Degrees of Separation from Boston

In March 2011, I had a one-on-one sit down with writer-director James Gunn, who was in Boston doing interviews ahead of the opening of “Super.” We met in the old Allied Integrated Marketing offices on Boylston Street. Here’s an excerpt from the story first ran in The Patriot Ledger:

While Gunn’s movies might lack that mainstream appeal, his choice of favorite superhero is more garden-variety: Batman. “It’s a boring answer, I know,” Gunn said, “but Batman has the most good comics book of any superhero. And I just like the character. I like Batman’s tragic nature. I like the fact that he was a guy whose parents were killed, and he’s trying forever to avenge their deaths and he can’t.”