Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 | Picturehouse Recommends

With his last Marvel movie for the foreseeable future after becoming DC Studios’ creative co-chief, writer-director James Gunn completes his Guardians trilogy – and it might just be his most outrageous and emotionally wrought to date.

Hanna Flint

13 Apr 23




Director
James Gunn

Release Date
5 May

Starring
Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Maria Bakalova

Certificate
TBC

Running Time
143 mins

Get ready for a brand new mixtape because the Guardians Of The Galaxy are back in business with their third solo film, and it looks set to be a Marvel Cinematic Universe banger.

With his last Marvel movie for the foreseeable future after becoming DC Studios' creative co-chief, writer-director James Gunn completes his Guardians trilogy – and it might just be his most outrageous and emotionally wrought to date. 

Our favourite team of superhero misfits have certainly dealt with a fair few hardships since they blasted onto the big screen in 2014.

Chris Pratt's maverick Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, found out he's half-human, half-Celestial on his dad's side, then had to battle said-father, Ego the living planet, to save the universe. He lost his surrogate dad, Yondu, in the world-shaking fray but he's not the only Guardian with daddy issues.

Gamora (Zoe Saldana) had to battle her own adoptive father, Thanos, but lost her life so he could blip half the universe out of existence.

However, an iteration of the green assassin from elsewhere in the multiverse has been roaming around the galaxies ever since she joined the intergalactic team efforts of Avengers: Endgame to restore the universe to 100 per cent – minus Thanos and his monstrous armies, of course. 

Now we find a detached, grieving Peter and his oddball team – Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Rocket the Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) – continue their haphazard mission to keep the various galaxies safe.


Gamora, meanwhile, has become the leader of shady bounty hunter group the Ravagers. As much as Peter has been the de facto lead of the previous two films, Rocket will play a more central role in the upcoming threequel. In fact, Gunn believes that the genetically engineered antihero has always been the franchise's "secret protagonist". 

"He's not a hero in the typical sense of the word," he told Empire magazine. "You've never seen Rocket in any movie not do something altruistic. He's never done anything other than for his friends. Telling his story was really important to me." 

Rocket's experimental origins will come into play with the introduction of new Big Bad, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). The trailer hints the villainous scientist may just have been behind Rocket's anthropomorphic makeover. Watch this space. 

Will Poulter makes his glittering MCU debut as Adam Warlock, and if his golden visage has you reminiscing about Elizabeth Debicki's Golden High Priestess Ayesha in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, then you're on the right track.

He's an artificial, super-powered, cosmic being created by Ayesha's Sovereign race to destroy the Guardians.

Given Adam's complicated relationship with the High Evolutionary, and a storied history of cosmic heroism in the Marvel comics, foe might just become friend. 

Throw Maria Bakalova's Cosmo the Spacedog – a Soviet canine who developed psionic abilities after being sent into space – into the mix, and you've got an impressive roster of eccentric heroes, villains and cosmic creatures to ensure a rip-roaring time. That and it's Gunn's last Galaxy ride.

No doubt he's going out with a bang.   Hanna Flint



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Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is in cinemas from 5 May  Book Now