"Guardians of the Galaxy. Part 3" is a great, but too dark ending to the story. Let's talk without spoilers

On May 4, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Part 3. James Gunn made the saddest and probably the most grown-up picture, which looks like a great ending to the story.

After the success of two parts, James Gunn wrote the script for the third, and then there was a major scandal - activists were outraged by his old jokes on Twitter. As a result, the director was suspended from work on the third part. The production team, fans and actors stood up for him, who hinted that they could refuse to shoot if the studio appointed another director. As a result, the start dates for work were constantly shifted, so that the film was not released in 2020, as originally planned, but only in 2023.

The main cast has not changed. It stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Sylvester Stallone, while Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper once again voice Groot and Rocket, respectively. They were joined by Will Poulter and Chukudi Iwuji.

The Guardians are stationed in Oblivion. Quill can't get over Gamora's death and his friends can't bring him back to normal. Everything changes when an unknown person flies to them in order to steal the Rocket. The guards protect the raccoon, however he is injured and needs surgery. It turns out that the surgery will kill Rocket, as he has a chip in his brain. The Guardians go on a journey to find the code from the chip. Subsequently, it turns out that a certain High Evolutionary is ready to do everything to return the Rocket - a raccoon, which he raised.

Working elements remained in place

The structure of the third part is as simple as possible. There is a problem (the possible death of the Rocket), a solution (search for the High Evolutionary) and a lot of dangers along the way. On this simple skeleton is put on a set of jokes, a couple of music videos, some great and one outstanding action scene, a bunch of dramatic dialogue and a willingness to sacrifice yourself.

James Gunn does not reinvent the wheel, so the third part is structurally almost the same as the previous ones. It's just that everything is done so well that predictability does not ruin the picture. And the timing (150 minutes) is not felt at all - it seems that the film lasts half as long.

However, in the third part, Gann places the accents differently. For example, the importance and screen time of Peter Quill has gone down. Gamora's death has changed him, now he is gloomy. The adventure invigorates him, but not so much that he is again the undisputed leader of the team - rather, he is just one of its members. As well as Groot, who is given very little time.

But most importantly, the balance between funny and sad has shifted.

The humor has changed

Perhaps the third part is the most unfunny of all. Partly because of repetitions - some jokes wander from film to film, so they managed to get bored. Pretty much everything funny about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Part 3", related to Drax. Dave Batistuta's character does a great job of making the viewer laugh, but he doesn't get much screen time.

Perhaps Peter Quill's changes even spoil the film a bit. In the previous parts (especially in the first one), he gave the story lightness, naivety, carelessness. His darkening makes the picture heavier, makes it more serious. Considering that other characters suffer quite a lot, the third part turns out to be the most adult.

It seems that James Gunn understood this, and therefore added jokes to the outside world. For example, in one of the scenes, the characters get on planet Counter-Earth, where everything is almost the same as on Earth. True, humanoid creatures with tentacles and all kinds of tusks on their faces walk along it. Perhaps the artists used The Island of Dr. Moreau as inspiration - all the more surprising that the scenes on Counter-Earth turned out to be funny.

Good gags also appear in other locations. But they look like they were added to the story after it was discovered that the main plot was too sad.

More sad

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 turned out to be a surprisingly good drama. Of course, almost all the main turning points turned out to be too "Marvel" - with clear timing and banal words. It is unlikely that they touch the viewer over 13 years old. But there is also a whole bunch of simple, but very successful dialogues that reveal the characters and their feelings. And they have different tones.

For example, Quill tries to survive loss beloved, so saving a friend is a matter of life and death. The entire Rocket arc is a story of growing up and accepting your past. Given that we are talking about a raccoon, it turned out qualitatively and convincingly. But other characters have simpler problems, albeit no less important ones.

In one of the scenes, Mantis urges not to swear at Drax and explains that he may be stupid, but he pleases and makes the whole team laugh. It turns out a naive, almost childish, but very kind scene, which explains the principles on which the Guardians are based. After such episodes, you begin to empathize with the characters much more than after pompous scenes with a threat to life.

The trilogy ended on an unexpected note.

There is no official information about the end of the franchise. There is a possibility that it will continue, but with a changed composition of the team. But most likely, this is the last film by James Gunn in the Guardians of the Galaxy. If there are sequels, then by analogy with Star Wars, the Gunn trilogy will be considered original.

Surprisingly, the completion of the trilogy turned out just like that - with maximum contrast relative to the first film. However, the gloom is quite understandable.

James Gunn, who works on Guardians of the Galaxy, is a man who is always looking for a balance between funny and sad, light and dark, childish and adult. Unlike, for example, the Russo brothers, who entertain the viewer with everything (the death of a beloved character in The Avengers is also a form of entertainment).

For the first time in three films, the balance has shifted to the dark side. Perhaps this is done on purpose and Gunn wanted to end the trilogy in this way. He may have lost his balance. In any case, it turned out that the third part is a bit out of the whole trilogy, because it looks darker and sadder than the previous ones.

Guardians of the Galaxy made a splash in 2014. Very light, dynamic and warm film knocked out of the cinematic universe Marvel - it is not surprising that he is liked by those who cannot watch even half of the Avengers. The second part revealed the characters and showed their sadder side, while not forgetting the jokes and the spirit of adventure. The third part turned out to be the hardest. Possibly the most grown-up Guardians of the Galaxy movie yet. Whether this is good or bad is a matter of audience preference.