Rated PG-13. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay and suburban theaters.
When that first “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014) film hit our shores, it was a cyclonic breath of fresh air after nine previous Marvel films. The incredibly popular Marvel superhero films had become turgid, repetitive bores. Superheroes destroyed cities, often in dark, ugly 3D, gathered together to whine and moan and then destroyed more cities before finally saving the world.
But the “Guardians” were something else entirely. Peter Quill aka “Star-Lord” was a wise-cracking, mischievous, rebellious boy-man kidnapped from Earth when he was a child. His mother was dead. He missed his beloved grandfather. Peter was another Peter Pan and all the villains were versions of Captain Hook. Plus, he had the Awesome Love Mixtape Vol. 1 that his mother had made. This was a stroke of genius on the part of Troma Studios graduate, rock and roller and writer-director James Gunn (Gunn wrote and produced “Tromeo and Juliet”). “GotG1,” co-written with Nicole Perlman and Dan Abnett includes classics such as Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love” and the surely canceled, sexy ‘bots, Robert Palmer version of “Simply Irresistible.” These songs transformed this “comic book movie” into a jukebox/sci-fi/action adventure/semi-musical unlike anything we had ever seen before, and the songs gave it extra kick and resonance. Like its predecessors, “GotG3” is Andrew Lloyd Webber on ecstasy complete with its own Phantom.
Following the standard set by Vol.1, Vol. 3 kicks off with moody 1990s-era tune in this case Radiohead’s “Creep” played to the tune of a swarming litter of baby raccoons (aw). “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” is essentially the origin film of Rocket Raccoon (obviously named after the Beatles’ gun-slinging Rocky Raccoon). Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has died, but come back to life as a different Gamora with no interest in Quill. Supersized Drax (Dave Bautista) still engages in banter with empath Mantis (Pom Klementieff). Kraglin (Gunn’s brother Sean Gunn) possesses the whistling arrow of Yondu. Gamora’s evil sister Nebula (Karen Gillan) now fights with Quill. Bradley Cooper voices Rocket, who will die if the Guardians don’t fix his heart. He’s the film’s Tin Man. Quill sports an outer space perm of some sort and looks thinner than before. He can’t believe that he doesn’t turn Gamora on.
Meanwhile, a sadistic Dr. Frankenstein/Dr. Moreau figure named the High Evolutionary (the amazing Chukwudi Iwuji), the monster who created and tortures Rocket in flashbacks is still at large, and he has a spaceship full of “Village of the Damned” children prisoners waiting their turn in their captor’s chambers. In one scene, the sadistic mad scientist takes an ordinary turtle, puts it in a chamber, speeds up its evolution and creates an angry, utterly mad monster in need of instant incineration.
In opening scenes, set in a space resembling Mos Eisley of “Star Wars” fame, Rocket is attacked by Adam Warlord (Will Poulter), the son of the Golden High Priestess Ayesha (super tall and quite funny Elizabeth Debicki). Groot (Vin Diesel) is still Groot, a super-heroic slab of wood. Think a less prolix Pinocchio with a super strength and loyalty. The High Evolutionary keeps his animal experiments in cages. The actors who voice these cruelly-used creatures are so good they may give children scary dreams. Best of all the actors voicing animals is Maria Bakalova of “Borat” fame as the telekinetic Russian cosmonaut dog Cosmo, who can speak with the help of a vintage Russian device and is obsessed with making Kraglin take back the “bad dog” remark he has made. With mutant guards at his gate, the High Evolutionary is a bit of the Wicked Witch of the West. In a truly subversive move, Gunn has taken Tod Browning’s controversial, arguably avant garde, 1932 cult classic “Freaks, and turned it into mainstream entertainment for kids. “Gooba Gobble, one of us, one of us.”
(“Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” contains violence, profanity and victims of torture)